Marie Luise Werneburg; Dominik Worner; Kirchheimer BachConsort; Florian Heyerick - Christoph Graupner: Mein Jesus, nahe doch zu mir (Solo & Dialogue Cantatas II)

In 1722, Christoph Graupner missed being appointed as the new cantor of St Thomas' Church in Leipzig by a hair and not Johann Sebastian Bach. But Graupner's employer, the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, refused to let him go. He knew exactly what a talented court conductor he had obtained around ten years prior. He was skilful at composing operas, cantatas, symphonies, concertos, chamber music and piano works and was therefore worth every penny of his handsome salary. Graupner imaginatively filled even small sacred works with life, producing great expression in even the most modest instrumentation using subtle voice leading. This is what we hear in these works, which are performed just as agilely, nimbly and often with joyful and declamatory vigour (Klassik-Heute) as the first recording of these so-called Dialogue Cantatas.