Franz Schubert - Winter Journey

VERSION FOR BARITONE, CHOIR AND PIANO

Arranged by Gregor Meyer
Daniel Ochoa - Baritone
Christian Peix - Piano
Vocalconsort Leipzig
Gregor Meyer - Conductor

Coviello Classics 2017

Without doubt, Franz Schubert's „Winter Journey“ ('Winterreise') ist one of the highlights of romantic german „Lied“. With its complexity and variety of expression it surely is a milestone for every performer. The human feelings – hope, disappointment, grief, pain, doubt, joy, longing – by which the protagonist is moved and which are beautifully translated into music, turn this song-cycle into a very special musical cosmos of timeless truth. Gregor Meyer treaded yet unknown paths by creating this revised version: solo baritone and piano are accompanied and supported by a choir part – diverse and densely woven. The result of the cooperation is a refreshing version of this classic, which opens new perspectives and options for interpreting lyrics and music from a different angle. Daniel Ochoa (baritone) and Christian Peix (piano) know to explore these options along with Vocalconsort Leipzig.

Mendelssohn – Images of life

Songs for Choir, Woodwind and Harp, arranged by PROF. ANDREAS N. TARKMANN

Vocalconsort Leipzig
ensemble diX
Gregor Meyer - Conductor

Mendelssohn gave the heading „To be sung outside“ („Im Freien zu singen“) to a total of three song-cycles ('Liederzyklen' in german) for choir – this is not suprising considering that nature and freedom were closely connected in romanticism.

Prof. Andreas N. Tarkmann was inspired by precisely these songs to put Mendelssohn's works into a new context. Based on the ideas of romanticism, the cycle of seasons and the cycle of human life were combined – nature mirrors human soul. These are the images of life („Jahresbilder“). Andreas Tarkmann chose a total of 24 of Mendelssohn's mucial pieces, combined and rearranged them for two ensembles – Vocalconsort Leipzig and ensemble diX from Gera. Originally for a-capella choir, the structure of the songs remained more or less unchanged but the voices are now supported and carried by the four woodwind players of ensemble diX. What used to be songs for solo voice, accompanied by piano, is now turned into choir music, whereas some solo piano pieces from „Songs without words“ return to the listener as beautifully arranged woodwind music.

First performed in 2015 during the Mendelssohn-Festival in the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, this programme was recorded two years later on CD in cooperation with Coviello Classics.

Hiller – Destruction of Jerusalem

Gudrun Sidonie Otto – Soprano
Annette Markert – Alto
Patrick Grahl – Tenor
Tobias Hunger – Tenor
Daniel Ochoa – Baritone

GewandhausChor Leipzig
Vocalconsort Leipzig
camerata lipsiensis
Gregor Meyer - Conductor

„Hiller's „Destruction of Jerusalem“ („Zerstörung Jerusalems“) was a valuable rediscovery“ - this is what the press said about the musical piece of this CD. In his lifetime, Ferdinand Hiller (1811-1885) was a well-known personality in the german-speaking musical world. After his death however, he and his highly romantic Oevre fell into oblivion.

One of his most successful works was the oratorio „Destruction of Jerusalem“ („Die Zerstörung Jerusalems“). The first performance by Hiller himself took place in the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, before it became popular throughout all european concert halls. Later, this stunning piece disappeared from the programmes and was not performed for more than one hundred years.

Only in november last year, it was brought to life again where it had its première as part of a radioproduction of the camerata lipsiensis, together with the Gewandhaus choir and Vocalconsort Leipzig, directed by Gregor Meyer. The recording of the concert is now available on CD.

Colin Mawby

Vocalconsort Leipzig
Gregor Meyer – Conductor
Caroline Roth – Organ

The organist, conductor and composer Sir Colin Mawby (*1936) is one of the most famous english composers of ecclesiastical music of our times. His works contains many pieces for choir, accompanied by strings or organ for advent and christmas. High standards of composition and accessibility for performers are perfectly balanced in these pieces.

Mawby's creative activities acquired a new dimension when he started to compose specifically for german choirs and discovered the phenomenon of the german „Pastoralmesse“, that became fascinating for him because it combines festiveness, joy and the character of music made for dancing. Typical for Mawby is his english style which is influenced by german sound culture.

This CD contains a „Pastoralmesse“, arrangements of several english, german and latin songs for advent and christmas and the piece „Tröstet mein Volk“, which Mawby composed specifically for Vocalconsort Leipzig.

And we all shine on – John Lennon Tribute

Matthias Knoche – Vocals
Ekky Meister – Piano
Vocalconsort Leipzig
Gregor Meyer – Conductor

„Ingenious and subtle arragements, brilliant piano-playing, skilled jazz voices and – at the heart of it all – a choir, whose glorious brightness sends shivers down the spines of the spectators!“ This is how Friedemann Richter from Jazzclub Leipzig reviews the latest CD of Vocalconsort Leipzig.

