Schutz - Opus ultimum (Der Schwanengesang) | Harmonia Mundi - HM Gold HMG50189596

Schutz - Opus ultimum (Der Schwanengesang)

Label: Harmonia Mundi - HM Gold

Cat No: HMG50189596

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 2

Genre: Vocal/Choral

Release Date: 7th July 2017

Contents

Artists

Collegium Vocale Gent
Concerto Palatino

Conductor

Philippe Herreweghe

Works

Schutz, Heinrich

Der Schwanengesang, SWV482-494

Artists

Collegium Vocale Gent
Concerto Palatino

Conductor

Philippe Herreweghe

About

In the early 1660s, Schütz, now relegated among the faded glories of the Dresden court, began to prepare for the idea of his own death – he was now more than 65 years old ... He embarked on a setting of all 176 verses of Psalm 119 without necessarily expecting the resulting work to be performed: his swansong was conceived for all eternity. Ten years later, this Opus ultimum had assumed the form of 11 motets for double choir. Since the manuscripts were dispersed after his death, it was to be another three centuries before the work was reconstructed – and then sung!

“…the beauty of this remarkable performance of Schütz’s last work resides principally in Collegium Vocale's blooming cradle of sound and how is unassumingly stakes its claim… on the unique ambitions of Schütz’s ‘Swansong’. …the doubling of the two four-part choirs with brass gives Herreweghe scope for a variety and scale which ensures that graphic representation emerges from a palette of irradiating luxuriance.” – Gramophone Magazine, June 2007

“Herreweghe’s performances are generally outstanding in their attention to detail... Can a greater work have been completed by an octogenarian? This recording urges us, very persuasively, to think perhaps not.” – Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

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