Markopoulos / Dam / Kelessidi / Sheffield - Liturgy of Orpheus - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

This Vermeer is completely dedicated to sacred compositions by Marco Sofianopulo (Trieste, 1952 - 2014). Sofianopulo had Greek origins and studied choral singing with the Master Giulio Viozzi between 1975 and 1986 while conducting the Ruda Polyphonic Choir (Udine), with which he won many awards at the contests and festivals in Ravenna, Gorizia and Arezzo. He then moved to the role of artistic director of the Trieste San Giusto Chapel where he had previously played organ. He was also professor at the Trieste music conservatory and had an intense compositional activity. This album collects some of the most important sacred compositions and it is a tribute to the musical Trieste tradition.

Album Tracks 1. Muze Honorons 2. Deum Celebrate Vocantes 3. Magnificat a 4, 5, 6 & 7 Voix 4. Adjuro Vos Filiae Hierusalem 5. Tristitia Obsedit Me 6. O Seigneur J'espars 7. Quand Pour Egipte éLoigner 8. Louã« Tous Ce Dieu Qui Est Dous 9. Dieu, Nous Te LoüOns

By his own account, Erasmus Kindermann was pressured by friends into setting poems by Martin Opitz to music and did so in works such as his Opitianischer Orpheus. The poems that he chose for the most part were selections from the Bucher Deutscher Poemata. The texts of the songs mostly focus on themes taken from ancient models Inchcarpe diemInch and Inchmemento moriInch as well as love's joy and love's grief. Poems with moral and religious content and for special occasions and entertainment are also represented, and the pastoral idyll often provides the scenic background. The instrumental preludes and interludes consist of only a few measures but very skillfully render the character of the particular song and underscore it's textual message. In the subtitle of his Opitianischer Orpheus Kindermann terms his poem settings InchMusical Delights,Inch in this way clearly emphasizing his intention not to compose laments on sad times but instead to convey joy, intellectual stimulation, and pleasure. Instead of designing the music for the poems in his Opitianischer Orpheus as an opulent work in multiple voices for a larger concert setting, Kindermann very deliberately chose chamber music as his medium. He presumably had in mind, both in view of the performers and the audience members, a group of music lovers with literary ambitions who had received a humanistic education and met for social gatherings in order to present songs or to listen to their recital. The composer intentionally refrained from including broad melismas in the song melodies. As a result, the individual songs develop a characteristically strong succinctness that continues to resonate and invites listeners to sing and play along in enjoyable social settings. Album Tracks 1. Opitianischer Orpheus (Lieder Nach Gedichten Von Martin Opitz) (Auszug) 2. Pars Prior (Auszug) 3. Opitianischer Orpheus (Lieder