Vocalconsort Leipzig
Gregor Meyer – Conductor
Dieter Bellmann – Speaker
Johannes Unger – Organ
Christmas is a celebration with different facets. It can be extremely fascinating to observe how traditions of art and culture connected to christmas change. This CD shows the different manners in which the story of Jesus' birth was converted to music in different times. It is a collection of well-known, well-loved and famous songs for advent and christmas – but the different arrangements of them are rather unknown. Yet they all tell a little story of the christmas celebration.
The listener will also get to know three of the composers through letters in which they ponder upon emotions and experiences in the context of christmas. The letters are read by Dieter Bellmann, a famous actor from Leipzig, and they tell us about the preparations made for christmas celebration, about the excitement and the presents. Yet they also convey an atmosphere of contemplative peace and quiet.
Thus, the music on this CD sends out a warm invitation into the world – to celebrate joyfully, but also to listen, to remember and to be still.