Gregor Meyer, Matthias Knoche and Christoph Küstner rearragend eleven songs by Lennon, like „Julia“, „The Walrus“, „Happiness Is a Warm Gun“ and of course „Imagine“ as jazz versions for choir, solo voices and piano – definitely a challenge, especially considering that Lennon saw his own music as „anti-jazz“. No wonder he has not been popular in the jazz world thus far. This CD, which was preceded by a very successful concert forming the grand finale of the 34th Leipzig Jazz Festival, aims to fill this gap.

The album, containing eleven vibrant and very special crossover John-Lennon-songs, knows to grip the listeners' attention immediately and appeals not only in acoustic but also in optical ways.

Calvisius – Be joyful and rejoice

Vocalconsort Leipzig
Ensemble Noema Leipzig
Gregor Meyer - Conductor

Only the name of a street in Leipzig Lindenau reminds us nowadays of the former choirmaster of St. Thomas, Sethus Calvisius (1556-1615). Being well-known as a music theorist and for chronology, he is also the composer of several music pieces of different genres and styles and for various musical instruments. Composed in the times of transition from renaissance to baroque, his oevre is colourful and rich in images and sound.

This recording aims to fill the gap that was created when Calvisius' music fell into oblivion for centuries. The CD was recorded in spring 2009 in the cathedral of Wurzen and in cooperation with ensemble NOEMA.

It contains almost exclusively first recordings of pieces like „Harmonia contionum ecclesiasticarum“, religious motets, Tricines and the impressive version of psalm 150 for three choirs.

Kumm bi de Nacht

Vocalconsort Leipzig
Gregor Meyer - conductor

Where and what is German folk music? Mostly forgotten in the context of private life, it still plays an important role in countless choirs and singing societies. German folk songs belong to the culture of this country. Joyfully and without claiming completeness, Vocalconsort Leipzig tries to show the whole variety of German folk songs on their new CD.

The listener will dive into a cross-section of the centuries, starting with tunes of the middle-ages, continuing with renaissance love songs and arriving at the peak of folk song culture in romanticism and the late 19th century. Next to demanding compositions by Mendelssohn („Abschied vom Walde“) and Reger („Liebchens Bote“), the CD also contains up-and-coming contemporary arrangements by Jürgen Golle and Johannes Muntschick.

This recording of a-capella songs will take the listener on a journey through different styles and emotions, from lively dance songs to yearning love songs and reverent evensongs. In short, it is the perfect CD for all friends of vocal music – those who like to sing themselves and those who enjoy being surprised by the vast variety of german folk songs.

Karg-Elert – Sacred choral music

Vocalconsort Leipzig
GewandhausChor 
Gregor Meyer - Conductor
Stefan Engels - Organ

What is the essence of creating ecclesiastical choir music between late romansicism and modernity?  Sigfrid Karg-Elert, a composer from Leipzig, found a highly complex and original answer to this question that is worth exploring. Great emotiveness and individual, almost intimate emotionality, which can also be found in Max Reger's music, are closely connected. In the chorale „Näher, mein Gott, zu dir“, which supposedly was being played by the orchestra on the Titanic while it was sinking, Karg-Elert artistically processed not only the death of his friend (a musician on a ship), but also the symbolic catastrophe of modernity.

In cooperation with the Gewandhaus choir, Vocalconsort Leipzig recorded Karg-Elert's sacred choral music, which takes up very little space in the composer's works. Therefore, the CD aims at drawing attention to this aspect of Karg-Elert's oevre, which otherwise contains mainly pieces for organ. In this context, the cooperation with Stefan Engels, who is a distinct expert on Karg-Elert's works, was particularly fruitful. For a few years, he has been working on the world's first complete recording of Karg-Elert's compositions for organ.

Rejoice – Music for advent and christmas throughout the times

Vocalconsort Leipzig

Gregor Meyer – Conductor

Dieter Bellmann – Speaker

Johannes Unger – Organ 

Christmas is a celebration with different facets. It can be extremely fascinating to observe how traditions of art and culture connected to christmas change. This CD shows the different manners in which the story of Jesus' birth was converted to music in different times. It is a collection of well-known, well-loved and famous songs for advent and christmas – but the different arrangements of them are rather unknown. Yet they all tell a little story of the christmas celebration.

The listener will also get to know three of the composers through letters in which they ponder upon emotions and experiences in the context of christmas. The letters are read by Dieter Bellmann, a famous actor from Leipzig, and they tell us about the preparations made for christmas celebration, about the excitement and the presents. Yet they also convey an atmosphere of contemplative peace and quiet.

Thus, the music on this CD sends out a warm invitation into the world – to celebrate joyfully, but also to listen, to remember and to be still.