Credits:

Telemann (1681-1767)

Description:

Telemann composed more than 1,700 cantatas during his sixty years as music director of the court of Eisenach (1708-12), Frankfurt am Main (1712-21), and Hamburg (1721-67). The "Cantata for Easter" on this album was written during his tenure as music director in Hamburg, when he was energetically performing operas, concerts, and church music, and was also publishing his works one after another, earning him great fame. The cantatas without recitative are performed by an ensemble of brass and woodwinds, and the emphasis is on arias with biblical quotations and counterpoint. The cantata with recitative has an initial sinfonia followed by an accompanied recitative, which is followed by a chorale and an elaborately written duet. The work, which combines beautiful solo melodies, a majestic and splendid chorus, and the sound of the instruments that color it, is sung by soloists who specialize in religious music, together with the Cologne Academy, under the direction of Virens. Naxos Japan