This beautifully presented disc contains some exquisite works played with great verve and empathy by Mieneke van der Velden's L'Armonia Sonora who have undoubtedly deeply researched the music in question. There have been similar discs who have explored this kind of repertoire in the past especially on Hyperion which also has a series of 17th Century German sacred composers but I feel that the works here are chosen with far more perceptiveness in mind.
I particularly enjoyed Meder's "Gott hilf mir" with its rising perorations and subtle changes in tempi. Weckmann's cantata is also extremely innovative as are the works by Bernhard and the concluding Obstupescite by Benedictus Buns. Throughout L'Armonia Sonora play with exquisite and ravishing beauty with the soloists Blazikova and Kooij at the top of their game in practically all the works.
The presentation as already indicated is superb with a fulsome booklet containing detailed biographies of the performers and copious notes on the works involved. I am looking forward to further discs from this excellent source.
Copyright © 2010, Gerald Fenech