Heinrich Isaac (1450-1517)
Ecce virgo concipiet

Johannes Eccard (1533-1611)
Nun komm der Heiden Heiland

Günter Raphael (1903-1960)
Maria durch ein Dornwald ging

Andreas Hammerschmidt (1612-1675)
Machet die Tore weit

Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)
Ave maris stella

Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672)
O lieber Herre Gott & Tröstet mein Volk, extrait de "Geistliche Chormusik 1648"

Josef Gabriel Rheinberger (1839-1901)
Ave Maria

Max Reger (1873-1916)
Unser lieben Frauen Traum

Jacobus Gallus (1550-1591)
Mirabile mysterium

Carl Thiel (1862-1939)
In dulci jubilo

Felix Woyrsch (1860-1944)
Auf dem Berge da geht der Wind

Eric Whitacre (1970-)
Lux aurumque

Jan Sandström (1954-)
Es ist ein Ros entsprungen

Herbert Norman Howells (1892-1982)
A spotless rose

John Rutter (1945-)
I wonder as I wander

Antonin Tucapsky
A Child is born in Bethlehem

Morten Lauridsen (1943-)
O magnum mysterium

Sächsisches Vocalensemble
Matthias Jung, direction

This CD marks the recording premiere of four cantatas by Gottfried August Homilius for Advent and Christmas. Homilius was the number-one composer of Protestant church music during the second half of the eighteenth century and during his lifetime was regarded as »perhaps today’s very best church composer.« After his death the lexicographer Ernst Ludwig Gerber expressed the view that he was »without contradiction our greatest church composer.« Homilius’ music already displays elements of early Classicism and the sensibility of the empfindsamer Stil, his cantata choruses are frequently homophonic and songlike in design, and polyphonic sections are rather rare. His cantatas composed around 1776 prove to be works of individual design and conception and attest to his mastery as a composer. Arias of great tonal beauty, the naturalness of their expression, and the dramatic suspense of the various numbers continue to fascinate listening audiences even today!