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Jean Françaix ~ Trio for Oboe, Bassoon and Piano

The Trio for Oboe, Bassoon and Piano was commissioned by the International Double Reed Society, the British Double Reed Society, the IDRS Germany e.V., the Japan Bassoon Society and the 24th International Double Reed Festival in Rotterdam. The première took place at the Rotterdam Festival in September 1995. The combination of Piano, Oboe and Bassoon is very unusual and there are therefore, only a handful of original works composed specifically for this ensemble combination. Jean Françaix himself wrote in a letter dated 11th August 1995: "This combination of instruments balances better than that of violin, cello and piano. All too often the strings are drowned by Steinway power: but the oboe and bassoon can get the pianist to dance to their tune without making him draw in his claws - which most of them hate having to do." The character and harmonies within the Trio are very French and typically Françaix! The work requires technical dexterity and lyrical expressiveness from all three musicians.

Camille Saint-Saëns ~ Sonata for Bassoon and Piano in G major Op. 168

The bassoon is often considered the clown of the orchestra but in his Sonata for Bassoon and Piano Saint-Saëns explores the elegant and dignified nature of the instrument. He began composing at the age of three and completed approximately three hundred works. Other French composers such as Poulenc and Ravel were said to have been inspired by Saint-Saëns, and Poulenc is even alleged to have borrowed musical ideas from him! The woodwind sonatas belong to his later works and were each dedicated to highly regarded players of the era. The Sonata for Bassoon is dedicated to his friend, Leon Letellier, and who was also the principal bassoonist of the Paris Opera orchestra. The piece begins in the high tenor register and emerges from, what seems like nothing - as if the melody had been hanging in the air just waiting to be heard before unfolding to become an elated melody. The second movement is a virtuosic scherzo which exemplifies the typically humorous character of the bassoon. The third movement begins once again with a floating melody that evolves into an impassioned middle section characterized by rhythmic passagework before the reprise disperses the tension eventually ending on an imperfect cadence which leads directly into the juxtaposed circus like finale.

Maurice Ravel ~ La Valse for solo Piano

Written between 1919 and 1920 at the request of the famous ballet impresario Sergey Diaghilev, La Valse was intended as a tribute to the Waltz style made popular by Johann Strauss. In contrast to Ravel's initial conception, he subsequently transformed La Valse into a cataclysmic and macabre tone poem which came to signify the despair and destruction of World War 1. In his own words: "I feel that this work is a kind of apotheosis of the Viennese waltz, linked in my mind with the impression of a fantastic whirl of destiny." When Ravel finally presented the work to Diaghilev, the latter famously dismissed it, and their working relationship ended. Ravel originally wrote La Valse for Solo Piano, then for Two-Pianos, and finally for orchestra. The original Solo Piano version leaves out too many "orchestral" details so the version presented here contains additional textures from the version by A. Icharev and also from Abramski himself.

Edward Longstaff ~ Aegeus

When the Greek hero Theseus sailed away to do battle with the Minotaur, his father, King Aegeus, feared greatly for his life. In order not to endure the anxiety a moment longer than necessary, he asked Theseus to change the black sail of his ship to white if he was victorious, and spend each day alone on a cliff-top watching for the vessel's return. Theseus was successful, but in the elation of slaying the Minotaur he forgot his promise. Seeing the black sail, the despairing Aegeus threw himself from the cliff into the sea which has born his name to this day - the Aegean. "The piece is a meditation on Aegeus's vigil, motionless and noble, his thoughts a turmoil of alternating hope and fear. Towards the end of the work, over a rhythmic piano ostinato, the oboe (which identifies with the King throughout) increasingly builds a sense of wild elation at thoughts of Theseus's victory and return, giving way at the climax to feelings of despair and bereavement. Crashing chords in the bass and the cries of the oboe are portents of what is to come when he sees the black sail, but the ending leaves Aegeus still on the cliff-top; solitary and waiting."

Francis Poulenc ~ Trio for Piano, Oboe and Bassoon

In 1920 Francis Poulenc was counted amongst the "Groupe des Six" which included the composers Darius Milhaud, Arthur Honegger, Louis Durey, Jean Cocteau, Germaine Tailleferre and Georges Auric. Technically speaking this was not a Society but rather the creation of a music journalist who simply used these representatives of Modernism as an analogy to "The Mighty Handful", the group of five Russian Composers including Mussorgsky and Balakirev in the second part of the 19th Century. The Trio was composed in 1926 and is dedicated to the Spanish composer Manuel de Falla. It is written in the typical quick - slow - quick form and is considered to be amongst Poulenc's finest works. It is also the first instance of Poulenc giving a more dominant role to the piano within his chamber music writing.

