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Heinrich SCHÜTZ (1585-1672) Eleven Motets 1. Hodie Christus Natus Est 2. Fili Mi Absalon 3. Auf Dem Gebirge 4. Heu Mihi Domine 5. Ich Danke Dir Herr 6. Der Engel Sprach 7. O Quam Tu Pulchra Es 8. Die Seele Christi Heilige Mich 9. Was Mein Gott Will* 10. Exultavit Cor Meum 11. Selig Sind Die Todten 12. Auf Dem Gebirge (version 2)* Pro Cantione Antiqua, London Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble, Restoration Academy/ Edgar Fleet (director) English Consort of Viols* No recording details given. ADD REGIS RECORDS RRC 1168 [61.24]

Heinrich Schütz was the leading German composer of the seventieth century and managed to achieve an amazing tenure of fifty-seven out of his eighty-seven year life as Kapellmeister at the Electorial Court in Dresden. Schütz travelled to Italy twice during his lifetime and studied in Venice with the master composers: Giovanni Gabrieli and Monteverdi. Schütz thoroughly internalised the Venetian polychoral concertato style, giving equal weight to both voices and instruments, which is the predominant style of many of his works. This unlikely fusion of Gabrieli’s Italian school and Protestant Germany was cutting-edge music and we are told that the German performers of Schütz’s day found the requirements of this style extremely difficult technically to perform. The material contained on this recording from Regis has all been released previously. I recall ten of these motets being released on an ASV Quicksilver disc a few years ago to much acclaim. Regis strangely entitle this release ‘11 Motets’ when in actual fact there are thirteen motets although one of them Auf Dem Gebirge is here in two versions. As demonstrated on this Regis release the amount of variety that Schütz puts into his works is tremendous, constantly contrasting each piece with different instrumental and assorted vocal combinations thus ensuring a kaleidoscope of German early Baroque colour. From start to finish under the direction of Edgar Fleet the freshness of the music-making from all concerned is impressive and it is difficult to find fault with this release. Containing several mistakes only the annotation is somewhat below par but with superb performances such as these and at super-budget price the release remains eminently recommendable. This recording would be a wonderful place to start on an exploration of Heinrich Schütz’s music. Michael Cookson Advertising Rates Visitor stats MusicWeb International has over 40,000 Classical CD reviews on offer Discs received Having a problem Donating? Gerard Hoffnung Concerts & The Bricklayer Story MusicWeb can now offer you discs from the following catalogues: Prices include postage There will be NO VAT Rises [Acte Préalable £13.50] [Arcodiva £12.00] [Avie from £6.25] [British Music Society £12.00] [CDACCORD from £13.50 ] [ClassicO £12.50] [Hallé from £11] [Heritage £10] [Hortus £14.99 ] [Lyrita ONLY £11.75 ] [Nimbus Special prices] [Northern Flowers £13.50] [REDCLIFFE £11 ] [Sheva £11] [Tactus £11.50 ] [Talent from £12.00 ] [Toccata Classics £10.50 ] Musicweb Special Offers Monthly Best Buys   New Releases New Releases   MusicWeb sells the Polish catalogue CDAccord £10.50 post free W-W MusicWeb sells the Arcodiva catalogue £12.00 post free W-W £11.75 post-free world- wide     Google Ads - for information about privacy matters, click here.  Amazon Musicweb International is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

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