Schütz Motets
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Heinrich Schütz
Label: Classics
Magazine Review Date: 5/1992
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 72
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 37085-2
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Geistliche Chormusik, Movement: So fahr ich hin zu Jesu Christ, SWV379 |
Heinrich Schütz, Composer
Craig Smith, Conductor Emmanuel Music Chorus Heinrich Schütz, Composer |
| Geistliche Chormusik, Movement: Das ist je gewisslich wahr, SWV388 |
Heinrich Schütz, Composer
Craig Smith, Conductor Emmanuel Music Chorus Heinrich Schütz, Composer |
| Geistliche Chormusik, Movement: Unser Wandel ist im Himmel, SWV390 |
Heinrich Schütz, Composer
Craig Smith, Conductor Emmanuel Music Chorus Heinrich Schütz, Composer |
| Cantiones sacrae, Movement: Quid commisisti, o dulcissime puer, SWV56 |
Heinrich Schütz, Composer
Craig Smith, Conductor Emmanuel Music Chorus Heinrich Schütz, Composer |
| Cantiones sacrae, Movement: Ego sum tui plaga doloris, SWV57 |
Heinrich Schütz, Composer
Craig Smith, Conductor Emmanuel Music Chorus Heinrich Schütz, Composer |
| Cantiones sacrae, Movement: Ego enim inique ege, SWV58 |
Heinrich Schütz, Composer
Craig Smith, Conductor Emmanuel Music Chorus Heinrich Schütz, Composer |
| Cantiones sacrae, Movement: Quo, nate Dei, SWV59 |
Heinrich Schütz, Composer
Craig Smith, Conductor Emmanuel Music Chorus Heinrich Schütz, Composer |
| Cantiones sacrae, Movement: Calicem salutaris accipiam, SWV60 |
Heinrich Schütz, Composer
Craig Smith, Conductor Emmanuel Music Chorus Heinrich Schütz, Composer |
| Cantiones sacrae, Movement: Heu mihi, Domine, SWV65 |
Heinrich Schütz, Composer
Craig Smith, Conductor Emmanuel Music Chorus Heinrich Schütz, Composer |
| Cantiones sacrae, Movement: Sicut Moses serpentem in deserto exaltavit, SWV68 |
Heinrich Schütz, Composer
Craig Smith, Conductor Emmanuel Music Chorus Heinrich Schütz, Composer |
| Cantiones sacrae, Movement: Aspice, Pater, püssimum filium, SWV73 |
Heinrich Schütz, Composer
Craig Smith, Conductor Emmanuel Music Chorus Heinrich Schütz, Composer |
| Cantiones sacrae, Movement: Nonne hic est, SWV74 |
Heinrich Schütz, Composer
Craig Smith, Conductor Emmanuel Music Chorus Heinrich Schütz, Composer |
| Cantiones sacrae, Movement: Reduc, Domine Deus meus, SWV75 |
Heinrich Schütz, Composer
Craig Smith, Conductor Emmanuel Music Chorus Heinrich Schütz, Composer |
| Cantiones sacrae, Movement: Supereminet omnem scientiam, SWV76 |
Heinrich Schütz, Composer
Craig Smith, Conductor Emmanuel Music Chorus Heinrich Schütz, Composer |
| Cantiones sacrae, Movement: Pro hoc magno mysterio pietatis, SWV77 |
Heinrich Schütz, Composer
Craig Smith, Conductor Emmanuel Music Chorus Heinrich Schütz, Composer |
| Das ist mir Lieb (Psalm 116) |
Heinrich Schütz, Composer
Craig Smith, Conductor Emmanuel Music Chorus Heinrich Schütz, Composer |
Author: Lindsay Kemp
These two releases (both of which present a number of works not otherwise in the catalogue) make a useful complementary pair. Accent's disc offers pieces from a single published collection—the Latin Cantiones sacrae of 1625—while the longer-playing Koch release features a few of the Cantiones alongside works from the Geistliche Chor-Music of 1648, together with an isolated German psalm-setting from 1616, Das ist mir Lieb. Notwithstanding the notably large dimensions of this last, all these works tend towards the intimate; the Cantiones seem to have been intended for private devotional use, while the German motets of the Geistliche set were written as exemplars of contrapuntal elegance and rectitude. It is thus a rather Renaissance-sounding Schutz we get here; there are no double choirs or instrumental ensembles, just dignified (though by no means staid) choral writing of consummate quality.
