Shalev Ad-El - Three Cantatas - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Repertoire expansion for the Christmas season In the 18th century, Inchwell-stockedInch church music was a natural tradition throughout central Germany church services were embellished along the ecclesiastical year with cantatas appropriate to the liturgy for the glory of God, but also for the joy and Inchspiritual edificationInch of the visitors. From this treasure of hitherto unknown Christmas music, four cantatas by Ernst Wilhelm Wolf are presented for the first time on this recording. Wolf worked as court kapellmeister in Weimar, and the fact that Goethe rejected him as Inchself-indulgentInch should not prevent us from admiring him as a very important composer of the transition. Musically, Wolf was greatly influenced by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach in the empfindsamer Stil and by the works of the Berlin Kapellmeister Carl Heinrich Graun. He was also a prolific composer whose works were received with admiration by his contemporaries. The four cantatas show elements of the early classical and sensitive styles; the cantata choruses are often homophonic and songlike, polyphonic sections rather rare. All the cantatas prove to be individually conceived works that testify to the composer's mastery. Beautiful sounding arias, the naturalness of their expression and the dramatic compression in the individual movements are still convincing today. At the same time, the cantatas bear witness to the high quality of Protestant church music in the period after Johann Sebastian Bach and illustrate the high value of music within the liturgy. Today they can be a welcome addition to the repertoire for the Christmas season. Album Tracks 1. Wilkommen, Du Sehnlich Erbetener Tag 2. Seid Böse, Ihr Völker 3. Auf, Jauchzet, Ihr Christen 4. Willkommen, Du Schönster Der Tage

Along with Wilhelm Stenhammar and Wilhelm Peterson-Berger, Hugo Alfvén surely ranks with the leading composers of Swedish late romanticism. In the country of his birth he made a name for himself above all with his compositions inspired by Swedish folklore, one of which, Midsommarvaka, his most famous work, is heard on Vol. 1 of our new edition of his complete symphonic works. It is both astonishing and impressive that Alfvén, who previously had composed nothing more than a few piano pieces, songs, and chamber works, suddenly came forward in 1897 with a full-length symphony of some forty minutes in length. This highly regarded Symphony No. 1 exhibits very finely nuanced tone colors, and with it he immediately became known as a capable and experienced composer. Alfvén composed Drapa, a monumental, magnificent, and festive work with the subtitle InchKing Oscar II in memoriam,Inch for a gala event at the Royal College of Music and conducted it's premiere on 18 October 1908. For our ambitious project we have secured the support of the German Symphony Orchestra of Berlin and Lukasz Borowicz - one of Germany's best orchestras and one of today's most promising young conductors. Album Tracks 1. I. Grave - Allegro Con Brio 2. II. Andante 3. III. Allegro, Molto Scherzando 4. IV. Allegro, Ma Non Troppo 5. Drapa, for Orchestra, Op. 27, R62, 'In Memoriam King Oscar Ii' 6. Swedish Rhapsody No. 1, Op. 19, 'Midsommarvaka'

Album Tracks 1. Feria 2. Corrente II 3. Arena