Clemens Flamig; Handelfestspielorchester Halle; Kaspar Kroner; Christina Roterberg; Susanne Lagner;
Description
Within this 2-CD set, Clemens Flamig has created a virtual encounter between Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel through his pasticcio, Hercules.
Though Handel and Bach were born around four weeks apart and just 150km apart in distance, they never encountered one another in person. By compiling both Bach's "Lasst uns sorgen, lasst uns wachen" and Handel's "The Choice of Hercules", Flamig has honored the Baroque pasticcio practice. The pasticcio practice was a popular method of composition in Bach and Handel's time and was particularly well-used within the opera world to create newly devised stage works by bringing together pieces of music from different composers.
Even though it is deeply rooted in ancient mythology, the themes of virtue found within the myth of Hercules made it particularly popular amongst Christians far and wide. Thus, on 5th September 1733 in Leipzig, Johann Sebastian Bach, with his Collegium musicum, performed his Dramma per musica "Lasst uns sorgen, lasst uns wachen" BWV 213 to mark the eleventh birthday of the Saxon crown prince Friedrich Christian. In the summer of 1750, 17 years after Bach and shortly before his last trip to Germany, George Frideric Handel took on the same story in his work "The Choice of Hercules" HWV 69.
Tracklisting
Horst Wolf
Pieter van Dijk
Mirella Hagen, Tobias Berndt, Frank-Immo Zichner
Mechthild Winter
Maria Ladurner, Martin Riccabona, cappella Argentina
Kristin Henneberg, Susanne Rabbach, Andreas Hartmann
Juliane Laake, Ensemble Art d'Echo
Jean-Michel Douiller
