Schütz: Christmas Vespers / McCreesh, Gabrieli Consort and Players

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Heinrich Schütz's Christmas Story, besides being a historical milestone, has always been one of 17th-century music's crowd-pleasers--the former because it's the ancestor of Christmas oratorios by Bach, Charpentier, and even Berlioz; the latter because it presents engaging depictions of the characters in the Nativity story with a cornucopia of colorful instruments (piping recorders for the shepherds, a galumphing bassoon (representing the gait of the camels?) for the three wise men, regally blaring cornets for King Herod, and pompous trombones for his priests). As you might expect, there are a number of fine recordings of this proto-oratorio, from the graceful and somewhat delicate rendition of René Jacobs to the high-energy performance of Robert King. As usual, Paul McCreesh goes where no one has gone before, showing us the context for which Schütz probably wrote the work in the first place: a Christmas Day Vespers service at the court in Dresden where the composer was chapel master. McCreesh's reconstruction includes thrilling performances of two Christmas hymns (with tunes by Luther himself), organ music by Scheidt, a psalm from Schütz's collection Psalmen Davids, a delicate motet for four soloists, and (in an electrifying reading) a lavish multiple-choir Magnificat. Alongside all these, McCreesh's rendition of the Christmas Story seems--well, not lackluster, exactly (it's very skillfully done, and Susan Hemington Jones as the Angel is a particular treat), but a bit less inspired than the rest of the program. So if that one work is all you care about, you may want to consider the Jacobs or King versions; otherwise, this disc won't disappoint--it's as exciting a Christmas record as you'll find. --Matthew Westphal

Tracks:

Prelude- La piva
Chant - Deus in adjutorum
Warum toben die Heiden
Hymn - Christum wir sollen loben schon
Eingang
Rezitativ - Es begab sich zu derselbigen Zeit
Intermedium I - Furschtet euch nicht
Rezitativ - Und alsbald war da bei dem Engel
Intermedium II - Ehre sei Gott in der H
Rezitativ - Und da die Engel
Intermedium III - Lasset uns nun gehen gen Betlehem
Rezitativ - Und sie kamen eilend
Intermedium IV - Wo ist der neugeborne K
Rezitativ - Da das der K Herodes he
Intermedium V - Zu Betlehem im j lande
Rezitativ - Da berief Herodes die Weisen heimlich
Intermedium VI - Ziehet hin, und forschet fleissig
Rezitativ - Als sie nun den K geh hatten
Intermedium VII - Stehe auf, Joseph!
Rezitativ - Und er stund auf und nahm das Kindlein
Intermedium VIII - Stehe auf, Joseph!
Rezitativ - Und er stund auf und nahm das Kindlein
Besluss - Danke sagen wir alle Gott
Magnificat anima mea
Hymn - Wir Christenlaut habn itzund Freud
Quia fecit mihi magna
Hymn - Lobt Gott, ihr Christen all zugleich
Erusientes
Hymn - In dulchi jubilo
Gloria Patri
O bone Jesu, fili Mariae
Hymn - Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ
Collect and blessing
Postlude - Benedicaums Domino a 6

Amazon.com

Heinrich Schütz's Christmas Story, besides being a historical milestone, has always been one of 17th-century music's crowd-pleasers--the former because it's the ancestor of Christmas oratorios by Bach, Charpentier, and even Berlioz; the latter because it presents engaging depictions of the characters in the Nativity story with a cornucopia of colorful instruments (piping recorders for the shepherds, a galumphing bassoon (representing the gait of the camels?) for the three wise men, regally blaring cornets for King Herod, and pompous trombones for his priests). As you might expect, there are a number of fine recordings of this proto-oratorio, from the graceful and somewhat delicate rendition of René Jacobs to the high-energy performance of Robert King. As usual, Paul McCreesh goes where no one has gone before, showing us the context for which Schütz probably wrote the work in the first place: a Christmas Day Vespers service at the court in Dresden where the composer was chapel master. McCreesh's reconstruction includes thrilling performances of two Christmas hymns (with tunes by Luther himself), organ music by Scheidt, a psalm from Schütz's collection Psalmen Davids, a delicate motet for four soloists, and (in an electrifying reading) a lavish multiple-choir Magnificat. Alongside all these, McCreesh's rendition of the Christmas Story seems--well, not lackluster, exactly (it's very skillfully done, and Susan Hemington Jones as the Angel is a particular treat), but a bit less inspired than the rest of the program. So if that one work is all you care about, you may want to consider the Jacobs or King versions; otherwise, this disc won't disappoint--it's as exciting a Christmas record as you'll find. --Matthew Westphal

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful--but get another Oratorio for comparison.......2000-04-15

First of all, I was enthralled by the singing and the organ sound: very rich and musical in every way. The congregational singing, specifically, is superb, and the CD is worth buying for everything that comes before and after the Christmas Historia.

The historia, though, is an edition that is disconcerting to me. Perhaps I have heard versions that are less "authentic" than this one, but there are enough differences between the McCreesh and other versions I have heard that I must assume others will be affected the same way.

Splendid choral sound and fabulous organ in superb acoustic.......2000-03-30

This fine recording continues the tradition started by the Consort with their Praetorius Christmas recording released several seasons ago. The organ sound is rich and impressive, and the choral sound is, as usual, impeccable. Charles Daniels is an effective evangelist in the Schutz Christmas Oratorio, though he is not as sonorous as John Mark Ainsley on Hyperion. This as close as I come to a cavil regarding this very fine recording.

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