Johann Caspar Kerll & Johann Joseph Fux - Requiems - Vox Luminis, Lionel Meunier (2016) {Ricercar Official Digital Download}

This recording presents two Austrian requiems of totally different character. Johann Joseph Fux wrote his Requiem in 1720 for the funeral of Eleonora von Neuburg, widow of the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II. Composed by a musician reputed for his theoretical skill, it impresses with the quality of the polyphonic writing combined with a very rich instrumental fabric comprising cornetts, trombones and bassoon in addition to violins, instruments also benefiting from concertante interventions.

This requiem was played on numerous occasions for official ceremonies, including again for the funeral of Karl VI in 1740. On the other hand, Johann Caspar Kerll’s version is presented in a much more intimist way. As he himself stated in the preface to the edition, this requiem was written «for my soul’s peace». It is scored for an ensemble of five voices backed up by a quartet of viols. In a more archaic style, its intense emotion is doubtless influenced by the music of his Roman master, Giacomo Carissimi.

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Personnel:
Fux
Vox Luminis
Zsuzsi Tóth, Kristen Witmer, Sara Jäggi, Stefanie True – sopranos
Barnabás Hegyi, Jan Kullmann – countertenors
Olivier Berten, Robert Buckland – tenors
Lionel Meunier, Matthias Lutze – basses

Scorpio Collectief
Jacek Kurzydło, Jivka Kaltcheva – violin
Manuela Bucher – viola
Matthias Müller – violone
Kris Verhelst – organ
Jeremie Papasergio – dulciane
Simen van Mechelen, Adam Woolf – trombone
Frithjof Smith, Josué Meléndez, Lambert Colson – cornet

Kerll
Vox Luminis
Zsuzsi Tóth, Sara Jäggi – sopranos
Barnabás Hegyi, Jan Kullmann – countertenors
Dávid Szigetvári, Philippe Froeliger, Olivier Berten, Robert Buckland – tenors
Lionel Meunier, Matthias Lutze – basses
Bart Jacobs – organ

L’Achéron
François Joubert-Caillet
Marie-Suzanne de Loye
Andreas Linos
Lucile Boulanger

Lionel Meunier - conductor

tracklist:
01. Missa pro defunctis ; Introitus
02. Missa pro defunctis ; Kyrie
03. Missa pro defunctis ; Sequenza
04. Missa pro defunctis ; Offertorium
05. Missa pro defunctis ; Sanctus - Beneditus - Hosanna
06. Missa pro defunctis ; Agnus Dei
07. Missa pro defunctis ; Communio (Lux aeterna)
08. Kaiserrequiem ; Introitus (Requiem aeternam - Te decet hymnus - Requiem aeternam)
09. Kaiserrequiem ; Kyrie
10. Kaiserrequiem ; Sequenza
11. Kaiserrequiem ; Offertorium (Domine Jesu Christe - Sed signifer - Quam olim Abrahae)
12. Kaiserrequiem ; Sanctus - Beneditus - Hosanna
13. Kaiserrequiem ; Agnus Dei
14. Kaiserrequiem ; Communio (Lux aeterna)