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eaningful dialogue between religions is no doubt one of the most pressing challenges of the modern world. Developments over the past few years clearly confirm what a significant role this aspect of human communication represents. Despite breathtaking technological breakthroughs and the related trend of rational scepticism, man still remains a religious creature. Ignoring this sphere of human personality not only leads to an impoverishment of the spiritual culture of a nation, but also to mutual estrangement of nations. And so what a wonderfully enriching experience it is then two cultures meet in mutual dialogue rather than confrontation.
As a biblical quotation has it, Spiritus flatubivult - the Spirit blows wherever it pleases. These words suggest an image of the unbound "blowing of God's spirit" traversing all religious traditions. It is precisely by seeking this spirit that we can liberate ourselves from long established differences and share the common "message" of religions. Many would agree that music plays an important role in such communication, crossing barriers and working as a kind of universal language.
The intention of the Tendai monks and the Schola Gregoriana Pragensis ensemble was to create a dialogue of two spiritual cultures based on the musical repertoire of the Buddhist and the Christian tradition. Thus, this recording is the fruit of mutual collaboration at concerts and liturgy in Prague in 2000 and a tour of Japan in 2005. These meditative encounters focus on interesting contrasts in the two musical languages and expressions, at the same time seeking common elements present in both traditions. Parallels can be found, for example, in the recitation of the sacred text or in the interpretation principle of alternating a soloist with a choir, which overlaps the boundaries of confession repertoires. Another striking feature is the tonality based on the pentatonic scale appearing both in shomyo singing and Gregorian chant.
Gregorian chant is the earliest liturgical singing of the western Christian tradition. Its roots reach back to the first centuries of the Christianera. The core of this sacral repertoire was established in about the second half of the 8th century under the reign of Charles the Great. Homophony and Latin texts are typical features of this style. Most prominent in the Gregorian chant is the singing of psalms, sometimes conceived in a simple recitation (as in the psalm Misere mei Deus and the antiphon Alieni insurrexerunt) and in others (such as the tractus Deus, Deus meus) in a richer melodic shape. While the core of the repertoire has remained more or less unchanged since the early Middle Ages, liturgical singing is still a dynamic phenomenon, having incorporated new musical forms and accepting even polyphonic compositions.
Gregorian chants on this recording draw predominantly from the earliest part of the repertoire (around the second half of the 8th century), as it seems to resonate best with the meditative feeling of shomyo singing. To create contrast, several examples of late medieval music including a polyphonic composition (the conductus Mundus a munditia) have been selected for the recording.
There are also two songs of Czech origin. The procession antiphon Sedit angelus from the Easter Vigil has survived in Bohemia in an accompaniment of an interesting two voice verse. Ave virgo gloriosa also represents the repertoire of Czech sacred songs (cantiones) of the late Middle Ages. It is complemented interestingly on this recording by the "hum" of the recited Lotos sutra.

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his live recording is part of a cycle of oratorios and masses, performed in the basilica of Maulbronn Abbey under the direction of Jürgen Budday. The series combines authentically performed oratorios and masses with the optimal acoustics and atmosphere of this unique monastic church. This ideal location demands the transparency of playing and the interpretive unveiling of the rhetoric intimations of the composition, which is especially aided by the historically informed performance. The music is exclusively performed on reconstructed historical instruments, which are tuned to the pitch customary in the composer's lifetimes (this performance is tuned in a' = 415 Hz).

