PACHELBEL: Ingressus in c; Magnificat in C; Ingressus in e; Ingressus in G; Ingressus in g; Magnificat in F; Ingressus in B-flat; JOHANN KRIEGER: Sonata à 5 in a; JOHANN CASPAR KERIL: Sonata à 5 in g – The King’s Singers/ Charivari Agreable/ Kah-Ming Ng, director – Signum Classics 198, 72:49 [Distr. by Naxos] ****:
Johann Pachelbel has been unfairly stained by the success of his ubiquitous “Canon à 3”, to so-called “Yuppie National Anthem” that has so plagued many department stores, elevators, commercials, you name it. Alright, the piece is a fine one, and I like it, but there is so much more to this composer, a good friend of the Bach family, one of the foremost virtuosos of his age, and a quite extraordinary composer, as the selections from the Vespers service on this disc will show.
Pachelbel was an “early” Protestant composer, at a time when the services were still in Latin, and as such his style is somewhat different than that which appeared in the Lutheran church years later. His is a music that is redolent of the very early Baroque, and is littered with the clichés and contrivances (all in a good way) of that era. The vocal music is tightly-woven with the fabric of the instrumental accompaniment, and the results are simply sterling.
It is good to hear the King’s Singers again in repertory that they started out with before crossing over so successfully, and they are marvelous here, with spectacular playing by a period group unknown to me, Charivari Agreable, a spot-on Baroque band of impeccable musicianship. Add to the mix two sprightly sonatas by Krieger and Keril (both contemporaries of Pachebel) and Signum’s airy sound, and you have a winner all around.
— Steven Ritter
Barbican Quartet – Lux Intus – BR Klassik
“Internal Light”… illuminating the inner voices of the quartet
