Graupner: Cantatas

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On its brand-new second Graupner album the Kirchheimer BachConsort performs solo and dialogue cantatas by this composer who always met the highest standards of his times. Graupner sought opportunities for original expression and was open to the latest developments and to unfamiliar instruments. With his inexhaustible imagination he was able to create cantatas rich in contrasts and with variability, originality, diversified instrumentation, special tone color opulence, intelligent voice leading, and drama schooled on the opera as their hallmarks. The interplay of the vocal and instrumental parts is also a special feature of his music. In the introduction to his Hymnbook published in 1728 Graupner emphasized what in his view was the most important task facing a composer: “Edifying words in a song make an even deeper impression on human hearts when the meaning and message of the text, as it were, are vividly presented through the music with carefully considered and select expressions. And this is the noblest thing in every composition in which specific texts and words are prescribed.” In his cantatas Graupner succeeded in employing purposeful musical affections to illustrate and represent the texts. For him there was no difference between secular and sacred music; he knew how to engage in skillful negotiations between these two genres.