Reinhard Kasier lived during a time of both innovation and conflict
in the Hamburg sacred music scene, when disapproval was rife
amongst the purists at the development of church music. Due
in no small measure to the influence of opera, the passion genre
in particular was blossoming from a purely liturgical form,
to one more theatrical, and which was embellished with arias,
chorales and instrumental movements.
This disc presents some of the few pieces of Kasier’s sacred
music still extant. It opens with the motet Ich liege und
schlafe ganz mit Frieden, which is dated at around 1700
and in which Kasier – primarily known for his operas, rather
than sacred music - sets a psalm text for four voices, five-part
strings and basso continuo. It is followed by a fragment of
a St Luke Passion, Wir gingen alle in der Irre, most
likely by Kasier. An oratorio passion, this combines free aria
texts (the authorship of which is unidentified) with sections
from Luke Chapter 22. It is an innovative and highly dramatic
work, which breaks from tradition in the setting of the texts
– the sense of theatricality thus also pointing to Kaiser as
its probable composer. The disc concludes with Seelige Erlosungs-Gedancken,
a selection of music made in 1715 from an oratorio composed
four years previously.
Despite the fact that the solo singers are clearly of a very
high standard, the performances as a general rule are disappointingly
lack-lustre and very clinical, with little or no concession
to the meaning of the texts or the implied emotion that might
be conveyed thereby. Although the enunciation of the words is
clear, dynamic variation is very limited, and a much greater
range of colour and subtlety of shaping are needed. The incisiveness
of the instrumental playing from the Capella Orlandi Bremen
is also sadly lacking. It is especially disappointing, as the
size of the ensemble and the intimacy of the recording would
allow such variation to be clearly heard.
These un-dramatic interpretations are particularly unfitting,
given the subject of the works, the tensions and sufferings
that are portrayed by the narrative, and Kaiser’s own sense
of the theatre, and one rather feels that a potentially exciting
composer has been let down by the performances. The very poor
translations of the too-meagre booklet notes (very little information
indeed about the composer) also disappoint.
Em Marshall
Capella Orlandi Bremen, Thomas Ihlenfeldt (conductor), Eeva Tenkanen (soprano), Doerthe Maria Sandmann (soprano), Olivia Vermeulen (mezzo-soprano), Knut Schoch (tenor), Julian Podger (tenor), Raimonds Spogis (bass), Matthias Jahrmarker (bass)
