Johannespassion. Complete recording, Vol. 13 (Rademann)
A co-production with MDR Figaro.
Awarded the Jahrespreis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik
Contents
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Composer
Heinrich Schütz
| 1585-1672Heinrich 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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Preface writer
Oliver Geisler
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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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Soloist - soprano
Marie Luise Werneburg
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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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 - tenor
Jan Kobow
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Soloist - tenor
Friedemann Condé
Friedemann Condé verbrachte die prägende Zeit seines musikalischen Werdegangs beim Dresdner Kreuzchor. Nach Abschluss des Abiturs im Jahr 1998 wurde er Mitglied des Sächsischen Vocalensemble Dresden und bestritt als Chorsänger und Solist zahlreiche Konzerte und wirkte in mehreren CD-Produktionen - u.a. der preisgekrönten Einspielung der Motetten von J.S.Bach - mit. Von 2006 bis 2011 war er ebenso festes Mitglied des Dresdner Kammerchors und dort an der Gesamteinspielung des Werkes von Heinrich Schütz beteiligt. Seit 2011 ist er an der Staatsoperette Dresden als Chortenor angestellt Personal details
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Soloist - bass
Harry van der Kamp
Harry van der Kamp has sung the entire solo and ensemble repertoires of the 16th to 18th centuries. He has given concerts under the batons of Leonhardt, Harnoncourt, Koopman, Herreweghe and Bruggen, as well as with the Hilliard Ensemble, Les Arts Florrisant, Cantus Colln, among others. Together with his Gesualdo Consort Amsterdam he has performed the entire madrigal oeuvre of the 16th and 17th centuries. Numerous inaugural recordings – including Sweelinck’s entire body of work – were highly praised. Counting Edison, Grammy, Echo, Diapason d’or and Midi prizes among his achievements, he was made a knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion in 2010. In 2012, he was made an honorary citizen of Amsterdam. He is professor emeritus at the University of the Arts in Bremen, and maintains a demanding schedule as masterclass lecturer and competition judge. Personal details
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Soloist - organ
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 - theorbo
Lee Santana
Lee Santana comes from a family of musicians in Florida, USA. After a circuitous route, he received diplomas with ‘summa cum laude’ distinctions from Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts in performance practice for early music and theory of music. His lute teachers included Pat O’Brien and Steven Stubbs. Since 1984 he has worked as a freelance lutenist and composer in Europe. He has performed in all the well-known European festivals and concert venues for early music, and has played with many leading European ensembles including Musica Fiata (Cologne), the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Hesperion XX (Spain) and Les Arts Florissants (France). His work as soloist, continuo player and composer can be heard on over 60 CDs, many of which have won prizes and awards including the German Record Critics’ Award and the ECHO Klassik. The main focus of his work is performing with the gamba player Hille Perl. Other major interests are the ensembles Sirius Viols and The Age Of Passions, as well as his work as a soloist. Personal details
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Soloist - violone
Frauke Hess
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
Reviews
Schütz Johannespassion
The performance by the Dresdner Kammerchor, under Hans-Christoph Rademann, is superb. Diction is crisp, and great attention is paid to Schütz’s careful text setting.
Choral Journal, August 2017
In fact, the excellent Jan Kobow as the Evangelist and Harry van der Kamp as a compellingly expressive Jesus keep the momentum going.
D. James Ross, Early Music Review, 06.06.2017
... seine Einspielung ...lebt von einem feinen musikalischen Geben und Nehmen zwischen den exzellenten Solisten und einem Chor, dessen ... Singen als stilbildend gelten kann.
Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik (German Record Critics’ Award), 23.03.2017
Dresdner Kammerchors musisering er òg framifrå: Korsongen er klokkerein og med tydeleg diksjon [...].
Die Musikalität des Dresdner Kammerchors ist exzellent: Der Chorgesang ist glockenrein und von deutlicher Aussprache [...].
Sjur Haga Bringeland, DAG OG TID, 23.09.2016
Die erprobten Solisten Kobow und van der Kamp als Evangelist und Jesus sowie der Dresdner Kammerchor meistern die mannigfachen Klippen in beeindruckender Art und Weise.
Christian Albrecht, musik & liturgie, 4/2016
Here, in any case, their choice of accompanying motets is affectingly rendered (yes, even the Litany) and perfectly judged.
Fabrice Fitch, Gramophone, August 2016
As with the other two Passion settings, the highest priority is clarity of the text.
Ophelias Culture PR, 14.04.2016
Die Deklamation ist makellos, jede Silbe lässt uns am Geschehen teilhaben. Die Erzähler führen den Hörer durch die Geschichte, sie lassen den Faden nie abreißen.
www.pizzicato.lu, Remy Franck, 18.04.2016
Hans-Christoph Rademann hat sie [die Johannespassion] solistisch besetzt und a-capella aufgenommen - mit einem hochkarätigen Solistenquartett, das die bildhaft-dramatische Tonsprache von Schütz ganz unprätentiös herausarbeitet.
Hans-Juergen Fink, 14.03.2016
Wer sich das Alte als auch Neue Testament musikalisch erobern möchte, der wird mit dieser Schütz-Interpretation reich beschenkt. Der Dresdner Kammerchor intoniert zum Niederknien.
radioklassik.at, Ursula Magnes, März 2016