PSALMEN (Rademann, Rémy)
One composer, whose oeuvre finds an exceptional variety of equally impressive and moving psalm settings, is placed here front and center: Heinrich Schütz. The "father of German music" created a "psalms project" of a breadth and depth unlike any other composer through the musical arrangement of the Becker Psalter and of many other works. He is thus representative of all composers who have devoted themselves to the psaltery over the centuries, with the aim of continually reaching people - whether as singers or as silent listeners - through the settings of these oldest songs.
Contents
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Preface writer
Meinrad Walter
| 1959Meinrad Walter ist ein ausgewiesener Kenner im interdisziplinären Gespräch zwischen Musik und Theologie. Er promovierte über Johann Sebastian Bachs geistliche Vokalmusik und war anschließend in Wissenschaft, Journalismus, Musikmanagement und Verlagswesen tätig. Seit 2002 ist er Kirchenmusikreferent der Erzdiözese Freiburg, seit 2008 Lehrbeauftragter für Theologie und Liturgik an der Freiburger Musikhochschule. Er ist Mitherausgeber der Zeitschriften Musik und Kirche und Musica Sacra, publiziert in Fachblättern und ist durch Radiosendungen, Vorträge und Workshops einem breiten Publikum bekannt. Personal details
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Choir
Dresdner Kammerchor
DRESDNER KAMMERCHOR Radiant, transparent, homogeneous and flexible: the Dresdner Kammerchor is internationally esteemed for its unique culture of sonority. Its artistic director Hans-Christoph Rademann has shaped this distinctive sound since the choir was founded in 1985, leading it to worldwide renown. The choir’s diverse repertoire has its foundation in Baroque music, with a special focus on Saxon court music. As a cultural ambassador for Dresden and Saxony, the choir keeps the musical heritage of its homeland alive and makes it known to an international audience. A prominent example of this is the world’s first complete Heinrich Schütz recording, which was concluded in 2019, published by Carus-Verlag, and has won several awards: among others, the St. John Passion was awarded the Annual Prize of the German Record Critics in 2016, and the last installment of the edition containing “Psalms and Peace Music” was honored with the Opus Klassik 2020. The choir has also rediscovered, performed anew and recorded on CD numerous works by other Central German masters such as Johann Adolf Hasse, Johann David Heinichen and Jan Dismas Zelenka in collaboration with the Dresden Baroque Orchestra and other musical partners. In addition to symphonic choral works from the Classical and Romantic periods, a further repertoire focus is on challenging a cappella works of the 19th and 20th centuries. This includes music by Johannes Brahms, Max Reger, Olivier Messiaen, Francis Poulenc, Arnold Schoenberg and Herman Berlinski. For years, the Dresdner Kammerchor has been intensively dedicated to modern and contemporary music, with world premieres, first performances and its own commissioned works. This commitment is deepened further by diverse music education and youth projects. In 2009, Hans-Christoph Rademann and the Dresdner Kammerchor initiated the Dresden Choral Workshop for New Music, which took place for the 4th time in 2018. For its services to contemporary choral music, the choir was awarded a Sponsorship Prize by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation. The Dresdner Kammerchor gives guest performances in centers of music and at festivals throughout Europe. Tours have taken the singers to Israel, India, Taiwan, China, Mexico, South America, South Africa and the USA. Musical partners to date have included René Jacobs, Sir Roger Norrington, Ádám Fischer, Václav Luks, Stefan Parkman, Trevor Pinnock, Christoph Prégardien, Jos van Immerseel, Herbert Blomstedt, Omer Meir Wellber, Christian Thielemann, Riccardo Chailly and Reinhard Goebel, as well as the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Anima Eterna Brugge, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, and the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra. The choir regularly collaborates with the Wroc"naw Baroque Orchestra. By means of a cooperation with the Dresden University of Music, the Dresdner Kammerchor keeps the connection to its roots alive. Personal details
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Conductor
Hans-Christoph Rademann
| 1965Conductor Hans-Christoph Rademann is an immensely versatile artist with a broad repertoire who devotes himself with equal passion and expertise both to the performance and rediscovery of early music and to the first performances and cultivation of Contemporary Music. Born in Dresden and raised in the Erzgebirge mountains, he was influenced at an early age by the great Central German kantorial and musical tradition. He was a student at the traditional Kreuzgymnasium, a member of the famous Kreuzchor, and studied choral and orchestral conducting at the Carl Maria von Weber University of Music in Dresden. During his studies, he founded the Dresdner Kammerchor and formed it into a top international choir which is still under his direction today. Since 2013, Hans-Christoph Rademann has been the academy director of the International Bach Academy Stuttgart. He regularly collaborates with leading choirs