From Leipzig to Bethlehem

The Mass in B Minor BWV 232 is best thought of as an anthology, a collection of his "best" sacred music that Bach assembled in the last years of his life. During the 1730s and 1740s, Bach put together several such kunstbücher (literally, books of art); the most widely known are The Art of Fugue, the four volumes of the Clavier Übung, and the 17 Chorales of Different Kinds. Some of these anthologies Bach either published or intended to publish; others, like the Mass, he did not. These less "commercial" distillations he left to his heirs, physical and spiritual, to preserve and disseminate to those who were interested.
With the exception of the opening four measures of the first "Kyrie", it seems that every movement of the Mass is a reworking of an existing vocal composition, either sacred or secular. At least one such movement, the "Crucifixus", dates to the Weimar years. The "Kyrie" and "Gloria" were put together in 1733, as a presentation piece to the Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, from whom Bach sought, ultimately successfully, the professionally and socially invaluable position of Court Composer. The "Sanctus" is a careful and subtle revision of the setting of the text that he wrote for performance in Leipzig on Christmas Day, 1723. The "Symbolum Nicenum" [the "Credo" section], and the concluding movements of the Mass were added in the late 1740s, when both Bach's eyesight and his health were failing.
The "Kyrie", the "Gloria", and the "Symbolum Nicenum" are all in five voices; the texture expands to six voices in the "Sanctus" and eight in the "Osanna". As Joshua Rifkin's controversial, but as yet unrefuted, findings have demonstrated convincingly, the Mass in B Minor, like almost all of Bach concerted vocal music in fact, was meant to be sung by one singer to each line, even in the "choruses". The principle is a simple one: Each performer got his own part, no matter how big or how small his rôle, and he shared that part with no one else.
The complement of five "soloists" has caused numerous problems over the years. Who, for instance, sings the "Laudamus te", which is assigned to the second soprano, in a performance for which only one soprano soloist has been engaged? The soprano or the alto? Elly Ameling once remarked in a radio interview that it was the soloist who made the mistake of looking at the conductor first when the aria came up at rehearsal. Many conductors, however, assign the two bass solos to different soloists, when Bach calls only for one bass; the reason is simple: The "Quoniam" lies lower in the main than the "Et in spiritum sanctum". While assembling the second half of the Mass some ten to fifteen years after he delivered the parts of the "Kyrie" and "Gloria" to the Court in Dresden, Bach was not concerned about making the compass of the two arias comport comfortably with one another.
Although many, if not all, of the components could have been, and were, performed as parts of the various Leipzig church services for which Bach provided the music, he gave no complete performance of the B Minor Mass, nor, apparently, did he ever intend to put one on. It is, therefore, supremely ironic that this, Bach's own distillation of his "greatest" vocal music, apparently did not receive its first complete performance until more than 100 years after his death.
There was, however, great interest in the work among the cognoscenti in the decades after Bach's death as well as in the years after the onset of the general revival of interest in his music that was spawned by Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's seminal performance of the St. Matthew Passion BWV 244 with the Berlin Singakademie in 1829. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach put on a performance of the "Symbolum Nicenum" in Hamburg in 1784, preceding it with a short instrumental introduction of his own composition. (For this performance, as a guide to his copyists, Philipp Emanuel "touched up" the orchestration a bit on his father's autograph score, which also has sustained some water damage, and his editorial changes went unnoticed until nearly ten years ago. As it happens, therefore, a copy made by Philipp Emanuel's pupil, Schwenke, provides a more accurate text than the autograph itself.)
Haydn owned a copy of the Mass. Beethoven unsuccessfully sought to obtain one. Spontini put on a performance of the "Symbolum Nicenum", through the "Et resurrexit", in Berlin in 1828, with 92 in the chorus, 56 strings, clarinets, horns, and bassoons, but no trumpets or oboes. Under the direction of Carl Friedrich Rungenhagen, the Berlin Singakademie gave the "Kyrie" and "Gloria" in 1834, and the balance of the work the following year. Portions of the Mass were performed at the Birmingham Festival as early as 1837, and the Mass was among the works regularly performed by the London Bach Choir, which was founded in 1876.
The first complete performance of the B Minor Mass in the USA was given in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, by The Bach Choir of Bethlehem, under the direction of its founder, Dr. J. Fred Wolle, in 1900. This first public presentation of the Mass in America inaugurated an annual series of festival performances of the work that continues in Bethlehem to this day.
For three decades, from 1939 -- seven years after Dr. Wolle's death -- until 1969, The Bach Choir was directed by the distinguished Welsh choral conductor, Ifor Jones. His forthright, Romantic reading of the score -- chockerblock full of rubatos and ritards -- was recorded in 1960 [22]. Even though it is clearly his own interpretative handiwork, Jones's performance preserves many of the interpretive traditions and conventions that had been established by Dr. Wolle in his 32 years at the helm of the Choir, traditions and interpretative quirks that have been almost completely expunged, alas, in recent years. The first "Kyrie", for instance, is preceded by a Moravian chorale. Intoned softly off stagby a brass choir, the hymn setting gives the pitch to the chorus, which comes in, forte, on the chorale's final chord. Un-Bachian though it may be, the effect is undeniably overwhelming.
A very large but exceptionally well trained amateur chorus -- more than 175 singers -- is balanced against a smallish orchestra made up largely of members of the Philadelphia Orchestra, including such distinguished instrumentalists as hornist Mason Jones and oboist John DeLancie. The vocal soloists are average; only the golden trumpet of soprano Lois Marshall stands out. In better voice than she was three years earlier when she sang the soprano part for Eugen Jochum, she is assigned the "Laudamus te" in addition to the music normally given to the first soprano. This important documentation of the Bach Choir of Bethlehem's approach to the Mass before it was diluted by a much more recent director's preference for "authenticity" rather than local tradition is also a satisfying reading, one that will prove particularly appealing to those who like Bach played "with the heart on the sleeve" as the old saying goes.

Teri Noel Towe (December 2001)

Copyright © by Bach Cantatas Website. Contributed by Teri Noel Towe (December 2001). Written by Teri Noel Towe, and originally printed in "Choral Music on Record", edited by Alan Blyth (Cambridge University Press, first published 1991). The copyrights in this article belong to the Cambridge University Press.

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mazing, these blues notes; for me, a subject that never ceases to fascinate, those small, dirty inconsistencies that give Swing its grooviness time and time again.. Recently, I thought that it would really sound very interesting if these hallmarks of jazz were actually played on historical instruments. What really surprised me, however, was discovering - in the course of comparing the baroque compositions of old maters - that these stylistic tools of the musical revolution of the 20th century were in fact quite usual back in Bach's day or at the court of the French King. I wish you a most pleasant evening with this concert.

Josef-Stefan Kindler

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uring his lifetime, Louis Spohr, born on April 5th 1784 in Braunschweig (Germany), was named as one of the greatest violinists beside Niccolò Paganini. Unlike many of his contemporaries, whose works are celebrated today, Louis Spohr was already famous during his lifetime and he was considered as one of the great artists of his era, as a musician and conductor and, in fact, as a composer. His rich oeuvre includes more than 200 works, including chamber music, concertos, symphonies, several operas and four oratorios.
"The Last Judgement" was Louis Spohr's second oratorio and one of his most famous compositions these times. A contemporary reviewer discribed the oratorio as "one of the greatest musical creations of the age." "The Last Judgement" is originated in Kassel between 1825 and 1826, where Spohr has appointed as Music Director after a successful artist career. Spohr himself wrote about the successful premiere, which took place in Kassel on Holy Friday 1826 in a darkened choir under a cross, illuminated by 600-glass lamps: "I must say to myself - the effect was extraordinary! Before that I never had those emotion of satisfaction during the performance of one of my larger works!". Although this oratorio isn't well known today, the sucess of "The Last Judgement" is documented with numerous other performances during the first half of the 19th century. The libretto for "The Last Judgement" is written by the dramatist and music writer Johann Friedrich Rochlitz (1769-1842). The oratorio describes in two parts the scares of the Apocalypse and of the Last Judgement ("Babylon the great is fallen"), based on the Book of Revelation from the New Testament. At the end of the fight between God and the Devil a new heaven and a new earth replace the old. A new "city" is born: the New Jerusalem.

