SKU: GI.G-005834
Latin.
The striking choral writing will instantly touch you in this succinct and moving interpretation of Virga Jesse Floruit (The rod of Jesse has blossomed) by Kentucky composer Brett Ballard. The haunting opening choral statement in E-minor seamlessly leads to an unmetered unison chant section in G mixolydian mode. An ingenious two-subject canon follows in a musical dialogue between the higher voices and the lower voices in B-flat minor. The two choral closing statements bring us back to the original tonality and musically paint the phrase ima summis . . . (reconciling in himself the lowest with the highest). The work concludes as calmly as it began. Quite a journey in thirty measures!
SKU: CA.1002600
ISBN 9790007186869.
In the period around 1700, numerous settings of the Magnificat were performed in the main Leipzig churches. Works by composers such as J. Kuhnau and G. P. Telemann survive; however, the best-known examples are undoubtedly the Magnificat BWV 243 and 243a by J. S. Bach, the 'extra' movements for the latter which exist in Bach's own hand. Following a long-established Leipzig tradition, the vocal settings of Vom Himmel hoch, Freut euch und jubiliert, Gloria in excelsis and Virga Jesse floruit (known as the Kindl-Wiegen) could be inserted between the verses of the Magnificat at Christmas. Some of these are scored for festive forces. These extra movements in C major published here for the first time, and attributed to Johann Schelle, can be performed either together with a Magnificat setting in a suitable key (e.g. by Kuhnau, Telemann) or independently.