and ensembles of the international music scene. From 1999 to 2004 he was chief conductor of the NDR Choir and from 2007 to 2015 chief conductor of the RIAS Chamber Choir. Guest conducting engagements have led and continue to lead him to the Nederlandse Bachvereniging, the Collegium Vocale Gent, the Akademie für Alte Musik, the Freiburger Barockorchester, the Deutsche Radiophilharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern, the Sinfonieorchester Basel, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg, among others. Hans-Christoph Rademann has been awarded prizes and honors for his artistic work, including the Johann Walter Plaque of the Saxon Music Council (2014), the Saxon Constitutional Medal (2008), the Sponsorship Prize as well as the Art Prize of the state capital Dresden (1994 and 2014 respectively). He received the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik several times for his numerous CD recordings (most recently in 2016), as well as the Grand Prix du Disque (2002), the Diapason d’Or (2006 & 2011), the CHOC de l’année 2011 and the Best Baroque Vocal Award 2014. In 2016 he was awarded the European Church Music Prize of the city of Schwäbisch Gmünd. His exemplary interpretation and recording of the complete works of Heinrich Schütz with the Dresdner Kammerchor in the Stuttgart Carus-Verlag, which was completed in 2019, was awarded the newly endowed Heinrich Schütz Prize as well as the OPUS KLASSIK 2020 in the same year. Hans-Christoph Rademann is professor of choral conducting at the Carl Maria von Weber University of Music in Dresden. He is also artistic director of the Musikfest Erzgebirge, ambassador of the Erzgebirge and patron of the Christian Hospice Service Dresden. Personal details
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Conductor
Ludger Rémy
The harpsichordist/pianist and conductor Ludger Rémy († June 2017) felt an obligation to meet the challenge set by the theorist Mattheson to combine theory and practice. He studied school music and harpsichord in Freiburg, followed by private studies with Kenneth Gilbert in Paris. In 1998 he was appointed to a professorship for early music in Dresden. Around 70 CD productions – several have been awarded prestigious prizes – both as instrumentalist and conductor, as well as numerous concerts at home and abroad (at festivals incl. Utrecht, Brügge, Paris, Saintes, Bachfest Leipzig, Händelfestspiele Göttingen, Musikfestspiele Dresden) made him one of the leading musicians active in the rediscovery and revival of early German music. Personal details
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Soloist - soprano
Dorothee Mields
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Soloist - soprano
Ulrike Hofbauer
Ulrike Hofbauer studied singing and vocal pedagogy in Würzburg and Salzburg and at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. She has collaborated as a soloist with numerous renowned ensembles and conductors. Her interest in acting finds its outlet on the opera stage, among others in/at the theaters in Basle, Berne and Magdeburg. With her own prize-winning ensemble savadi, Hofbauer combines historical authenticity with modern esprit and emotionality; projects with larger forces are realized with her ensemble &cetera. Since 2014 she has taught Baroque singing at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg. Her repertoire embraces all epochs and styles – her intensive preoccupation with musical rhetoric, ornamentation and the “recitar cantando” style thereby form the main emphases of her artistic work. Personal details
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Soloist - soprano
Birgit Jacobi
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Soloist - soprano
Isabel Schicketanz
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Soloist - soprano
Magdalena Kircheis
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Soloist - soprano
Aneta Petrasová
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Soloist - alto
David Erler
As a scholarship recipient of the Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung Munich, David Erler studied voice in Leipzig with Marek Rzepka. The sought-after soloist throughout Europe works with Peter Van Heyghen, Jos van Immerseel, Wolfgang Katschner, Hermann Max, Hans-Christoph Rademann, Ludger Remy, and Roland Wilson as well as ensembles such as Collegium Marianum Prag, Ensemble Inegal, Gesualdo Consort Amsterdam, Lautten Compagney Berlin, Les Muffatti Brussel, and Weser- Renaissance Bremen. He is also in great demand as a guest singer in vocal ensembles such as the ensemble amarcord, the Calmus Ensemble, Singer Pur and Stimmwerck. More than 50 CD productions, as well as engagements at prestigious festivals (including the Bachfest Leipzig, Handelfestspiele Halle, Resonanzen Wien, Musica Antiqua Brugge) are further evidence of his artistic work. He is also the editor of the Cantatas by Johann Kuhnau, at Pfefferkorn Musikverlag in Leipzig. Personal details
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Soloist - alto
Stefan Kunath
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Soloist - alto
Franziska Neumann
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Soloist - tenor
Georg Poplutz
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Soloist - tenor
Tobias Mäthger
