Most of the surviving
music from early baroque German composer
Heinrich Schütz was composed for
liturgical purposes; these Symphoniae
sacrae (Sacred Symphonies) are no
exception. They were composed
in three books, two of which are contained
on this Brilliant Classics release.
The first collection appeared in Venice
in 1629; the second in 1647. They mainly
consist of settings of Biblical texts,
particularly from the Old Testament,
with some non-scriptural and Lutheran
material.
Schütz travelled
to Italy twice during his lifetime and
studied in Venice with the master composers:
Giovanni Gabrieli and Monteverdi. Schütz
thoroughly internalised the Venetian
polychoral concertato style, giving
equal weight to both voices and instruments,
which is the predominant style of his
works, particularly in the three books
of Symphoniae sacrae. We are
told that the German performers of Schütz’s
day found the requirements of the Italian
style technically extremely difficult
to perform.
The amount of variety
that Schütz puts into these works
is tremendous, constantly contrasting
each piece with different instrumental
and vocal combinations ensuring a kaleidoscope
of German early Baroque colour.
The performances from
Cappella Augustana under the capable
direction of their founder and organist
Matteo Messori are generally excellent.
Especially fine are the team of vocalists
who perform with plenty of expression,
imagination and commitment. However
occasionally the trumpet, cornet and
trombone players find their period instruments
difficult to tame but this should not
put off any prospective purchaser.
Brilliant Classics
recordings are infuriating where booklet
notes are concerned. There are usually
so many mistakes, poor translation and
crucial omissions in the annotation
that it is easy to question the accuracy
of any information that we are given.
Yes, I know that Brilliant Classics
are a super-budget label but to sort
out these problems should be so simple.
I am pleased to say that on this release
we are given texts which have been translated
into English (often texts are not included
at all). However bewildering mistakes
abound in the booklet notes due to poor
translation.
The SACD sound is naturally
recorded and the performances are really
well sung and played, getting right
to the heart of the music. This Brilliant
Classics release from the Cappella Augustana
under Matteo Messori should serve any
purchaser well and at super-bargain
price will not lighten the wallet too
much.
Michael Cookson