Louis Spohr: Mass, Op. 54, 3 Psalms Op. 85 - Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: 3 Psalms, Op. 78 (Remastered) Prague Philharmonic Choir & Jaroslav Brych

• Louis Spohr (1784 - 1859): Mass in C Minor, Op. 54:
• 1 Spohr: Mass in C Minor, Op. 54: I. Kyrie 03:31
• 2 Spohr: Mass in C Minor, Op. 54: II. Gloria 07:39
• 3 Spohr: Mass in C Minor, Op. 54: III. Credo 08:21
• 4 Spohr: Mass in C Minor, Op. 54: IV. Sanctus 03:06
• 5 Spohr: Mass in C Minor, Op. 54: V. Benedictus 01:59
• 6 Spohr: Mass in C Minor, Op. 54: VI. Agnus Dei 03:53
• Three Psalms, Op. 85:
• 7 Spohr: Three Psalms, Op. 85: Psalm VIII. Unendlicher! Gott, unser Herr! (Larghetto) 04:54
• 8 Spohr: Three Psalms, Op. 85: Psalm XXIII. Gott ist mein Hirt (Maestoso) 03:47
• 9 Spohr: Three Psalms, Op. 85: Psalm CXXX. Aus tiefer Not ruf'ich Gott (Andante) 05:52
• Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809 - 1847): Three Psalms, Op. 78:
• 10 Bartholdy: Three Psalms, Op. 78: Psalm II. Warum toben die Heiden? 06:58
• 11 Bartholdy: Three Psalms, Op. 78: Psalm XLIII. Richte mich Gott 03:39
• 12 Bartholdy: Three Psalms, Op. 78: Psalm XXII. Mein Gott, warum hast du mich verlassen? 07:37
• Total Runtime 01:01:16

Info for Louis Spohr: Mass, Op. 54, 3 Psalms Op. 85 - Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: 3 Psalms, Op. 78 (Remastered)

At the beginning of the 19th century, the interest of the public and musicians for sacred vocal music was highly low. Ludwig Spohr, whose fame today is almost exclusively due to his instrumental music, was concerned with this field, alongside his invention of the romantic oratorio. After the disappearance of Beethoven and Schubert, Spohr is the obvious link between the legacy of Haydn - The Seasons or The Creation -, and the full expression of Romantic splendor with Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms and… Richard Strauss.

The grandson of pastors, Louis Spohr regretted that music had been banned from the Protestant liturgy. His travel journal reports on the discoveries he made in the aera of sacred music in Saint Petersburg, London (Handel), Paris (Charpentier, Cherubini), Prague and above all Rome. His only Mass of 1821 is one of the most important works of postclassical church music. In this unaccompanied mass, he harmoniously combines contemporary interest in Baroque compositional techniques and his own search for an individual, modern style of composition.

Only the greatest chorales of the time took on the performance of this masterpiece, renowned for its polyphonic complexity and the demands it places on performers. Ten years later, Spohr completed his 3 Psalms Op. 85, with a more direct style of writing, contenting himself with the traditional four voices, this time based on German texts (translations by Moses Menselssohn) to which he breathed emotional virtue, naive and radiant. Mendelssohn’s three ‘Psalm-Motetten’ form a sort of decantation of the example proposed by Louis Spohr: purity and variety of expression, unquestionable religious feeling, very clear polyphony and prosody, and an absence of erudite contrapuntal treatment; they announce the arrival, a few years later, of his extraordinary oratorios.

Prague Philharmonic Choir
Jaroslav Brych, conductor

Jaroslav Brych
was the chief conductor of the Prague Philharmonic Choir between 1996 and 2004. His journey to this prestigious post began in the city of Pardubice, where, in addition to studying french horn at the local Academy of music, he devoted himself to conducting a children choir. He continued his musical studies at the Prague Academy of Performing Arts concentrating on orchestral conducting; he was a student of Václav Neumann as well as Josef Veselka, his famous predecessor at the head of the Prague Philharmonic Choir. Jaroslav Brych also attended many of the master courses led by Helmuth Rilling in Stuttgart. In the years 1990-94 Jaroslav Brych served as the conductor-chief of the Symphony Orchestra of the Czech Republic Army and led the Army Choir. He collaborated with other national orchestras, such as the Prague Symphony Orchestra (graduation concert), the Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava and the Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra, as well as with the ambitious young team of the Chamber Opera Mozart. From 1984 until 1997 Jaroslav Brych was the music director of the University Ensemble of Charles University. During his tenure he made two recordings of à cappella music by contemporary Czech composers with the Charles University Chorale. He has made several significant recordings with the Prague Philharmonic Choir, namely à cappella vocal compositions of L. Spohr, F. Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, A. Schnittke and S. Rachmaninoff, and also the cantatas of B. Martinů.Update: 2004.

Booklet for Louis Spohr: Mass, Op. 54, 3 Psalms Op. 85 - Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: 3 Psalms, Op. 78 (Remastered)