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Der Schwanengesang is probably the last work of German composer Heinrich Schuetz (1585-1672) who was born exactly 100 years before J.S. Bach. The young Heinrich showed great musical promise but studied law in Marburg to please his parents. In 1609, Schuetz made the first of three visits to Italy to study with the great Giovanni Gabrieli - and ultimately to change his life, and along with it the face of German music by successfully uniting or fusing, to use contemporary language, the light, decorative Italian style and the German mysticism. He thus became the Grand Master of German music in the seventeenth century, the epoch of the young Baroque.At the end of a full life predominantly devoted to composing sacred and church music, Schuetz composed a testimony of sorts to everything he believed in as a musician - a cycle of motets for eight voices in two antiphonal choirs accompanied by organ basso continuo. His choice of text was equally telling: Psalm 119, the longest psalm in the psalter which, according to Martin Luther is no less than "a small Bible...an elegant handbook within the Bible as a whole". The synthetic nature of this most wondrous of psalms, written acrostically in 22 stanzas of 8 verses must have had a magnetic influence on a composer whose sole artistic aim it was to interpret the word of the Bible in the most truthful way. Out of the 22 stanzas he made 11 motets of 16 verses each ending with the common doxology and each starting with the intonation from the Cantor in order to give it a proper liturgical function. To complete his Swansong, Schuetz chose his 1662 setting of Psalm 100, naturally a more overtly exuberant and ceremonial work with continuous contrapuntal activity between the individual voices.The Song Company delivers a very moving summation of Schuetz' life's work and conviction. Der Schwanengesang is a revelation of masterful musical skill and quite stunning beauty.