The central work on this disc of sacred vocal music by Heinrich Schütz is the Historia der Auferstehung Jesu Christi (History of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ); several small vocal concertos from various phases of Schütz's career are also included. The musical "history" in Lutheran Germany was a soloistic but nondramatic rendering of a Bible story, often an episode from the life of Jesus. It was a key predecessor of the oratorio, and in Schütz's hands here it was a chance to experiment with adapting new Italian operatic styles to the requirements of German sacred music. The Historia is an early work of Schütz and something of a mixed bag. Some of the parts are sung by soloists, others by pairs or groups of singers, and the orchestra is varied, like that of an Italian intermedio -- it includes violins, gambas, chitarrone, harp, and an organ continuo. The work has neither the grandeur of Schütz's big motets nor the intimacy of his sacred concertos or the radically concise Passion settings of his old age. Yet it is recognizably a product of its composer and his Dürer-like merging of German monumentality and Italian color. This isn't a first Schütz disc for anybody, but for those interested in the era, it's a worthwhile choice: recordings of the Historia are rare, and the fine north German group
Weser-Renaissance is well-versed in music of this period.