Tenor Tobias Mäthger studied singing, conducting and school music in Dresden and works as a freelance singer, conductor, teacher and church musician. He has already achieved considerable success with a varied concert career both nationally and internationally. He is a member and soloist with the Dresdner Kammerchor, as well as a member of the soloists’ ensemble of the Musik Podium Stuttgart under Frieder Bernius. In addition, he regularly works with leading artists and ensembles including Marc Minkowski, Rafael Frubeck de Burgos, Dresden Staatskapelle, the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, Bremer Kammerphilharmonie, Dresdner Kreuzchor, Rheinische Kantorei and many others, as a soloist or as a conductor’s assistant. Personal details
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Soloist - bass
Martin Schicketanz
The baritone Martin Schicketanz began studying voice at the Hochschule für Musik Dresden in 2008. He continued his vocal training in the concert classes of Christiane Junghanns and Olaf Bär. On the opera stage he has already performed such roles as "Zangezi" in a joint project of the same name produced together by the Semperoper, Dresden and the composition class of Manos Tsangaris. Schicketanz has a special affinity for works in the area of concert music and already he performs regularly in oratorios and cantatas at various festivals, including the Gstaad Menuhin Festival (CH), the Musikfest Stuttgart (Germany), the BOZAR Festival (Belgium) and the Musikfest Erzgebirge (Germany). Musically and professionally he received vital stimulus through his participation in master classes given by Britta Schwarz, Dorothee Mields and Ingeborg Danz. He also sings in various ensembles, including the Dresdner Kammerchor, Collegium 1704, and the Collegium Vocale Gent. Personal details
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Soloist - organ
Michaela Hasselt
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Soloist - theorbo
Stefan Maass
Stefan Maass studied classical guitar and lute, specializing in music of the 17th and 18th centuries, both as a soloist and as a continuo player. He is Lord of Batzdorf Castle near Meißen and co-founder of the Batzdorf Hofkapelle. He regularly performs in the opera houses of Halle and Karlsruhe, the Semper Opera Dresden and the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. His numerous CD productions include collaborations with the Dresdner Kammerchor conducted by Hans-Christoph Rademann and the Capella Sagittariana, the Dresdner Staatskapelle, Thomas Quasthoff, Daniel Hope and the contralto Britta Schwarz, as well as with the actors Corinna Harfouch and Michael Quast. Stefan Maass was awarded the prestigious Arras Prize for Art and Culture in Dresden in March 2000. Personal details
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Soloist - trumpet
Thomas Friedlaender
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Soloist - violin
Margret Baumgartl
Margret Baumgartl studied violin in Dresden with Günter Friedrich and in Munich with Urs Stiehler. During her time as a student she specialized in authentic performance practice on historic instruments, working with conductors such as René Jacobs, Frieder Bernius, Jos van Immerseel, and Hans-Christoph Rademann. Her most important teacher and chamber music partner in the area of early music was Reinhard Goebel. She was a member of Musica Antiqua Köln from 2002 to 2006, performing in concerts throughout Europe, the USA and Canada, and appearing in a TV film on Bach’s The Art of Fugue. Margret Baumgartl became the concertmaster of the Dresdner Barockorchester in 2004. Personal details
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Soloist - violone
Matthias Müller
Matthias Müller works as a freelance musician in Freiburg im Breisgau. Since completing his studies he has pursued a busy international concert career, including performing on numerous CDs. The range of instruments he plays encompasses all of the gamba family, including various types of violone, and the lyra da gamba. Since 2000 he has been a permanent member of the ensemble Cantus Cölln, and also works together with various other leading ensembles and conductors. Personal details
Reviews
Die musikalische Qualität des Ganzen steht außer Zweifel... Aufnahmetechnisch ist alles auf demselben hohen Niveau.
Hartmut Schütz, Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten, 10.08.2017
Wunderbare Wortdeutlichkeit und subtile Textausdeutung lassen jedes einzelne Stück zu einem akustischen Schatz werden!
Gustav Danzinger, CHOR aktuell, September 2017
Heinrich Schütz war einer der ganz Großen protestantischer Kirchenmusik. ... Werden sie [seine Psalmvertonungen] so beseelt gesungen wie hier, ist das auch nach 500 Jahren noch sprürbar.
Tagesspiegel, 25.06.2017
Ihre Interpretationen berühren, lassen die tiefe Frömmigkeit und zugleich die enorme rhetorisch-handwerkliche Geschicklichkeit erspüren, mit der Schütz den Text ausdeutet.
Anette Sidhu-Ingehoff, SWR Cluster, 19.06.2017
Der Dresdner Kammerchor singt einfühlsam und sehr textbezogen. Intonation und Phrasierung sind tadellos, was zu einer guten Verständlichkeit des gesungenen Worts führt.
Pizzicato, 18.06.2017
Der Dresdner Kammerchor unter der Leitung von Hans-Christoph Rademann erweckt diese geistlichen Musiken wirklich zum Leben - eine absolute Empfehlung.
Astrid Belschner, kulturradio, 07.06.2017