Heinrich Schütz Cantiones Sacrae. Complete recording, Vol. 5 (Rademann)

Heinrich Schütz is regarded as the first German musician of European stature. As a choirboy from 1599 at the court of Landgrave Moritz of Hessen-Kassel, he received a thorough education. In 1608 he began a law degree in Marburg, but broke this off in 1609 in order, with the support of the Landgrave, to study composition with Giovanni Gabrieli, organist at St Mark’s in Venice. In 1613 Schütz returned to Kassel, but two years later was enticed away by Elector Johann Georg I of Saxony to the Dresden court as “Organist und Director der Musica”, where he held the position of Hofkapellmeister (court Kapellmeister) from 1617 until his death. Schütz’s great cycles of vocal works marked the high point of his reputation in Germany and northern Europe. But these represent only part of Schütz’s output; individual works are represented in printed collections with works by other composers, others only survive in manuscript, and much has been lost. The Stuttgart Schütz Edition makes available Schütz’s complete oeuvre, and all works are also published in practical Urtext editions. Personal details

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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

Conductor 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

Marie Luise Werneburg loves Renaissance and Baroque music. She grew up in a musical rectory in Dresden, and then developed her musical inclination and talent by firstly studying church music in Dresden and then later studying singing in Bremen. She is a sought-after soloist who pursues her passion for early music by singing concerts worldwide with, among others, the Ensemble Weser-Renaissance Bremen, the Lautten Compagney Berlin, the Rheinische Kantorei and Bell’Arte Salzburg. She is especially passionate about J.?S.?Bach’s cantatas and oratorios and H.?Schütz’s oeuvre. But she has also been enchanted by other musical treasures by less well-known composers such as Rosenmüller and Biber. Additionally, Werneburg’s other favorite musical projects include collaborating with the harpsichordist Elina Albach and her ensemble CONTINUUI IM, as well as with Hille Perl and the Sirius Viols. Personal details

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Oliver Kaden received his early musical training in the Dresdner Kreuzchor. After passing his secondary school examinations he took lessons with Mario Hoff in Weimar before studying singing in Dresden with Piotr Bednarski. The young tenor performs with ensembles such as the Collegium Vocale Gent under Philippe Herreweghe, the Dresdner Kammerchor, Dresdner Barockorchester, musicians from the Dresden Philharmonic, and others. He has sung under conductors including Hans-Christoph Rademann, Sir Roger Norrington, Ekkehard Klemm, Ludwig Guttler, and Asher Fisch. On stage he has performed Pyramus in Pyramus and Thisbe by John Frederick Lampe at the Landesbühnen Sachsen. He has also sung Ottokar in Johann Strauss’s The Gipsy Baron and Freddy Eynsford-Hill in Lerner and Loewe’s My Fair Lady at the Mittelsachsisches Theater in Freiberg. Personal details

Ratio, Emotio, Physis – reason, emotion and physics – to be able to bring these three human aspects together in singing, that is the great challenge and the profound joy in Felix Schwandtke’s life. Being the son of a mathematician and an engineer, he has been shaped by analytical thinking; music provided a way for him to relate this to emotion, and to explore, with joy, the developing interaction. In the process, early music became an important catalyst, and his creative work lead him to renowned ensembles all across Europe, bringing with it many new musical encounters. Among these, the ones who have made the most impact are Hans-Christph Rademann, Ludger Rémy and Lars Ulrik Mortensen, as well as the director and Baroque dancer Milo Pablo Momm. Personal details

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

Frauke Hess studied musicology in Hamburg, then began studying the gamba in 1999 with Sarah Cunningham and Hille Perl. She also attended masterclasses with J. Savall, W. Kuijken, P. Pandolfo and V. Ghielmi. Since 2000, she has been a freelancing musician, both as a soloist as well as ensemble musician, has performed on many renowned festivals with groups such as Musica Antiqua Koln, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, Orlando di Lasso Ensemble, Balthasar Neumann Ensemble, Freiburger Barock Consort a.o. She has made numerous CD and radio recordings. Frauke Hess was a prizewinner at the 3rd International Telemann Competition. In 2007, she graduated with distinction in the Early Music Department in Bremen with Hille Perl. Her first solo CD appeared in 2012 with works Buxtehude, Erlebach, Kuhnel, a. o. Personal details