Search - Johann Rosenmüller, Konrad Junghänel, Concerto Palatino :: Rosenmüller - Vespro della beata Vergine / Cantus Cölln · Concerto Palatino · Junghänel

A very good album!

L. Roncayolo | Bloomington, IN USA | 10/16/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Not having been familiar with Rosenmüller's music, his disc was a revelation to me. Let me start by saying that the performance and recording qualities are top-notch. The music is also of high quality. Rosenmüller studied with Monteverdi and stylistically this music bridges the differences between early seventeenth century baroque music late seventeenth century baroque music such as Alessandro Scarlatti. At any, rate this is really a disc worth having--I have been listening to it for several weeks now and it has only gotten better! Truly joyous music!"

One of Cantus Cölln's best recordings

Steven Guy | Croydon, South Australia | 08/20/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a recording I've returned to many times. As a collection of Vespers from the 17th century, it is comparable with psalm settings from Monteverdi, Cavalli, Biber and Viadana. Listen to the Dixit Dominus with its contrasting grandiose sections in common tempo and dance-like sections in three.



Johann Rosenmüller was a trombonist and he writes very beautiful and stylish music for the trumpet, the cornetti and trombones in these works, which are played with great style and grace by Concerto Palatino (this is one of their finest recordings, too). The use of a single clarino with the two cornetti is rather interesting and the contrast in timbre between the two instruments, in the midst of the Baroque strings and trombones, is very beguiling. The string sonatas presented on the two discs are quite wonderful and exhibit Rosenmüller's powerful compositional skills.



The vocal lines are sung OVPP (one-voice-per-part) and I often find that this approach is somewhat meagre and inadequate for festive works. These works were almost certainly written for situations where getting two or three singers for each line would not have been a problem, so there is little reason to be so pedantic about the OVPP methodology. However, it all works quite well here and it allows the instruments to come to the fore (they often threaten to overpower the voices). Cantus Cölln are in their element in this recording and they are clearly one of the best vocal ensembles recordings 17th century music in the world at the moment. I only wish that they'd revisit the music of Johann Rosenmüller some time! I have a list of Rosenmüller extant works and it is clear that we haven't even begun to get a clear picture of this man's genius from the very few recordings available.



For lovers of 17th century sacred music and 17th century music in general, this recording is a must.



I strongly urge you to consider buying this superb recording."