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Louis Spohr: Mass Op. 54, 3 Psalms Op. 85 / Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: 3 Psalms Op​.​78

by Prague Philharmonic Choir, Jaroslav Brych

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1.
Mass in C Minor, Op. 54 I. Kyrie 03:31
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2.
Mass in C Minor, Op. 54 II. Gloria 07:39
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3.
Mass in C Minor, Op. 54 III. Credo 08:21
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4.
Mass in C Minor, Op. 54 IV. Sanctus 03:06
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5.
Mass in C Minor, Op. 54 V. Benedictus 01:59
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6.
Mass in C Minor, Op. 54 VI. Agnus Dei 03:53
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7.
Three Psalms, Op. 85 I. Larghetto - Psalm VIII: Unendlicher! Gott, unser Herr! 04:54
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8.
Three Psalms, Op. 85 II. Maestoso - Psalm XXIII: Gott ist mein Hirt 03:47
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9.
Three Psalms, Op. 85 III. Andante - Psalm CXXX: Aus tiefer Not ruf’ich Gott 05:52
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10.
Three Psalms, Op.78 Psalm II: Warum toben die Heiden? 06:58
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11.
Three Psalms, Op.78 Psalm XLIII: Richte mich Gott 03:39
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12.
Three Psalms, Op.78 Psalm XXII: Mein Gott, warum hast du mich verlassen? 07:37
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about

At the beginning of the 19th century, the interest of the public and musicians for sacred vocal music was highly low. Ludwig Spohr, whose fame today is almost exclusively due to his instrumental music, was concerned with this field, alongside his invention of the romantic oratorio. After the disappearance of Beethoven and Schubert, Spohr is the obvious link between the legacy of Haydn - The Seasons or The Creation -, and the full expression of Romantic splendor with Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms and… Richard Strauss.

The grandson of pastors, Louis Spohr regretted that music had been banned from the Protestant liturgy. His travel journal reports on the discoveries he made in the aera of sacred music in Saint Petersburg, London (Handel), Paris (Charpentier, Cherubini), Prague and above all Rome. His only Mass of 1821 is one of the most important works of postclassical church music. In this unaccompanied mass, he harmoniously combines contemporary interest in Baroque compositional techniques and his own search for an individual, modern style of composition.

Only the greatest chorales of the time took on the performance of this masterpiece, renowned for its polyphonic complexity and the demands it places on performers. Ten years later, Spohr completed his 3 Psalms Op. 85, with a more direct style of writing, contenting himself with the traditional four voices, this time based on German texts (translations by Moses Menselssohn) to which he breathed emotional virtue, naive and radiant. Mendelssohn’s three ‘Psalm-Motetten’ form a sort of decantation of the example proposed by Louis Spohr: purity and variety of expression, unquestionable religious feeling, very clear polyphony and prosody, and an absence of erudite contrapuntal treatment; they announce the arrival, a few years later, of his extraordinary oratorios.

Awards: 4* by Le Monde de la Musique, 5 by Diapason, 9 by Répertoire


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250117

credits

released January 1, 1998

Prague Philharmonic Choir
Jaroslav Brych - conductor

Digitally recorded at the Domovina Studio, Prague, May 11-15, June 3-6, 1998

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