Heinrich Schütz's choral music began to be recorded as soon as performers started looking into Bach's predecessors in Germany, and most of it has been recorded often. There are big readings by modern choirs and careful historically inclined versions, with advantages to each. Perhaps never, however, has there been a Schütz collection that throws his works into such sharp relief, and it comes not from Germany, with its deep bench of choirs, or from Italy, home of the cutting edge in Baroque performance, but from France. The ...
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Heinrich Schütz's choral music began to be recorded as soon as performers started looking into Bach's predecessors in Germany, and most of it has been recorded often. There are big readings by modern choirs and careful historically inclined versions, with advantages to each. Perhaps never, however, has there been a Schütz collection that throws his works into such sharp relief, and it comes not from Germany, with its deep bench of choirs, or from Italy, home of the cutting edge in Baroque performance, but from France. The vocal-instrumental group Les Cris de Paris and director Geoffroy Jourdain have issued some wonderful Baroque recordings, and this is one of the best. The ensemble size, 22 choristers and about the same number of instrumentalists, is perfect. The program differentiates two major phases of Schütz's career, with stylistic advances precipitated by the composer's two trips to Italy, in 1609 and 1628, where he soaked up the groundbreaking innovations of, respectively, Giovanni Gabrieli and...
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