Concentus Musicus Wien
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Arnold Schoenberg Choir
(Chorus Master: Erwin Ortner)
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Nikolaus Harnoncourt
conductor
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Christiane Oelze
soprano
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Anna Prohaska
soprano
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Elisabeth von Magnus
alto
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Jeremy Ovenden
tenor
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Florian Boesch
bass
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
“Laudate pueri Dominum,” HWV 237
“Silete venti,” HWV 242
“Dixit Dominus,” HWV 232
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Magnificat in D major, BWV 243
Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel, who were born in the same year—in fact within weeks of each other and even within the same geographical region—dominated the music of an entire epoch. They ruled over the baroque like “a gigantic double sun,” as cultural historian Egon Friedell once put it. Yet these two composers could hardly be more unalike. Throughout his life Bach remained loyal to his native land, creating his works for the glory of God alone (“Soli Deo Gloria”). In contrast, the cosmopolitan Handel was a clever businessman, equally comfortable writing for the theater and the church. Nikolaus Harnoncourt, the “Grand Old Man” of the historically informed performance movement, juxtaposes these two great yet dissimilar masters. He begins by exploring Handel’s sacred music, including two pieces which the Protestant composer was commissioned to write by Catholic patrons during his early years in Rome. The sonic splendor of trumpets and drums meanwhile punctuates Bach’s glorious Magnificat, which celebrates the utopian idea of an ideal reign of justice, when the Lord will finally cast the mighty from their thrones and feed the hungry.