Search - Schutz, Bernius, Kammerchor Stuttgart :: Psalmen David's (Comp)

THE Psalmen Davids recording!

03/20/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It seems to me that the Amazon editorial reviewer doesn't really understand or know this music and should not comment. (Why wasn't an expert engaged?) Schütz wrote the Psalmen Davids for forces ranging from two to four vocal choirs with and without violins, cornetts and trombones. Schütz also divides his choirs into 'favoriti' (solo singers) and 'cappella' choirs (a larger number of singers - full choirs, if you like) - instruments sometimes support the soloists and sometimes double or replace the 'cappella' choir. Trumpets are used in one of the works - 18 trumpeters performed in a performance of this work in Schütz' lifetime.



Musica Fiata and Frieder Bernius do a splendid job of bringing these works to life and the power and majesty of this music is evident throughout. The choir is not too big or too small and the instrumental playing is excellent throughout. This recording is vastly preferable to the misguided and strange OVPP Cantus Cölln recording which completely eliminates the vocal 'cappella' choirs and had insufficient voices to cover all the vocal lines - even with soloists! This recording was a major disappointment - 'budget-cut' Schütz in fact!



Buy this recording! This is the only Psalmen Davids on CD that comes even close to ideas Schütz expressed in the introduction to the published score of these works.



A word to Amazon - get some staff reviewers who know what they are talking about and who look at a score occasionally or do some research! You can't learn about music from CD cover notes alone!



Steven"

Unavailable Greatness

Giordano Bruno | Wherever I am, I am. | 02/14/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This was a very fine performance of a very great masterwork, but since it is unavailable, even used, and since I've become separated from my own copy of it, I can't review it in detail. I only wish to suggest that the critical comparisons of this disk with the available performance by Konrad Junghanel and Cantus Colln are both valid and irrelevant. It's quite true that Junghanel has presented a "minimal" scoring of the work, but such selective use of forces was quite within the practice of Schuetz's musical world. In fact, as the Thirty Years War and the plagues in Italy took their toll on musicians, cornettists especially for some odd reason, Schuetz would surely have been overjoyed to have such forces available as Junghanel employs.



As I remember, this performance by Musica Fiata was big and resonant but lacking in declamatory drama, more a choral festival than the acoustics of a CD in your living room can sustain. It's one thing to hear such music in a cathedral, and quite another on your headphones.



The main thing is to hear the music. Hey, friends, I'm the purist's purist, but I love the Cantus Colln results.



There are some older CDs of Psalmen Davids still being sold. Shun them at all costs. Schuetz is extremely performance dependent."

A real winner

scott | Calgary, Canada | 12/04/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is Schutz at his closest to Gabrieli. The scoring here is very lavish, some of these motets requiring 3 or even 4 choirs.

Bernius has done a great job bringing the best out of these works. Praetorius was very pragmatic and always gave the musician some latitude in how to perform his music according to the resources available. In this recording Bernius has chosen to be fairly opulent and has expanded the scope of the music to its grandest options. I find it very satisfying.



I am usually a fan of one-voice-per-part performances, but somehow this repetoire seems to benefit from the use of the capella that Junghanel forsakes in his recording of this music.



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