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his live recording is part of a cycle of oratorios and masses, performed in the basilica of Maulbronn Abbey under the direction of Jürgen Budday. The series combines authentically performed oratorios and masses with the optimal acoustics and atmosphere of this unique monastic church. This ideal location demands the transparency of playing and the interpretive unveiling of the rhetoric intimations of the composition, which is especially aided by the historically informed performance. The music is exclusively performed on reconstructed historical instruments, which are tuned to the pitch customary in the composer's lifetimes (this performance is tuned in a' = 415 Hz).

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vital aspect of Jürgen Budday's interpretation of George Frideric Handel's The Messiah, apart from matters of performance practice, is his focus on the work's dynamic conception. Dynamics are notated in the autograph manuscript, but Handel further annotated the Dublin score to mark the ripieno passages. By adding shifts in ensemble strength to the alternation of piano and forte, Handel evokes an ample measure of contrast and colour. Handel's dynamic indications in The Messiah go beyond the usual forte, piano and pianissimo to include mezzo piano and un poco piano, markings by which he intended an even finer differentiation. One would do well, when preparing a performance, to observe the ripieno indications in the Dublin score, as they are for the most part essential to Handel's dynamic conception. Examples in point include the arias Comfort ye (No. 2) and Ev'ry valley shall be exalted (No. 3); the choruses And the glory, the glory of the Lord (No. 4) and His yoke is easy, His burthen is light! (No. 18); as well as the beginning of the Hallelujah chorus (CD II, No. 16).

The Maulbronn interpretation takes this dynamic conception seriously and clearly differentiates solo and ripieno sections in the numbers just mentioned. This inevitably gives rise to novel and more subtle auditory impressions, for which the beginning of the Hallelujah chorus provides a clear example. Elsewhere, Handel's senza ripieno indications appear to have been motivated more by consideration of the technical inadequacies of his ripienisti, and therefore were not observed in the Maulbronn performance. The libretto and the music, each in itself and together as a whole, form a providential unity. The libretto, ascribed to Charles Jennens, is no mere compilation of Bible quotations, and Jennens made various changes to the wording of the selected text passages. In the course of successive performances, Handel composed variants of some of the arias to fit the immediate occasion or circumstances. For the Maulbronn performance, those variants were chosen that Handel himself is said to have preferred.

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his live recording is part of a cycle of oratorios and masses, performed in the basilica of Maulbronn Abbey under the direction of Jürgen Budday. The series combines authentically performed oratorios and masses with the optimal acoustics and atmosphere of this unique monastic church. This ideal location demands the transparency of playing and the interpretive unveiling of the rhetoric intimations of the composition, which is especially aided by the historically informed performance. The music is exclusively performed on reconstructed historical instruments, which are tuned to the pitch customary in the composer's lifetimes (this performance is tuned in a' = 415 Hz).

