Stolzel : Brockes Passion

Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel (1690-1749) was completely undisputed among his contemporaries as to his importance. As a highly esteemed composer, he is mentioned at the same level as Bach, Telemann and Handel. The tide has turned: Today his name can be found neither in concert programmes nor in CD catalogues. Didn't your contemporaries have enough judgment? On the contrary! Our first recording of one of the most representative works of the court kapellmeister in Gotha, the Brockespassion "Jesus mapped and dying for the sinners of the world" from 1725, proves just how right they were: there is no Baroque minor master at work here: the emotional power of this music and Stölzel's personal compositional profile need not shy away from comparison with any of the above-mentioned contemporaries. Not even Bach has set the story of his suffering in such a breathtaking and haunting way Let the conductor of our recording, Ludger Remy, have his say "For me, Stölzel's Brockes Passion is one of the most moving and human music that I have ever been lucky enough to perform or hear, and I consider Stölzel to be one of the truly great masters of the Baroque, perhaps even superior to most in his effect on "soul and mind". I believe that man's helpless silence and bewilderment at the immutability of being has rarely found such eloquent expression in music ." Our soloists are Constanze Backes, Dorothee Mields, Henning Voss, Knut Schoch, Andreas Post, Klaus Mertens and Florian Mehltretter . The Chamber Choir Michaelstein and the Telemann Chamber Orchestra Michaelstein are conducted by Ludger Remy.