Jauchzet dem Herrn, alle Welt - Sacred Choral Music and Motets A Cappella

Schiersteiner Kantorei
Stephan Breith | cello
Clemens Bosselmann | conductor

Mendelssohn's sacred music is best known through his large-scale oratorios - Elijah, St. Paul, the choral symphony Lobgesang, and the psalms for orchestra and organ. His smaller church works tend to be overlooked, yet it is precisely in them that his gift for melodic invention and harmonic colour shows most clearly.

The programme pairs double-choir mass movements (Kyrie, Gloria in excelsis Deo, Heilig) with delicate four-part polyphony and expansive eight-voice writing. The psalm settings Warum toben die Heiden and Mein Gott, mein Gott, warum hast du mich verlassen unfold as compact a cappella cantatas, carrying the same dramatic weight as the great oratorios.

Stephan Breith, former principal cellist of the Hessian State Theatre, provides a counterpoint with solo cello pieces. The concert takes place in the basilica of Kloster Eberbach.