chorissimo! Winter und Weihnachten : 40 Arrangements for equal voices

a cappella

For 40 years Frieder Bernius and the Kammerchor Stuttgart have set standards in the historic performance practice of choral works. Many international awards bear witness to the high quality and the worldwide recognition of the choir and itsconductor. This CD presents a selection of their musical achievements, which include the impressive rediscovery of long forgotten works.

Choralphantasie Straf Mich Nicht In Deinem Zorn! : Op. 40, 2

Volksliederbuch 2. 40 Sätze für gleichte Stimmen : mit Instrumenten 1930/60

Volksliederbuch 2. 40 Sätze für gleichte Stimmen : mit Instrumenten 1930/60

Choral collection Lullabies & Evensongs

Melodious evensongs lend themselves to a quiet ending or an imaginatively accented concert. This choral collection is a selection with about 40 German and international lullabies and evensongs of stylistic diversity, with easily singable settings for a mixed choir, some of which include piano accompaniments. Around 40 German and international lullabies and nocturnes in stylistically varied, easy-to-sing settings. The repertoire ranges from Baroque and Romantic works to contemporary works, with settings newly-composed for the collection and well-known lullabies and nocturnes. The conductor’s volume includes a CD with recordings of selected pieces. - The songs chosen are largelyfrom the German and English repertoire, but also include pieces in Spanish, French, and Russian. - With well-known compositions by composers such as J. S. Bach, Brahms, Elgar, Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Rheinberger, Scholefield, Stanford, and Sullivan. - Ten of the songs have been newly-arranged specially for this collection by leading composers (Ludwig Böhme, Daniel Carter, Ian McDougal, Gunther Martin Göttsche, Reijo Kekkonen, Clifford W. King, Andrej Makor, Giacomo Mezzalira, Christoph Müller, and Peter Schindler). - Easy to medium difficulty. - Mainly for (S)SATB choir a cappella, a few settings with piano accompaniment. - A CD with selected songs is included with the conductor’s volume. The choral collection is published as Conductor’s volume with CD and editionchor (budget edition for choral singers).

Motets and Anthems from Byrd to Elgar

The choral tradition of English cathedrals and universities is famous the world over. Through the centuries on the British Isles an immense storehouse of musical treasures have been composed: beautiful sounding choral settings which, in the meantime, have come to enjoy a great popularity on the European continent. For the collection of English Choral Music. Motets and Anthems from Byrd to Elgar Richard Mailänder and Christopher Robinson, the editors, have compiled 40 outstanding motets and anthems from the 16th to the 19th centuries. In Germany and elsewhere in Europe these four- and five-part settings, whether a cappella or with obbligato organ, are especially suited forservices or church concerts. The composers of the golden age of English music, Thomas Tallis, William Byrd and Orlando Gibbons are represented in this collection, as are the baroque masters Henry Purcell and William Boyce and, among other composers from the 19th century, Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Charles Villiers Stanford, Charles Hubert Parry and Edward Elgar. A supplementary CD, performed and recorded by the Figuralchor Cologne, is also available.

Cantiones Sacrae. Complete recordings, Vol. 5

In the complete works of Heinrich Schütz, performed by the Dresdner Kammerchor under the direction of Hans-Christoph Rademann and produced by Carus, the fifth installment presents the Cantiones Sacrae [SWV 53 93]. In 1625 during the Thirty Years' War Schütz published this collection as his opus 4. In the 40 Latin motets he used texts from the prayer book of Andreas Musculus, which is based on psalms and verses from the Song of Songs, as well as texts from the Gospels, devotional texts and various prayers. The fact that today these expressive prayers have not gained the popularity of Schütz's other great collections is due, not least, to the high demands which the composerplaces upon his performers. With the guiding principle "historically informed interpreted today," Hans-Christoph Rademann and the Dresdner Kammerchor present precisely the lesser-known works of Schütz on the highest artistic level as an open invitation for new discovery. The recorded performance of the complete works of Schütz is being produced in cooperation with MDR Figaro.

Weihnachtslieder aus aller Welt

Throughout the world Christmas is celebrated sometimes at the end of December, sometimes at the beginning of January. And everywhere, singing Christmas carols is part of the celebrations. Some carols, such as Adeste fideles O come, all ye faithful are sung throughout the world, but many countries have their own particular carols which reflect their own customs and traditions. These Christmas carols from all over the world feature in the latest instalment of the LIEDERPROJEKT which is published in autumn 2015. For the song book the editors have chosen about 72 carols from over 40 countries from Spain and Poland, from Mexico and Canada, China and Australia, Iceland andthe Congo. The spectrum is wide-ranging: indispensible standards (carols, spirituals, noëls) are joined by musical treasures which are largely unknown. All the songs are given in their original language and in German translation, with chord symbols above the music for easy instrumental accompaniment. The song book contains an instrumental CD to get to know the pieces and sing along with. For all the songs, one or two verses have been recorded, and different instruments and arrangements give an idea of the wide musical range. Frank Walka, who illustrated the hugely successful Wiegenlieder (Lullabies) and Weihnachtslieder (Christmas Carols) volumes for the LIEDERPROJEKT, has created 17 beautiful double-page illustrations for the song book. Audio versions of the spoken original texts, to help with pronunciation, are available at www.liederprojekt.org under each song title, and help with learning the carols.

Dans les ruines d'une abbaye : Op. 2 no. 1

The exuberant amorousness of a newly-wed couple pulsates in every note of Gabriel Fauré’s Dans les ruines d’une abbaye (In the ruins of an abbey). In this piece, the reverent silence of prayer no longer prevails, but within the venerable walls "various shouts of joy" and "sparkling laughter" are now heard. The old graves have long been overgrown by stinging nettles, and a new dawn of spring and of love fills the air. Napoleonic post-revolutionary France, which drove the author of the poem, Victor Hugo, into exile, is also building a new world on the ruins of olden days. Although the setting by the composer, 40 years younger than the poet, uses the romanticized backdrop of the oldabbey, with its 6/8-meter it reflects the uninhibited happiness of the two lovers, who do not look back. These art songs were originally composed not for chamber choir, but for solo voice and piano. Denis Rouger has carefully adapted them to suit the requirements and expressive possibilities offered by a larger ensemble, without losing the any of the qualities of the original in the process. Each part in the choir has a melodic line drawn from the harmonic and rhythmic framework. In the process, the variety and refinement of the choral language combines with an enormous flexibility in form and expression, as French melodies or German art song demand from a soloist and pianist. The songs have been recorded by the figure humaine chamber choir on the CD "Kennst du das Land ..." (Carus 83.495).