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uring the second half of the 17th century, there were trends toward the secularization of the religious oratorio. Evidence of this lies in its regular performance outside church halls in courts and public theaters. Whether religious or secular, the theme of an oratorio is meant to be weighty. It could include such topics as Creation, the life of Jesus, or the career of a classical hero or biblical prophet. Other changes eventually took place as well, possibly because most composers of oratorios were also popular composers of operas. They began to publish the librettos of their oratorios as they did for their operas. George Frideric Handel also wrote secular oratorios based on themes from Greek and Roman mythology. He is also credited with writing the first English language oratorio.
"Israel in Egypt", the fifth of the nineteen oratorios which Handel composed in England, was written in 1738, the composition of the whole colossal work occupying but twenty-seven days. It was first performed April 4, 1739, at the King's Theatre, of which Handel was then manager. It is essentially a choral oratorio. It comprises no less than twenty-eight massive double choruses, linked together by a few bars of recitative, with five arias and three duets interspersed among them. Unlike Handel's other oratorios, there is no overture or even prelude to the work. Therefore - exactly how conductor Jürgen Budday did it - many artists starts the performance of "Israel in Egypt" with the Overture from the Oratorio "Solomon". Especially because of the fact, that Handel replaced in 1756 the first part of "Israel in Egypt" (which was originally a funeral anthem for Queen Caroline) through an shortened version of the first act from his oratorio "Solomon".
Handel's London oratorios usually includes three parts or acts. However, "Israel in Egypt" has been published and almost performed with two parts, which follows the compositional technique for Oratorios in Italy.
The first part describes "the exodus" of the Israelites from Egypt to escape the slavery. Six bars of recitative for tenor suffice to introduce the first part, "Exodus", and lead directly to the first double chorus, the theme of which is first given out by the altos of one choir with impressive pathos. The chorus works up to a climax of great force on the phrase ("And their Cry came up unto God"), the two choruses developing with consummate power the two principal subjects - first, the cry for relief, the second, the burden of oppression; and closing with the phrase above mentioned, upon which they unite in simple but majestic harmony. Then follow eight more bars of recitative for tenor, and the long series of descriptive choruses begins, in which Handel employs the imitative power of music in the boldest manner.
The second part, "The Song of Moses", is basically a huge praise and victory anthem, which reflects the persecution and salvation. It ends in praise and glory to the Lord. A few bars of recitative referring to the escape of Israel, the choral outburst once more repeated, and then the solo voice declaring ("Miriam the prophetess took a trimbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances; and Miriam answered them"), lead to the final song of triumph. That grand, jubilant, overpowering expression of victory which, beginning with the exultant strain of Miriam ("Sing ye to the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously"), is amplified by voice upon voice in the great eight-part choir, and by instrument upon instrument, until it becomes a tempest of harmony, interwoven with the triumph of Miriam's cry and the exultation of the great host over the enemy's discomfiture, and closing with the combined power of voices and instruments in harmonious accord as they once more repeat Miriam's words ("The Horse and his Rider hath He thrown into the Sea").
Six bars of recitative for tenor ("Now these arose a new King over Egypt which knew not Joseph") suffice to introduce the first part, and lead directly to the first double chorus ("And the Children of Israel sighed"), the theme of which is first given out by the altos of one choir with impressive pathos. The chorus works up to a climax of great force on the phrase ("And their Cry came up unto God"), the two choruses developing with consummate power the two principal subjects -- first, the cry for relief, the second, the burden of oppression; and closing with the phrase above mentioned, upon which they unite in simple but majestic harmony. Then follow eight more bars of recitative for tenor, and the long series of descriptive choruses begins, in which Handel employs the imitative power of music in the boldest manner. The first is the plague of the water turned to blood ("They loathed to drink of the River") -- a single chorus in fugue form, based upon a theme which is closely suggestive of the sickening sensations of the Egyptians, and increases in loathsomeness to the close, as the theme is variously treated. The next number is an aria for mezzo soprano voice ("Their Land brought forth Frogs"), the air itself serious and dignified, but the accompaniment imitative throughout of the hopping of these animals. It is followed by the plague of insects, whose afflictions are described by the double chorus. The tenors and basses in powerful unison declare ("He spake the word"), and the reply comes once from the sopranos and altos ("And there came all manner of flies"), set to a shrill, buzzing, whirring accompaniment, which increases in volume and energy as the locusts appear, but bound together solidly with the phrase of the tenors and basses frequently repeated, and presenting a sonorous background to this fancy of the composer in insect imitation. From this remarkable chorus we pass to another still more remarkable, the familiar "Hailstone Chorus" ("He gave them Hailstones for Rain"), which, like the former, is closely imitative. Before the two choirs begin the orchestra prepares the way for the on-coming storm. Drop by drop, spattering, dashing, and at last crashing, comes the storm, the gathering gloom rent with the lightning, the fire that ran along upon the ground." But the storm passes, the gloom deepens, and we are lost in vague, uncertain combination of tones where voices and instrument are seem to be groping about, comprised in the marvelously expressive chorus ("He sent a thick Darkness over all the Land"). From the oppression of this choral gloom we emerge, only to encounter a chorus of savage, unrelenting retribution ("He smote all the First-born of Egypt"). After this savage mission is accomplished, we come to a chorus in pastoral style ("But as for His people, He led them forth like Sheep"), slow, tender, serene, and lovely in its movement. The following chorus ("Egypt was glad"), usually omitted in performance, is a fugue, both strange and intricate. The next two numbers are really one. The two choruses intone the words ("He rebuked the Red Sea"), in a majestic manner, accompanied by a few massive chords, and then pass to the glorious march of the Israelites ("He led them through the deep") -- an elaborate and complicated number, but strong, forcible, and harmonious throughout, and held together by the stately opening theme which the basses ascend. It is succeeded by another graphic chorus ("But the Waters overwhelmed their Enemies"), in which the roll and dash of the billows closing over Pharaoh's host are closely imitated by the instruments, and through which in the close is heard the victorious shout of the Israelites ("There was not one of them left"). Two more short choruses -- the first ("And Israel saw that great work") and its continuation ("And believed the Lord"), written in church style, close this extraordinary chain of choral pictures.
The second part, "The Song of Moses", opens with a brief but forcible orchestral prelude, leading directly to the declaration by the chorus ("Moses and the Children of Israel sang this Song"), which, taken together with the instrumental prelude, serves as a stately introduction to the stupendous fugued chorus which follows ("I will sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously; the Horse and his Rider hath He thrown into the Sea"). It is followed by a duet for two sopranos ("The Lord is my Strength and my Song") in the minor key -- an intricate but melodious number, usually omitted. Once more the chorus resumes with a brief announcement ("He is my God"), followed by a fugued movement in the old church style ("And I will exalt Him"). Next follows the great duet for two basses ("The Lord is a Man of War") -- a piece of superb declamatory effect, full of vigor and stately assertion. The triumphant announcement in its closing measures ("His chosen Captains also are drowned in the Red Sea") is answered by a brief chorus ("The Depths have covered them"), followed by four choruses of triumph -- ("Thy right Hand, O Lord"), an elaborate and brilliant number; ("And in the greatness of Thine excellency"), a brief but powerful bit; ("Thou sendest forth Thy Wrath"); and the single chorus ("And with the Blast of Thy nostrils"), in the last two of which Handel again returns to the imitative style with wonderful effect, especially in the declaration of the basses ("The Floods stood upright as an Heap, and the Depths were congealed"). The only tenor aria in the oratorio follow these choruses, a bravura song ("The Enemy said, "I will pursue'"), and this is followed by the only soprano aria ("Thou didst blow with the Wind"). Two short double choruses ("Who is like unto thee, O Lord") and ("The Earth swallowed them") lead to the duet for the contralto and tenor ("Thou in Thy Mercy"), which is the minor, and very pathetic in character. It is followed by the massive and extremely difficult chorus ("The People shall hear and be afraid"). Once more, after this majestic display, comes the solo voice, this time the contralto, in a simple, lovely song ("Thou shalt bring them in"). A short double chorus ("The Lord shall reign for ever and ever"), a few bars of recitative referring to the escape of Israel, the choral outburst once more repeated, and then the solo voice declaring ("Miriam the prophetess took a trimbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances; and Miriam answered them"), lead to the final song of triumph -- that grand, jubilant, overpowering expression of victory which, beginning with the exultant strain of Miriam ("Sing ye to the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously"), is amplified by voice upon voice in the great eight-part choir, and by instrument upon instrument, until it becomes a tempest of harmony, interwoven with the triumph of Miriam's cry and the exultation of the great host over the enemy's discomfiture, and closing with the combined power of voices and instruments in harmonious accord as they once more repeat Miriam's words ("The Horse and his Rider hath He thrown into the Sea").

