Georg Muffat - Missa in Labore Requies - Cappella Murensis (2016) {Audite Official Digital Download}

This recording of Georg Muffat's monumental mass alongside church sonatas by his contemporaries creates a vivid impression of the imposing sacred music heard at leading Catholic courts during the High Baroque. The Abbey Church of Muri with its four galleries and its historical Bossart organs proves to be a performance venue with perfect acoustics for these polychoral works.

Georg Muffat's "Missa in labore requies" alongside church sonatas of his contemporaries make up audite's latest offering in the series of polychoral baroque music recorded by renowned Early Music performers.

With its octagonal layout and four galleries, the Abbey Church at Muri provides an ideal acoustic for performing polychoral music. The galleries surround the main body of the church, placing the audience in the midst of the musical event. This sound experience is unique, both in concert and in recordings. The considerable distance between the galleries creates challenges in the musical interaction of the different groups. At the same time, however, it forms part of the composition itself, for only through the spatial distance between the choirs is the music able to assume its intended expanse and grandeur. A suitable venue is therefore a deciding factor for the authentic performance of such works, superbly realised on this recording. The two historic Bossart organs of 1743 provide a true continuo foundation, making their mark on the impressive overall sound of the recording.

Georg Muffat's monumental "Missa in labore requies" is the composer's only surviving sacred work, comprising twenty-four voices allocated into five separate choirs. Muffat makes full use of the lavish scoring in this work which was doubtless written for an extremely prestigious occasion. The central splendour is repeatedly alternated with movements giving vocal soloists the opportunity to shine in virtuoso as well as expressive passages. The finest old style counterpoint stands alongside the modern concertato style, with piano passages of the great tutti echoes creating impressive effects: these are only surpassed by the muted trumpets and timpani accompanying the "passus et sepultus est" in a sombre funeral march.

Church sonatas for various scorings by Muffat's contemporaries round off this recording.

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Personnel:
Composers - Georg Muffat | Antonio Bertali | Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber | Johann Heinrich Schmelzer

Cappella Murensis
Les Cornets Noirs
Johannes Strobl - musical director

tracklist:
01 - MUFFAT. Missa 'In labore requies' a 24 - KYRIE. Sonata
02 - Missa 'In labore requies' a 24 - KYRIE. Kyrie I
03 - Missa 'In labore requies' a 24 - KYRIE. Christe
04 - Missa 'In labore requies' a 24 - KYRIE. Kyrie II
05 - Missa 'In labore requies' a 24 - GLORIA. Et in terra pax
06 - Missa 'In labore requies' a 24 - GLORIA. Laudamus te
07 - Missa 'In labore requies' a 24 - GLORIA. Gratias agimus tibi
08 - Missa 'In labore requies' a 24 - GLORIA. Domine Deus
09 - Missa 'In labore requies' a 24 - GLORIA. Qui tollis peccata mundi
10 - Missa 'In labore requies' a 24 - GLORIA. Quoniam tu solus sanctus
11 - Missa 'In labore requies' a 24 - GLORIA. Cum Sancto Spiritu
12 - Missa 'In labore requies' a 24 - CREDO. Patrem omnipotentem
13 - Missa 'In labore requies' a 24 - CREDO. Et in unum Dominum
14 - Missa 'In labore requies' a 24 - CREDO. Qui propter nos homines
15 - Missa 'In labore requies' a 24 - CREDO. Et incarnatus est
16 - Missa 'In labore requies' a 24 - CREDO. Crucifixus
17 - Missa 'In labore requies' a 24 - CREDO. Et resurrexit
18 - Missa 'In labore requies' a 24 - CREDO. Et in Spiritum Sanctum
19 - Missa 'In labore requies' a 24 - SANCTUS. Sanctus
20 - Missa 'In labore requies' a 24 - SANCTUS. Hosanna
21 - Missa 'In labore requies' a 24 - BENEDICTUS. Benedictus
22 - Missa 'In labore requies' a 24 - BENEDICTUS. Hosanna
23 - Missa 'In labore requies' a 24 - AGNUS DEI. Agnus Dei
24 - Missa 'In labore requies' a 24 - AGNUS DEI. Dona nobis pacem
25 - BERTALI. Sonata a 13, A 540, IV.94
26 - Von BIBER. Sonata VI a 5
27 - SCHMELZER. Sonata XII a 7
28 - Von BIBER. Sonata VIII a 5
29 - BERTALI. Sonata Sancti Placidi a 14, A 548, IV.102