Sebastian Knupfer? If you know of him, it is far more likely to be through reading about him than hearing his music – his name does not grace the current catalogue. In either event you should be pleased by this issue. He was the pre-penultimate predecessor of Bach, becoming organist and choirmaster at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig in 1657 at the age of 24, remaining in the post until his death in 1676; he was followed by Johann Schelle (also mislaid in aural history’s wash) and Kuhnau. His popularity in Germany was high, and it is due to the many surviving hand-written copies of his music and the work of Brian Clark in transcribing them that history’s flawed verdict is overturned by this recording – here there is no such thing as double jeopardy.
Most of the works on the CD are in the form of vocal concertos in which passages for soloists contrast with the weight of the choir, and Knupfer’s versatile use of the latter is most impressive. No less striking is his symbolic use of the often large body of instruments, as in Herr, strafe mich nicht in deinem Zorn, where humility and pain are expressed through two recorders in the second verse, and God’s wrath by trumpets and timpani in the third and last, which ends on a conciliatory note, quietly sounded by the trumpets – God is merciful. His style is a personal reconciliation of Italian and German elements, underpinned by mastery of every facet of his compositional craft. There is no respect in which the vocal and instrumental performances or the recording fail to do justice to a composer whose revival is long overdue. I strongly recommend you to discover this for yourselves. Bravo, Hyperion!'