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Reviewer: David Vickers
In the early 1650s Johann Rosenmüller was promised that he would become the next Thomaskantor, but this plan was scuppered when he was thrown into a Leipzig gaol as part of an investigation into alleged pederasty. He escaped and found refuge in Venice for about 25 years, finding work as a trombonist and composer at St Mark’s, and sometimes working as maestro di coro at the Ospedale della Pietà. It seems he returned to his homeland in 1682 when he was appointed Hofkapellmeister at Wolfenbüttel, where the epitaph on this tomb praised him as ‘the Amphion of his age’.
This hypothetical Marian Vespers collects together an assortment of psalms and antiphons that probably date from his Venetian years but which were circulated in manuscript to German princely chapels. Cornetts and sackbuts are played expertly by the Johann Rosenmüller Ensemble, whereas string and continuo instruments are played judiciously by L’Arco. The Hanover Boys’ Choir are joined by guests for the florid upper-voice solos: sopranos Veronika Winter and Maria Skiba, and countertenors Henning Voss and Alex Potter. The tenor and bass solos and also the plainchant antiphons are all sung excellently by senior choristers. The softgrained choral textures featuring more than 40 younger boys on the treble and alto lines conspire with splendid instrumental playing and intelligent solo singing to pull the listener through a rich banquet of psalms.
A leaner
all-adult consort of voices might have achieved more focused dramatic
exclamations in passages such as ‘Juravit Dominus’ in Dixit Dominus, but
Jörg Breiding’s nuanced handling of the juxtapositions between compassionate
solo singing and eloquent full choruses is often spot-on. A marvellous setting
of Laudate pueri Dominum had me on the edge of my seat several times.
There is plenty of flair and exuberance in a convivial Laetatus sum
(during which the Hanoverian tenor and bass soloists are especially impressive).
The addition of a high trumpet to the brass ensemble lends a distinctive slant
to an eight-part Lauda Jerusalem, and the minorkey contrapuntal climax to
the Magnificat confirms Rosenmüller’s stature as supremely gifted
composer worthy of a lot more attention. |
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