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he characteristic that most distinguishes the great conductors of our time is the courage to identify with the work: the adventure of comprehending and interpreting. The personal perception and expression of the composition, the confrontation with the composers markings and the exploitation of the orchestra's character and virtuosity, all lead to a vital diversity in performances of a work. In our series "Art of Conduction" we present you conductors to whom a charm is attached, a magic personality that enables them to breathe new life into the works of the Great Masters.
Although five years lie between the recordings of the two works and place, orchestra and composer can not be placed in the same context, the signature, the flowing expressive tension, the accurate dynamics that Pavel Przytocki demands from the work and from the orchestra are clearly recognizable. In our opinion, he counts as one of the most innovative conductors of our time.

Josef-Stefan Kindler, Publisher

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his live recording is part of a cycle of oratorios and masses, performed in the basilica of Maulbronn Abbey under the direction of Jürgen Budday. The series combines authentically performed oratorios and masses with the optimal acoustics and atmosphere of this unique monastic church. This ideal location demands the transparency of playing and the interpretive unveiling of the rhetoric intimations of the composition, which is especially aided by the historically informed performance. The music is exclusively performed on reconstructed historical instruments, which are tuned to the pitch customary in the composer's lifetimes (this performance is tuned in a' = 415 Hz).

O

f Handel's late oratorios, Joshua was one of the most successful. Of the operas composed after Samson, only Judas Maccabaeus was performed more frequently during the composer's lifetime, and the latter's popularity was mainly due to the fact that, after the first series of performances, "See the conqu'ring hero comes", originally written for Joshua, was included in it. Handel started to work on Joshua on 19 July 1747, only two weeks after he had finished writing the Alexander Balus oratorio. Eleven days later, the first act was already on paper. The second act was completed in an even shorter time - by 8 August - and the entire opus was finished by 19 August. The world première took place in Covent Garden on 9 March 1748.
Joshua was one of four oratorios written in quick succession between 1746 and 1748 that all have strong military traits. In 1847, Judas Maccabaeus followed, a work that was extremely popular inasmuch as it was performed at least 33 times during the composer's lifetime. It appears clear that, after Judas Maccabaeus, Handel and his librettist, Thomas Morell, were at pains to repeat the successful recipe of a Jewish hero and triumphant choruses, but this time adding the romantic subplot that Judas lacked. Morell had hardly recovered from the exertions of Alexander Balus before he was already tackling the new libretto, based on a bloodthirsty account in the Book of Joshua in the Old Testament. He turned the campaigns against Jericho, Ai and the five kings into one dramatic block and extended the roles of Othniel and Achsa to create the background needed to provide romantic relief and to contrast the otherwise almost completely warlike plot.
The unusual tempo of Handel's composition must have challenged Morell to the extreme and the result was more a sequence of events than a fully developed plot. But the characters are strong - Joshua an imperious/domineering (if also a sometimes unbearably conceited) hero, Kaleb the suitably patriarchal leader type, shortly before retirement and on the verge of leaving the battlefield forever, his daughter, Achsa, worried, occasionally disapproving and engaged to Othniel, who finds it difficult to strike the right balance between the role of the young warrior that has been thrust upon him and that of the devoted lover. Over and above all this, there is a small but important role for an angel. A later score gives this part to a tenor, but it is generally assumed that, as is to be expected, the angel was played by a female or boy soprano in earlier performances.
As is the case with many of Handel's oratorios, the later performances underwent numerous rearrangements of the original score and for reasons that sometimes had little to do with music. The present version keeps to the score used in the 1748 performances, with the one concession that Handel's undated change to the second half of "Hark! 'tis the linnet" (1752?) is included. This is the only change made later that did not affect the original sequence of the movements. Handel had surprisingly few boy voices at his disposal to sing the upper parts of his choruses. However, as voices generally broke very much later in those days, we can assume that there were some excellent singers among them. Handel's soloists usually joined in the 'Tutti' parts (which most certainly must have put a huge strain on them during performances). Our 21st century choir has no need of such support.