The Boston-based Emmanuel Music Chorus on Koch is certainly equipped to portray Schutz as the serene master composer with musical principles securely grounded, like Bach's, in the techniques of the preceding generation. The choir offers a pleasing sound; though it has plenty of body, the use of female altos lends it a wellblended and consistently mellow tone, and in their church acoustic they are able to float the more tender music on to the air in a manner that can be quite delicious. The premium clearly put on sheer beauty of sound by conductor Craig Smith means, too, that while the louder passages certainly do not lack weight, they are generally free from harshness or distortion. Smith also values gentle, gracefully shaped phrases above telling local detail in his interpretations, but though the results are attractive, for my part I found myself wishing from time to time for just a touch more drama. The performances are occasionally let down, too, by singers' lack of individual technique, leading to intonational slips in places and a slight unwieldiness at intricate corners (for instance the little roulades which initiate Ego enim inique egi).
It is in this latter regard that the Currende Vocal Ensemble, under Erik van Nevel, score more highly. Concentrating as they do on the madrigal-like music of the Cantiones sacrae, their superior vocal agility and harder-edged sound (admittedly organ-supported) give them a penetrating quickness of expressive response, a dart-like incisiveness compared to which the Emmanuels seem armed only with blunt instruments. Currende also offer a greater rhythmic dimension, for example in the dancing, Bach motet-like Cantate Domino canticum novum. Quite simply, Schutz is here made to sound more like a baroque composer. But though these are performances that achieve a greater level of sophistication than those of the Emmanuels, there comes with that a tendency towards knowing coolness that excludes the slight mystical element hinted at by the Americans. On balance, I suspect that of the two it is to the Currende disc that I would be more likely to return, but it's a close-run thing.'
The Boston-based Emmanuel Music Chorus on Koch is certainly equipped to portray Schutz as the serene master composer with musical principles securely grounded, like Bach's, in the techniques of the preceding generation. The choir offers a pleasing sound; though it has plenty of body, the use of female altos lends it a wellblended and consistently mellow tone, and in their church acoustic they are able to float the more tender music on to the air in a manner that can be quite delicious. The premium clearly put on sheer beauty of sound by conductor Craig Smith means, too, that while the louder passages certainly do not lack weight, they are generally free from harshness or distortion. Smith also values gentle, gracefully shaped phrases above telling local detail in his interpretations, but though the results are attractive, for my part I found myself wishing from time to time for just a touch more drama. The performances are occasionally let down, too, by singers' lack of individual technique, leading to intonational slips in places and a slight unwieldiness at intricate corners (for instance the little roulades which initiate Ego enim inique egi).
It is in this latter regard that the Currende Vocal Ensemble, under Erik van Nevel, score more highly. Concentrating as they do on the madrigal-like music of the Cantiones sacrae, their superior vocal agility and harder-edged sound (admittedly organ-supported) give them a penetrating quickness of expressive response, a dart-like incisiveness compared to which the Emmanuels seem armed only with blunt instruments. Currende also offer a greater rhythmic dimension, for example in the dancing, Bach motet-like Cantate Domino canticum novum. Quite simply, Schutz is here made to sound more like a baroque composer. But though these are performances that achieve a greater level of sophistication than those of the Emmanuels, there comes with that a tendency towards knowing coolness that excludes the slight mystical element hinted at by the Americans. On balance, I suspect that of the two it is to the Currende disc that I would be more likely to return, but it's a close-run thing.'
Schütz Motets
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