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<< -- 3 -- Robert Anderson VITAL INSPIRATION
Seven voices are involved on the CD, all expressively at one with the
music. Including the male alto, it is the men who predominate, and in fact
Schütz is at his most impressive when painting in darker colours. No 7,
'Anima mea liquefacta est', for instance, is for two tenors, intertwining
to produce considerable harmonic tension. Here the continuo supports a pair
of fiffari or cornettini. Unlike the previous two texts, which come from the
Psalms and II Samuel, this is from the Song of Songs, the
most sensuous of love poems till needlessly transformed into an allegory.
Schütz gives us two love-lorn men pining for their beloved
[listen -- track 13, 0:00-1:19].
Text, vocal layout and instrumentation continue in No 8, 'Adjuro vos'.
Les Saqueboutiers de Toulouse are a group founded thirty years ago with
cornetts and sackbuts central. I have deliberately chosen for illustration
pieces that deploy the wind, not only because Schütz uses such
instruments so expressively, but since this was the core of this gifted
ensemble.
Elsewhere there are energetic parts for two flutes, a pair of violins, or
three bassoons. Venice had again proved a vital inspiration for Schütz, who
could now return in full panoply to Dresden as Germany's greatest composer.
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