At three points in the score, Handel notes that the brasses ought to be brought in and there is a short rhythmic entry at each of these points, on the basis of which the musicians of the time (led by the first trumpet) then had to improvise the necessary music. Handel's lavish casting of the oratorio points to the fact that his performances were financially secured. The large orchestra comprises - apart from the usual strings, oboes and bassoons - two flutes, trumpets, horns and timpani, respectively. Moreover, certain 18th century reports on performances gave us the idea of including cembalo, organ and archlute as continuo instruments. The most stunning passages of Handel's Joshua make full use of brass and timbali, and the resulting music is very impressive. Dramatic events like the collapse of the walls of Jericho, the destruction of the city by fire, Joshua's ability to stop the sun and moon in their tracks and to rouse an army of demoralized soldiers to action, not to mention the return of the hero in triumph from the battle offer heroic material that would have inspired any composer.
It might therefore come as no surprise that the fall of Jericho in Act II led Handel to use one of his wonderful 'thunder choruses' that incidentally also greatly impressed Hadyn when he heard it during a lavish performance at Westminster Abbey in 1791. Supposedly, he was familiar with the music, but was only half aware of its effect until he actually got to hear it. In any case, Hadyn was convinced that only a genius like Handel could ever have written such an outstanding composition or could indeed write one like it at any point in the future. The solemn march around the Ark of the Covenant, which hastens the destruction along, is also one of Handel's most beautiful compositions, and its amazing solemnity is impressive, while Kaleb's aria that follows it, "See the raging flames arise" turns out to be wonderfully dramatic. Othniel's "Place danger around me" is an equally outstanding Handel aria. Joshua was also the original source for the chorus "See the conqu'ring hero comes" that was only put into Judas Maccabaeus when its potential as a crowd-puller was recognized after the first performances of Joshua. At the same time, the quieter, more contemplative moments also deserve a mention: Kaleb's resigned aria "Shall I in Mamre's fertile plain", the heavenly chorus that follows it and the chorus of the vanquished Israelites, "How soon our tow'ring hopes are crossed as well as Othniel's "Nations who in future story" are all examples of Handel's best lyrical style. And between the triumphs and catastrophes of the battle, the scenes with Achsa offer additional contrast, with arias ranging from the pensive "Oh, who can tell" to the bird calls in "Hark! 'tis the linnet" and the joyful, ever-popular "Oh had I Jubal's lyre".

T

hese live recordings are part of a cycle of oratorios and masses, performed in the basilica of Maulbronn Abbey under the direction of Jürgen Budday. The series combines authentically performed oratorios and masses with the optimal acoustics and atmosphere of this unique monastic church. This ideal location demands the transparency of playing and the interpretive unveiling of the rhetoric intimations of the composition, which is especially aided by the historically informed performance. The music is exclusively performed on reconstructed historical instruments, which are tuned to the pitch customary in the composer's lifetimes (these performances are tuned in a' = 415 Hz).

F

or more than ten years now, we have been documenting the concerts in the Maulbronn Monastery. Among the many wonderful recordings that we have in the meantime released in this series, the performances of the oratorios composed by the man born as Georg Friedrich Händel are a real treasure. To have produced the greatest works of a composer in performance, in the same space, with the unmistakable hallmark of the conductor and with more or less the same choir, soloists and orchestra is something that I find impossible to write about in retrospective at the moment, given the challenges that were involved and the simple fact that the end of this series is not yet in sight. May our future recordings be many and just as successfull.
What is the fascination of the oratorios? Old music - it often attracts the wrong sort of clichés. Terms like tension, power, drama and virtuosity are simply not used as synonyms for works of this genre. But it is precisely factors like these that have induced us to preserve the oratorios for posterity, and in all their authenticity - as concerts.
Georg Friedrich Händel knew how to bewitch an audience, how to make it tremble - then as now. It was no different even for Haydn. Let me illustrate this with an anecdote: the fall of Jericho in Act II of the oratorio "Joshua" inspired Händel to compose one of his most magnificent "thunder choruses", and this Haydn experienced in person at a grandiose performance in Westminster Abbey in 1791. It made a huge impression on him. Haydn was supposedly familiar with the music, yet only half aware of its effect until he actually got to hear it. In any case, Haydn was convinced that only a genius like Händel could ever have written such an outstanding composition or, indeed, anything like it at any point in the future ...
Back then, people still had time - there were no distractions like television, radio or the Internet to overwhelm them. And yet Haydn still had great difficulty appreciating the true greatness and power of an oratorio properly. This power, this drama is the idea, the underlying concept of our retrospective. To create a cross-section - an interim balance, if you will - that brings you closer to the world of Händel's oratorios and the world of old music. We couldn't get the thunder choruses of Jericho out of our minds. So, working with Jürgen Budday, we have put together the most moving of the choruses, arias and orchestral sections of the oratorios. The essence is a cross-section of the most beautiful and powerful moments from eight oratorios about the heroes and kings of the Old Testament: The Power of Händel.

