Rias Kammerchor: Praetorius & Italy

The RIAS Kammerchor Berlin and the Ensemble Capella de la Torre received excellent reviews for their award-winning ""Da Pacem"" album from Deutsche Harmonia Mundi: ""The coherent dramaturgy is inspired by a deep musicality. (...) lively interpretations that always reflect the spirit and follow the natural flow of language. "" (Fono Forum, 5 stars). ""The choir is in very good shape, light and warm in the soprano, profound in the bass. The Capella de la Torre provides the sounding foundation. This is great music."" (concerti) With the new album, the RIAS Kammerchor Berlin and the Capella de la Torre congratulate the composer Michael Praetorius on his 450th birthday. Born probably on February 15, 1571 in Creuzburg, Praetorius was not only one of the most important composers of his time, but also an important music theorist. This recording accompanies him on a fictional journey to his Italian contemporaries and presents both unifying and opposing elements. Under the overall direction of Florian Helgath, the two ensembles combine selected compositions by Praetorius with works by those Italian composers whom he cites as models in his epochal textbook ""Syntagma musicum"". These include such celebrities as Claudio Monteverdi and Giovanni Gabrieli, but also composers such as Ludovico Viadana, Agostino Agazzari and Antonio Cifra who need to be rediscovered. You can hear sacred works by Praetorius such as ""My soul exalts the Lord"", ""See how fine and lovely"" and ""Christ, you are the bright day"", the five-part setting of the Vesper psalm ""Lauda Jerusalem"" by Claudio Monteverdi. The Capella de la Torre enriches the album with instrumental works conducted by Katharina Bäuml - sonatas by Adriano Banchieri and Giovanni Gabrieli and the sinfonia ""La Bergamasca"" by Ludovico Viadana.