Outil de traduction (Très approximatif)
Translator tool (Very approximate)
Reviewer:
Fabrice Fitch
This enjoyable
recording, the first of an intended series on music in Baltic countries,
presents a series of Lutheran cantatas written in late 17th-century and
18th-century Danzig (the German name for Gdan´sk) by some of its leading church
composers, all of whose names are new to me: the oldest, JV Meder, died in 1719,
and the youngest, JBC Freislich and JD Pucklitz, died in 1774. In between comes
JJ du Grain (d1756), represented by a single cantata, Hertzlich lieb hab ich
dich. This is perhaps the thinnest offering here (its more pathetic accents
seem pasted on); the others are more accomplished and offer more scope for
choir, soloists and ensemble. Meder’s Singet, lobsinget evokes a festive
atmosphere most economically, and the more extensive selections from Freislich
and Pucklitz show a decent stylistic range and agreeable invention (Freislich’s
short Das ist meine Freude has an effective obligato trumpet part and
Pucklitz’s Ich will in allen Sachen a graceful one for bassoon).
The performances emphasise these qualities; ‘workmanlike’ may sound like damning
with faint praise but I mean it here entirely positively. Perhaps more might
have been made of the menacing opening section of Pucklitz’s Kehre wieder,
which presages (however briefly) a more troubling atmosphere. The choir is
stretched a bit further in his Ich will in allen Sachen, though this is
not unduly troubling. Each of the soloists, finally, makes at least one telling
contribution.
The performances
emphasise these qualities; ‘workmanlike’ may sound like damning with faint
praise but I mean it here entirely positively. Perhaps more might have been made
of the menacing opening section of Pucklitz’s Kehre wieder, which
presages (however briefly) a more troubling atmosphere. The choir is stretched a
bit further in his Ich will in allen Sachen, though this is not unduly
troubling. Each of the soloists, finally, makes at least one telling
contribution.
The sound recording is worthy of
Dabringhaus und Grimm’s usual standard, though the absence of an English
translation of the texts is regrettable.
Support
us financially by purchasing this disc from eiher one of these suppliers. FR -
U.S. -
UK
-CA -
DE- JA -
Un achat via l'un ou l'autre des fournisseurs proposés contribue à
défrayer les coûts d'exploitation de ce site.
FR -
U.S. -
UK
-
CA -
DE -
JA -
