Hohes Lied (Bernius)
The polyphonic choral arrangements by Clytus Gottwald, the founder and only director of the Schola Cantorum Stuttgart, are legendary and in the meantime belong to the established repertoire of many professional concert choirs. Frieder Bernius juxtaposed four of Gottwald’s most well-known arrangements for multiple voices of works by Debussy and Ravel, as well two original compositions from Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur (1908–2002) and Carl Christian Fasch (1736–1800). Fasch composed his ambitious 16-voice Mass as a cornerstone for the founding of the famous Berliner Singakademie. To be sure, in its extreme use of writing for multiple voices the Mass refers to the great Roman tradition of Palestrina from the 16th century, but at the same time makes use of the new possibilities of choral sound pointing towards the 19th century. The Gottwald arrangements of Schumann’s Vier Gesängen after poems by von Eichendorff – a world premiere recording – round out this CD of discriminating and fascinating repertoire.
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Contents
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Preface writer
Clytus Gottwald
| 1925-2023The choral conductor, composer and musicologist Clytus Gottwald (1925 - 2023) made significant contributions to contemporary choral music. As editor for New Music at Südfunk Stuttgart and founder and director of the Schola Cantorum Stuttgart, he was in productive exchange with his contemporaries, Pierre Boulez, Mauricio Kagel, György Ligeti, Luigi Nono, Karlheinz Stockhausen and many others. With his Schola Cantorum, a 16-voice chamber vocal ensemble, Gottwald decisively shaped the a cappella choral culture of the highest technical level that is taken for granted today. Clytus Gottwald's transcriptions of piano songs and instrumental pieces for unaccompanied choir are appreciated by choirs all over the world. Modelled on the style of Ligeti, his works set the highest of musical standards. Clytus Gottwald has received several awards for his services, including the Cultural Prize of Baden-Württemberg in 2009, the European Church Music Prize in 2012, and the Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2014. His importance for the development of contemporary choral music cannot be overestimated. Personal details
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Choir
Kammerchor Stuttgart
The Kammerchor Stuttgart is regarded as one of the best ensembles of its kind. Over its fifty-year existence, Frieder Bernius has developed the choir into an exceptional ensemble acclaimed by audiences and press alike. This has led to invitations for the choir to perform at all the important European festivals. In Germany the chamber choir performs at festivals and in concert halls in repertoire ranging from the 17th to the 21st century. Frieder Bernius and his ensemble have received numerous accolades for their contribution to new music. The Kammerchor Stuttgart has made over 80 CDs and LPs, numerous of which have been awarded international recording prizes (including the Edison award, Diapason d’or, Gramophone Choice, Classical Internet Award, International Classical Music Award, and German Record Critics’ Award prizes). The International Federation for Choral Music has invited the ensemble to sing at the 1st, 4th and 10th World Symposia on Choral Music in Vienna, Sydney and Seoul. Regular tours of North America and Asia since 1988 and a South America tour reflect the Kammerchor Stuttgart’s international reputation. Since 1984 the top ensemble has also been invited to Israel biennially. Personal details
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Conductor
Frieder Bernius
| 1947Frieder Bernius’s work has earned great worldwide recognition. He is in demand internationally as a conductor and as a teacher. His principal artistic collaborators are the ensembles he founded himself, the Kammerchor Stuttgart, the Barockorchester Stuttgart, the Hofkapelle Stuttgart and the Klassische Philharmonie Stuttgart. As a guest conductor, he has collaborated repeatedly with, for example, the SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester and the Streicherakademie Bozen. Great stylistic versatility is Frieder Bernius’s hallmark. Whether he conducts vocal works by Monteverdi, Bach, Händel, Mozart, Beethoven, Fauré and Ligeti, stage music by Mendelssohn or symphonies by Haydn, Burgmüller and Schubert, his work always aims for a sound that is at once unmistakably personal and at the same time oriented towards the original period sound ideal. He devotes himself equally to the rediscovery of 18th century operas and to first performances of contemporary compositions. He is particularly interested in the musical history of southwestern Germany. Carus-Verlag has awarded Frieder Bernius a Golden CD for his complete recording of the sacred music of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. The award was presented to him during the German Choir Festival in Stuttgart 2016. The sale of over 250,000 recordings, which has been acclaimed with a number of awards, has made a not insignificant contribution to what today is the obvious presence of Mendelssohn's complete œuvre in the concert repertoire. Personal details
Reviews
[...] Was hier interpretiert wird, erfordert Solisten und/oder Profis im Ensemblesingen. Unterm Etikett Kammerchor Stuttgart sind sie vereinigt. Bei einem exquisiten Programm. [...] Dirigent Frieder Bernius und seine Sänger bieten Vokalqualität oberster Güte.
Johannes Adam
Badische Zeitung, 15.05.2009
Anspruchsvoll, faszinierend, exklusiv und zumeist unbekannt: was sich auf dieser CD versteckt, ist wirklich ein Geheimtipp für Liebhaber des Aussergewöhnlichen. [...]
Christian Albrecht
Musik & Liturgie, 5/09
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