Leinfelden-Echterdingen, July 3, 2019—The complete recording of his work creates an important monument in sound to Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672), the first German composer of international repute. Hans-Christoph Rademann and the Dresdner Kammerchor have completed the first recording of Schütz’s entire multifaceted oeuvre in 20 volumes on 27 CDs. On this occasion, the festive opening concert of the 68th ION Music Festival in Nuremberg was dedicated to Heinrich Schütz. Rademann, founder and principal conductor of the Dresdner Kammerchor, artistic director of the International Bach Academy Stuttgart, winner of the International Schütz Prize, and initiator of the complete recording, selected the Psalms of David for the program. This cycle of works, created 400 years ago, is a highlight – both of Heinrich Schütz’s oeuvre and of the complete recording.
The ambitious project of a complete Schütz recording began in 2009 as part of an intensive cooperation between Rademann and the Carus publishers Günter and Dr. Johannes Graulich. It was based on the musicological text of the Stuttgart Schütz Edition, Carus-Verlag’s complete edition. In the following years, the recording was prepared in close cooperation with many Schütz specialists, such as Prof. Werner Breig, Prof. Michael Heinemann, Ludger Rémy, Dr. Uwe Wolf and Dr. Helmut Lauterwasser. The final CD – Vol. 20, Friedensmusiken und Psalmen (Carus 83.278) – has now been released. For the first time, Schütz’s wonderful music can be experienced entirely in all its many facets in an excellent recording.
Hans-Christoph Rademann on the recording: “I feel deeply grateful that we were able to master such a large project. Furthermore, I feel enormously enriched – and all musicians would surely feel the same – because Schütz’s music testifies to the greatest mastery. The term ‘father of German music’ is absolutely justified. Schütz is able to express an enormous amount with his music; he is, so to speak, an ‘illuminator’ of the word – with powerful musical images. Painting and music move very close together, one learns to see with one’s ears, so to speak.”
Carus publisher Dr. Johannes Graulich on the recording: “The fact that we have succeeded in producing the entire work of the great composer Schütz at the highest artistic and technical level, and that in only 10 years, is an enormous achievement of which we are very proud. Some of his works have been recorded for the first time; much of the music sounds wonderfully new and surprising, thanks to Rademann’s refreshing interpretation and the insights of historically informed performance practice. I thank Hans-Christoph Rademann, the musicians, MDR KULTUR, Deutschlandfunk Kultur, BR KLASSIK and the sponsors for their support in this epochal recording project.”
