Andreas Hammerschmidt: Ach Jesus stirbt Vox Luminis, Lionel Meunier

• Andreas Hammerschmidt (1611 - 1675):
• 1 Ach Jesus stirbt 05:12
• 2 O barmherziger Vater 03:21
• 3 Warum betrübst du dich, mein Herz 03:57
• 4 Ach Gott, warum hast du mein vergessen 05:20
• 5 Erbarm dich mein 04:55
• 6 Bis hin an des Creutzes Stamm 04:34
• 7 Christ lag in Todesbanden 06:41
• 8 Vater unser 06:42
• 9 Ich bin gewiß, das weder Tod 04:04
• 10 Triumph, Triumph, Victoria 06:41
• 11 Die mit Tränen säen 03:39
• 12 Wer wälzet uns den Stein 04:25
• 13 Ist nicht Ephraim mein theurer Sohn 03:21
• 14 Ich fahre auf zu meinem Vater 03:44
• 15 Siehe, wie fein und lieblich ists 04:12
• Total Runtime 01:10:48

Info for Andreas Hammerschmidt: Ach Jesus stirbt

Andreas Hammerschmidt is undoubtedly the most unjustly neglected composer of seventeenth-century Lutheran Germany. Very few recordings have been devoted to him, even though his music was widely published during his lifetime. The fifteen or so published collections offer a great variety of works, which, like those of his famous contemporary Heinrich Schütz, illustrate the fusion between the Lutheran polyphonic tradition and the various stylistic influences of the Italian Baroque. For this musical portrait of Hammerschmidt, Vox Luminis has drawn on several of these collections in order to offer as rounded a picture as possible of the variety of the composer’s styles. The entire programme is structured around texts for Passiontide and Easter, introduced by an intensely moving madrigalian motet on the death of Christ, Ach Jesus stirbt.

Vox Luminis
Lionel Meunier, direction

Vox Luminis
founded in 2004 in Namur, Belgium, is an ensemble specialising in the performance of 16th – 18th century vocal music.

The ensemble has been praised for its seamless blend of high quality individual voices, exquisite tuning and clarity of sound. Critics have also commented on the ensemble’s enthusiasm in sharing its passion for early music with an audience. The majority of the group met at one of the most significant centers for early music in Europe: the Royal Conservatory in The Hague.

Vox Luminis has performed in festivals and venues in Belgium (Nuits de Septembre de Liège, festival de Stavelot, Juillet Musical de Saint-Hubert, Automne Musical de Spa, MA festival Bruges, festival van Vlanderen Gent, Laus Polifoniae Antwerpen, festival des midi-Minimes, Eté Musical de Roisin, Société Philharmonique de Namur…); France (festival d’Ambronay, festival de Saintes, Rencontres Musicales de Vézelay, festival de Saint-Michel en Thiérarche, Midsummer festival d’Hardelot, festival Contrepoint 62, Festival Musique et Mémoire de Luxeuil, Musique et Natures en Bauges, festival Bach en Combrailles…); Germany (Ratingen Bachtage festival, Muziekfest Stuttgart); The Netherlands (Oude Muziek Utrecht, Den Haag, Delft); Portugal (Centro Cultural Bélem-Lisbon) and Croatia (Varazdin Baroque Evenings).

Vox Luminis records exclusively for the Belgian Label Ricercar. The ensemble’s first CD, released at the end of 2007, features four vocal works by Domenico Scarlatti, including his famous 10-part Stabat Mater. In May 2010 the ensemble released its second album, Samuel Scheidt: Sacrae Cantiones, which features several world premieres. Vox Luminis’ most recent CD, released in June 2012, created a buzz with an interpretation of Heinrich Schütz’s Musicalische Exequien. This recording has received several prestigious awards such as the Gramophone ‘Recording of the Year’, the ‘Baroque Vocal Gramophone Award’ and the ‘International Classical Music Award’.

Other recordings have also received many awards throughout the world including, Gramophone’s ‘Editor’s Choice’, Diapason d’Or, Choc de Classica, Muse d’Or Baroque, Preis der Deutschen Schallplatten Kritik, Joker de Crescendo and Prix Caecilia.

Vox Luminis is very grateful to have the support of the Federation Wallonie-Bruxelles and the City of Namur.

Lionel Meunier
was born in France. He began his musical education in the music school of his town, Clamecy where he studied solfege, recorder and trumpet. Being passionated for music from his young age, he continued his studies in IMEP, Namur at the age of 18, where he gratuated with high distinction from recorder in 2004 as a student of Tatiana Babut du Mares. He had masterclasses with Jean Tubéry, working at the same time with Hugo Reyne. The same year he started vocal studies in the Royal Conservatoire of the Hague with Rita Dams and Peter Kooij as his teachers.

Since that he has been sung with numerous ensembles such as the Collegium Vocale Gent (P. Herreweghe), World Youth Choir, Arsys Bourgogne (P. Cao), Amsterdam Baroque Choir (T. Koopman), Namur Chamber Choir, Ex Tempore and with soloist ensemble such as I Favoriti de la Fenice (J. Tubery), the Soloists of Namur Chamber Choir, Capella Pratensis and as ripienist with the Nederlandse Bach Vereniging. All these experiences gave him the opportunity to work with many specialists like Christophe Rousset, Tonu Kaljuste, Gustav Leonhardt, Roberto Gini, Jean-Claude Malgoire, Paul Dombrecht, Florian Heyerick, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Richard Egarr...Lionel is also active as a soloist, he has performed the A minor mass of Schubert, Johannes Passion and sever cantatas by J. S. Bach, Haydn's Stabat Mater & Nelson Mass, Kronung's Mass and C minor Mass by Mozart, Mass in G of C. Franck, ect...

He is the artistic director of the ensemble Vox Luminis, group that he created in 2004 with his friend pianist.

Booklet for Andreas Hammerschmidt: Ach Jesus stirbt