Voktett Hannover: Liebesweisen

Sacred and secular love songs: a global cornucopia of amorous confessions throughout the ages. The eight members of the Ensemble Voktett Hannover make an impact, not least, with the exceptionally broad repertoire they bring together on the present release: in addition to Romantic masterpieces such as Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’s motet ‘Denn er hat seinen Engeln befohlen’, their recording includes much earlier works as well as contemporary compositions. Among the former is Thomas Tallis’s setting of the hymn ‘Te lucis ante terminum’ while Benjamin Britten’s ‘Hymn to St Cecilia’, Giacinto Scelsi’s ‘Gloria’ and Helmut Wormsbächer’s arrangement of the Low German evergreen ‘Dat du min Leevsten büst’ ensure that the twentieth and twenty-first centuries are also prominently represented. The album’s repertoire is united by a concern for love. Some pieces consider the love between humans, others grapple with a spiritual love for God. Love’s manifold forms are illustrated from all perspectives, and from all compositional vantage points. The Ensemble Voktett juxtapose the sounds of Modernity with Renaissance polyphony, producing an impressive, rousing assortment of music historical delights, wrapped in rich, harmonious sounds.