Search - Schutz, Junghanel, Cantus Colln :: Italian Madrigals Swv 1-19

It's not a stretch to call Heinrich Schütz the founding father of German baroque music: it was he who, at the beginning of the 17th century, brought the new musical style of Monteverdi back from Italy and transformed sacred music in Germany. Schütz's First (and only) Book of Madrigals is his earliest published music, issued in Venice following a period of study with the great Giovanni Gabrieli. The Italian madrigal in its classic form (five voices, no obligatory instruments) was a bit old-fashioned by that time, but Schütz still found some life in the genre--check out, for example, the beginning of "Alma afflitta" as each singer's line slithers into savory suspensions against the others, or the cheerfully expansive opening of "Vasto mar" ("O vast sea") with watery little ripples flowing through the eight voices. Konrad Junghänel and Cantus Cölln don't bring the hurtling energy that, say, Paul McCreesh brings to Schütz, but listen to their more relaxed approach and you'll find (in addition to immaculate professionalism) subtlety, attention to detail, wondrous delicacy, and even dramatic intensity. Judging from this disc and the Grammy-nominated Psalmen Davids, Junghänel and Cantus Cölln are among the best interpreters of Schütz we have. --Matthew Westphal