For anyone who ever wondered what Pachelbel was up to when he wasn't writing his Canon in D, this CD offers some lovely answers. (He was also playing the organ and teaching, and one of his students was Johann Sebastian Bach, in whose works it's possible to detect Pachelbel's influence.) While there is nothing as immediately catchy as the Canon, the sacred and secular arias and vocal concertos recorded here reveal a composer with a gift for attractive vocal writing and inventive instrumental accompaniments.

Our collection of previously unknown Christmas oratorios is growing impressively and happily. After Joseph Eybler in October, I can even announce two trouvailles for this month. There is the Christmas Oratorio by Carl Heinrich Graun (1703-1759), the conductor of Frederick the Great. It was only recently found in Washington. A precise dating is not yet possible, but it certainly arose in Graun's pre-Berlin time in Dresden or Braunschweig. However, it is a masterpiece on the threshold of a sensitive style. The well-balanced alternation of melodically accented and contrapuntally rigorous choral movements, of soulful, colorfully orchestrated arias and harmoniously far-reaching recitatives is particularly impressive.

Der Wiederaufbau der Dresdner Frauenkirche hat in ganz Europa eine breite öffentliche Aufmerksamkeit gefunden. Den „Klangspuren“ dieser Kirche, der eigens für sie komponierten Musik nachzugehen, ist das Anliegen dieser CD, auf der Kantaten von Homilius zu Himmelfahrt, Exaudi, Pfingsten und Trinitatis erstmals eingespielt werden, in einer Farbigkeit, wie sie nur wenige kennen.

The musical works of this program were composed during the Seven Years’ War (1756–1763), one of the earliest wars fought across several continents. It involved France as a major European power (backed by the Habsburg Monarchy, the Electorate of Saxony, Russia, and Sweden) against an alliance comprising England and Prussia (supported by the Electorate of Hanover, Hesse-Kassel, Brunswick, Bückeburg, and Saxony-Gotha). The primary focus was on European dominance, with underlying interests in the North American and South Asian colonies of England and France.

The program presented on this CD, featuring songs and ballads by Carl Loewe along with texts and poems by Heinrich Heine, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Max Frisch, and Ingeborg Bachmann, reflects the human relationship with the sea in various ways. Carl Loewe, who as cantor and organist was an important figure in Stettin in the mid 1800s, was so inspired by the sea during his travels that he wrote many songs and ballads that thematise the sea. This live recording of a song recital is one of the programs where the art forms of song interpretation and recitation complement each other to create a comprehensive dramaturgy. Nina Röder‘s paintings also inspire the listener visually, expanding the horizons of the program. The viewer is led to enchanted places in the works from her series „Über das Verschwinden” (About Disappearance) and encounters mysterious beings. This visual yet poetic perspective completes the circle by confronting the transience of humanity and nature – a theme more relevant than ever in times of climate change and rising sea levels.

Baritone Andrè Schuen began his Deutsche Grammophon career in 2020 with a critically acclaimed reading of Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin, recorded with his duo partner Daniel Heide. In 2022, the pair added Schwanengesang to their discography, a recording that went on to win the Solo Song category in the 2023 Opus Klassik Awards. Now they complete their trilogy of Schubert’s major song cycles with a thoughtful and moving interpretation of the 24 inward-looking songs that make up the composer’s Winterreise.

All is emotion and refinement in the interpretations of the soprano Raquel Camarinha and the pianist Yoan Héreau. On this disc, they introduce us to an atypical and little-known sector of Chopin’s output, revealing the beauty of his Polish songs, haunted by the torments of exile and love. By placing them alongside the Lieder der Mignon, which include some of Schubert’s finest settings of Goethe, the duo achieves an extremely rare symbiosis between poetry and music.