Heinrich Schütz Music Festival: Deep hopeful blue
Ælbgut (Ensemble in residence) & CONTINUUM / Music by Heinrich Schütz and a commissioned composition by Annette Schlünz with texts by Ulrike Schuster
Ælbgut
Isabel Schicketanz, soprano
Marie Luise Werneburg, soprano
Stefan Kunath, alto
Christopher Renz, tenor
Martin Schicketanz, bass
CONTINUUM
Jesús Merino Ruiz, violin
Lorena Padròn, violin
Friederike Otto, cornett
Anna Schall, cornett
Liam Byrne, viola da gamba
Mirjam-Luise Münzel, viola da gamba
Juan Gonzalez, alto trombone
Bärbel Leo, tenor trombone
Tural Ismayilov, bass trombone
Adrian Rovatkay, dulcian
Christine Sticher, violone
Jonas Nordberg, lute and theorbo
Lola Mlacnik, percussion
Elina Albach, organ and harpsichord
A word: The composer Annette Schlünz in conversation with Dr. Maik Richter, scientific director of the Heinrich-Schütz-Haus Weißenfels. Director of the Heinrich Schütz House in Weißenfels
Soloistic perfection fused into a lively, transparent ensemble sound - Ensemble Ælbgut has earned this reputation at an impressive rate since its foundation in 2018 with extraordinary concert projects and highly acclaimed CD recordings. Soprano Isabel Schicketanz, alto Stefan Kunath and baritone Martin Schicketanz, together with distinguished colleagues at home and abroad, are an expert ensemble for music of the 17th and 18th centuries. Their ideal of realizing baroque music as vividly and authentically as possible and therefore close to the word makes the young ensemble an increasingly sought-after partner for projects that shift or overcome repertoire and style boundaries.
Together with the instrumental ensemble CONTINUUM - under the direction of harpsichordist Elina Albach, one of the leading formations of newly conceived presentations of early music - Ælbgut is taking on a special challenge as artist in residence for the Heinrich Schütz Music Festival: With the commissioned work Tiefhoffnungsblau, the composer Annette Schlünz and the poet Ulrike Schuster have created nine movements that oscillate between questions about the world of faith and life in Schütz's time and answers to the longing of the present for something peaceful and protective that is greater than human imagination.
Tiefhoffnungsblau combines a selection from Heinrich Schütz's Symphoniae Sacrae III, published in 1650: the Kapellmeister at the Saxon court compiled works rich in sound and effect in this last opus number (for the time being) - probably also conceived as a summary of the breadth of his compositional output. The highly text-bound nature of the concertos, which affects the structural characteristics of the language as well as the deeply felt religious content, makes this music by Heinrich Schütz approachable works, even over the distance of almost 400 years, which underline the relevance of cultural heritage, especially in the mirror of contemporary poetry.
