Franz Joseph Aumann: Requiem

Ars Antiqua Austria; St. Florianer Sängerknaben (St Florian Boys' Choir); Gunar Letzbor, direction

Franz Joseph Aumann (1728-1797)
Requiem / Te Deum
Anton Bruckner
Ecce quomodo, Tenebrae

Franz Joseph Aumann was born in 1728 in the city of Traismauer, and went to Vienna to study music where he also met important musicians of his time. Why at twenty-five years of age (in 1753) he came to establish himself at St. Florian has not yet been discovered. He must have had special talent because only two years later he became Regens Chori, one year before his ordination! He remained in the service of the monastery, from that time until his death in 1797. He composed new Requiems (there must have been 12 of them) for funeral ceremonies, in addition to masses for various occasions, many motets, litanies, offertories, and even oratorios.
In the Requiem recorded here the listener is confronted with the earlier period of Baroque opulence. In the later masses and in most of the other works from the later period the instrumental parts are limited to (very often) 2 violins, bass and organ. The use of almost exclusively solo instrumental parts and also solo singers bring us a sound that provides a richer variety of tone colours than we could have with a choral setting. When one boy, an oboe and the organ are heard together playing one line at the unison, we hear shades of colour we are not used to, which, on the other hand, lend transparency and a layered effect to the composition, obtainable only with this original setting.
The present recording marks the beginning of a long-term cooperation between Ars Antiqua Austria/Gunar Letzbor, the St. Florianer Sängerknaben and the label Pan classics.

Price: $27.98

In stock
ships in 3 to 5 days