Josef-Stefan Kindler, K&K Verlagsanstalt, anno 2008

H

andel never set foot in Maulbronn - and basically speaking, his work has nothing to do with the world of medieval monasteries. And yet, for a good ten years now, this town in the old German state of Wuerttemberg that boasts the only completely preserved medieval monastery complex north of the Alps has played an important role in fostering Handel's oratorios. Now, thanks to live CD recordings, Handel aficionados from all over the world can be part of the Handel concerts at the Maulbronn Monastery, a UNESCO world cultural heritage site since 1994. Recordings of nine oratories are in the meantime available.
The concerts are conducted by Maulbronn church music director Jürgen Budday, instructor of music at the Evangelical Theology Seminar in Maulbronn and also responsible for church music at the Monastery church since 1978. Since that time, in addition to his official duties, Budday has also acted as artistic director of the Maulbronn Monastery Concerts, which came into being in 1968 and are the setting for the Handel concerts. These mostly take place in autumn, when the Monastery concert season is drawing to a close. The keystone of these concerts is the Maulbronn Chamber Choir, whose origins date back to 1983 and which now draws professional singers from all over Germany. Graduates of the Maulbronn Seminar make up the nucleus of this choir, which was originally formed for a concert tour of the United States. In the meantime, however, the choir and Jürgen Budday have given guest performances all over Europe and performed in the USA, Israel, South Africa and Namibia, as well as twice in Argentina.
The CDs of the Maulbronn Handel performances are recorded live and published by the K&K Verlagsanstalt, whose studios are based at Landau in the Palatinate. The company's Maulbronn Monastery Edition also includes highlights on CD of other Maulbronn Monastery concerts.
Editor Josef-Stefan Kindler immediately fell under the spell of the Maulbronn ambiance and was so convinced of its artistic potential that he developed the concept of the Maulbronn Monastery Edition. It was clear from the very start that the live recordings of the concerts in this collection would have to satisfy high artistic standards, since they were intended to be much, much more than mere souvenirs or records of events. The same applied to the performances of the Handel compositions. For Jürgen Budday, the important thing was historical authenticity in the actual performing of these works. He too wanted to put Maulbronn's fostering of Handel's legacy into a conceptual context and set up a cycle that was consistent in terms of content. So, contextually, all the Maulbronn productions are arranged in series such as "Biblical Heroes in Handel's Oratorios" or "Biblical Kings" or "Biblical Battle Commanders".
The series of live recordings for the Monastery Edition started with "Jephtha" in 1998. "Samson" followed in 1999. After a break of one year, it was the turn of "Judas Maccabaeus" in 2001, then came "Saul" in 2002, "Solomon" in 2003 and "Belshazzar" in 2004. The next two years were dedicated to the "Messiah" - the original composition was recorded in 2005, followed by the Mozart version in 2006, in keeping with "Mozart Year". 2007 saw the live recording of "Joshua".
All the Maulbronn recordings are the responsibility of sound engineer Andreas Grimminger of the K&K Verlagsanstalt, and technically the sound is simply exquisite. He places great value on bringing as much of the very special aura of these concerts as possible to the recordings and is highly successful in doing so. There is indeed a particular density to the mood of Handel concerts in this venerable monastery church - and although almost all of Handel's oratorios were composed with secular performance venues in mind, they have found a very suitable home in the Maulbronn Monastery church. It is therefore no coincidence that this is one of the things about the concerts at Maulbronn that even celebrity soloists hold in high regard. Countertenor Michael Chance, who has appeared in several concerts, made a point of telling Jürgen Budday that performing at Maulbronn was "a real highlight" on his calendar - and this is a calendar that includes concerts and operas at top venues. Right at the beginning of the series, Emma Kirkby, a world star on the old music scene, appeared at Maulbronn.
And besides Michael Chance, internationally sought-after soloists have come to Maulbronn and continue to do so. They include Nancy Argenta, Stephen Varcoe, Markus Schäfer and Marlies Petersen (shortly after her appearance at the Salzburg festival). But young singers with great promise also figure in the solo parts of Handel's oratorios here. The Emma Kirkby student, Miriam Allan, gave a truly world-class performance singing in "Joshua" - one that was not limited to her rendering of the famous air "Oh! had I Jubal's lyre?". And we will undoubtedly be hearing more of David Allsopp, the young countertenor who also appeared in "Joshua". The orchestra part has been in the hands of the Hanoverian Court Orchestra for some years now. This is an original sound ensemble of top-class musicians, who also love to come to Maulbronn. And, according to Jürgen Budday, the working relationship here is very productive.
The Handel CDs of the famous works offer an exciting alternative to recordings by the competition, and the Maulbronn versions are certainly able to hold their own here. Moreover, their value for the repertoire itself is anything but small. Take the case of "Joshua", for instance: to date, this is the only recording of the oratorio superior enough to compete with that recorded by Robert King and his "King's Concert". And the Maulbronn concert recording of the Mozart version of the "Messiah" on original instruments has also enriched the discography significantly. As yet - with the exception of the aforementioned Robert King and Peter Neumann with his Cologne Chamber Choir - no conductor and no choir have so consistently recorded so many Handel oratorios as Jürgen Budday and his Maulbronn Chamber Choir.

Dr. Karl Georg Berg, 2008,
Handel Memoranda, Händelhaus in Halle