Junger Kammerchor Rhein-Neckar: Advent

Advent: the beginning of the Christian year, traditionally a time of preparation for Christmas, is in danger of being drowned by the hustle and bustle of pre-Christmas antics—even more so than the feast itself. Music offers us a place far removed from all the loud and glaring features of these days: composers of all periods have been inspired to write stunning works by the chants and liturgies for the four Sundays of Advent, and the Junger Kammerchor Rhein-Neckar under the direction of Mathias Rickert has made an appealing selection from this cornucopia: ranging from Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548–1611) and William Byrd (1543–1623), Johannes Brahms (1833–1897) and Erhard Mauersberger (1903–1982), to composers of the present. Jan Wilke (*1980) and Dominik Dieterle (*1989) are the youngest members of an illustrious group which includes famous names such as Bob Chilcott (*1955), Morten Lauridsen (*1943), and Arvo Pärt (*1935). A number of the Latin O antiphons, traditionally used in the offices of the last seven days before Christmas, are complemented by new settings of well-known Advent songs such as Es kommt ein Schiff geladen, O Heiland reiß die Himmel auf, and Macht hoch die Tür. Again and again, the world’s illumination through the birth of Christ is found reflected in these songs: in ‘Wacht auf, ruft uns die Stimme’, ‘Die Nacht ist vorgedrungen’, or Morten Lauridsen’s beautiful ‘O Nata Lux’. The Junger Kammerchor Rhein-Neckar performs all of these works with great sensitivity and invites listeners to celebrate a peaceful Advent—free from red-nosed reindeers, jingling bells, or dreams of a white Christmas.

Junger Kammerchor Rhein-Neckar
Mathias Rickert