Verdi und Puccini Gaechinger Cantorey, Dresdner Kammerchor, Stuttgarter Philharmoniker & Hans-Christoph Rademann

• Giacomo Puccini (1858 - 1924): Messa a 4 voci con orchestra, SC 6:
• 1Puccini: Messa a 4 voci con orchestra, SC 6: I. Kyrie04:59
• 2Puccini: Messa a 4 voci con orchestra, SC 6: II. Gloria18:00
• 3Puccini: Messa a 4 voci con orchestra, SC 6: III. Credo13:03
• 4Puccini: Messa a 4 voci con orchestra, SC 6: IV. Sanctus e Benedictus03:46
• 5Puccini: Messa a 4 voci con orchestra, SC 6: V. Agnus Dei03:53
• Giuseppe Verdi (1813 - 1901): 4 pezzi sacri:
• 6Verdi: 4 pezzi sacri: I. Ave Maria05:19
• 7Verdi: 4 pezzi sacri: II. Stabat Mater12:12
• 8Verdi: 4 pezzi sacri: III. Laudi alla Vergine Maria04:45
• 9Verdi: 4 pezzi sacri: IV. Te Deum16:06
• Total Runtime01:22:03

Info for Verdi und Puccini

The early musical experiences of Puccini and Verdi, those two giants of Italian opera, were in fact gained in the field of sacred music. In 1880, at the age of 22, Puccini composed his Messa a 4 voci as a graduation exercise. When still a schoolboy, the 45-year older Verdi stood in for the organist in his home village; at the end of this life, he returned to church music, writing his Quattro pezzi sacri in the 1890s at the age of over 80. The Messa of the younger composer – which was believed lost until 1952 – is a joyful and scintillating work. Artistically, Verdi’s powerful and intense Pezzi sacri can be placed on an equal standing with his beloved operas.

Our recording provides a great opportunity to hear all four pieces, which, because of their diverse instrumentation (a cappella choir, quartet and double choir with large orchestra), are rarely performed together. The CD features the Gaechinger Cantorey, the Dresdner Kammerchor, the Stuttgart Philharmonic, Sung Min Song and Krešimir Stražanac, all performing under the baton of Hans-Christoph Rademann.

Sung Min Song, tenor
Kresimir Strazanac, bass
Gaechinger Cantorey, soprano
Dresdner Kammerchor
Stuttgarter Philharmoniker
Hans-Christoph Rademann, condutor

Hans-Christoph Rademann
is an immensely versatile artist with a broad repertoire who devotes himself with equal passion and expertise both to the performance and rediscovery of early music and to the first performances and cultivation of Contemporary Music. Born in Dresden and raised in the Erzgebirge mountains, he was influenced at an early age by the great Central German kantorial and musical tradition. He was a student at the traditional Kreuzgymnasium, a member of the famous Kreuzchor, and studied choral and orchestral conducting at the Carl Maria von Weber University of Music in Dresden. During his studies, he founded the Dresdner Kammerchor and formed it into a top international choir which is still under his direction today. Since 2013, Hans-Christoph Rademann has been the academy director of the International Bach Academy Stuttgart. He regularly collaborates with leading choirs and ensembles of the international music scene. From 1999 to 2004 he was chief conductor of the NDR Choir and from 2007 to 2015 chief conductor of the RIAS Chamber Choir. Guest conducting engagements have led and continue to lead him to the Nederlandse Bachvereniging, the Collegium Vocale Gent, the Akademie für Alte Musik, the Freiburger Barockorchester, the Deutsche Radiophilharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern, the Sinfonieorchester Basel, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg, among others. Hans-Christoph Rademann has been awarded prizes and honors for his artistic work, including the Johann Walter Plaque of the Saxon Music Council (2014), the Saxon Constitutional Medal (2008), the Sponsorship Prize as well as the Art Prize of the state capital Dresden (1994 and 2014 respectively). He received the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik several times for his numerous CD recordings (most recently in 2016), as well as the Grand Prix du Disque (2002), the Diapason d’Or (2006 & 2011), the CHOC de l’année 2011 and the Best Baroque Vocal Award 2014. In 2016 he was awarded the European Church Music Prize of the city of Schwäbisch Gmünd. His exemplary interpretation and recording of the complete works of Heinrich Schütz with the Dresdner Kammerchor in the Stuttgart Carus-Verlag, which was completed in 2019, was awarded the newly endowed Heinrich Schütz Prize as well as the OPUS KLASSIK 2020 in the same year. Hans-Christoph Rademann is professor of choral conducting at the Carl Maria von Weber University of Music in Dresden. He is also artistic director of the Musikfest Erzgebirge, ambassador of the Erzgebirge and patron of the Christian Hospice Service Dresden.

Booklet for Verdi und Puccini