Kuhnau: Complete Sacred Works Vol. 1

Camerata lipsiensis, Kuhnau, Johann, Meyer, Gregor, Opella Musica

CPO 777868

Gregor Meyer, the artistic director of the Gewandhaus Chorus since the 2007 / 08 season, is currently dedicating himself to the cause of the composer Johann Kuhnau and over the next years will present a complete recording of his cantatas. He interprets the cantatas together with his Opella Musica ensemble of soloists founded in 2011 and the camerata lipsiensis, an ensemble of historical orientation. Inspired by these recordings, the Pfefferkorn-Musikverlag of Leipzig has set itself the goal of presenting in full the first complete scholarly critical edition of Kuhnau's cantatas through to the three hundredth anniversary of his death in 2022. An extremely interesting project of grand scope in which Johann Kuhnau, who so far has been perceived by the music world merely as a predecessor of the great Johann Sebastian Bach and thus »criminally neglected« and also underestimated, will occupy the focus with many first-time recordings. A case for cpo! All the cantatas on Vol. 1 are world-premiere releases. As the renowned Bach scholar Dr. Michael Maul writes in his introduction to the edition, with these publications »an important musical facet of the transitional phase, so enthralling for genre history, between the sacred Concerto of the seventeenth century and the late baroque sacred cantata, will finally be made available, a facet of an importance that can hardly be overestimated.«

CD x 1

CPO

11/25/14

761203786824