Stölzel: Brockes - Passion 1725

Kammerchor Michaelstein, Mertens, Klaus, Mields,Dorothee, Remy, Ludger, Telemann-Kammerorchester Michaelstein

CPO 999560

Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel (1690-1749) was undisputed in his importance among his contemporaries. As a highly esteemed composer, he is mentioned on an equal footing with Bach, Telemann, and Handel. The tide has turned: Today, his name is found neither in concert programs nor in CD catalogs. Did his contemporaries lack sufficient discernment? On the contrary!

Our world premiere recording of one of the most representative works by the court Kapellmeister in Gotha—the Brockes Passion "The Martyred and Dying Jesus for the Sinners of the World" from 1725—proves just how right they were. This is no minor Baroque master at work: The emotional power of this music and Stölzel's personal compositional profile need not shy away from comparison with any of the aforementioned contemporaries. Not even Bach set the Passion story to music with such breathtaking intensity.

Let us hear from the conductor of our recording, Ludger Remy

"For me, Stölzel's Brockes Passion is among the most moving and humane music I have ever had the privilege of performing or hearing, and I consider Stölzel one of the truly great masters of the Baroque, perhaps even surpassing most in his effect on the soul and spirit. I believe that the helpless silence and the bewilderment of humankind in the face of the immutability of existence have rarely found such loquent expression in music."

Our soloists are Constanze Backes, Dorothee Mields, Henning Voss, Knut Schoch, Andreas Post, Klaus Mertens, and Florian Mehltretter.The Michaelstein Chamber Choir and the Michaelstein Telemann Chamber Orchestra are conducted by Ludger Remy.

CD x 1

CPO

9.11.2006

761203956029