Couldn't find a thread on this composer and polymath: Johann Kuhnau (1660-1722). J.S. Bach's predecessor as Thomaskantor in Leipzig.
I'm only familiar with his Magnificat. I understand he wrote a ton of cantatas, just like Bach. I don't know which ones are good and which aren't, but many of them are out on CPO. Sampling through the available discs, it all sounds pretty good to me. Beyond this he's mostly renowned for his harpsichord and organ music. Hmm, sound familiar? I highly doubt he's another Bach in depth and quality of music, but I do like what I'm hearing and would like to hear more. My knowledge of this time & place in music is pretty slim beyond Bach, Buxtehude, etc.
Anyone listening to Kuhnau? What recordings do you like? Please delete this thread if another already exists; I didn't see one in schnittkease's directory sticky.
Quite a while ago Hyperion issued a series of discs devoted to Bach's Contemporaries and I bought the Kuhnau disc. I vaguely recall finding it dull and haven't listened to it since - too much other music competing for my time. The performers are Robert King and The King's Consort. I find their Purcell fairly lacklustre so perhaps they aren't doing Kuhnau justice either. I have dug out the disc from the vaults and might give some of it a try some time.
The Kuhnau disc on Hyperion is not my favorite. I'd recommend this:
[asin]B0000509J8[/asin]
It has got only one Kuhnau cantata, but the other works by Tunder, Bruhns and Graupner are great stuff and well performed.
Kuhnau is an overlooked composer in the shadow of Bach and we have to live with the fact that there just isn't tons of brilliant recordings of his music. CPO is doing good job changing the situation... I have a few of those. I also have the 3 CD set on Brilliant Classics of Kuhnau's Organ Music played by Stefano Molardi. So, the size of my Kuhnau collection is 8+ CDs, but then again I am a German middle baroque junkie so Kuhnau is very much in my alley. ;D
If you search there's been quite a bit of discussion with Premont and me. I'm not sure what to really think about the keyboard music. Wili Apel says something like the high points are very high, and the low points are pretty low, and that sounds about right to me.
If you search the web for a musician called Fernando de Luca, you'll see he's recorded quite a bit of Kuhnau and it used to be free on his website. I like his stuff. Fritz Neumayer ans Gustav Leonhardt made recordings of Kuhnau sonatas, but be warned, they feature bible reading. But have some lovely harpsichord playing though. Colin Tilney made a recording of sonatas which seems pretty good and Christian Bembreck recorded some music on organ, but somehow it's more competent than inspired. There's also Jan Katzschke, rather good I think.
The horror! The horror! Kuhnau on a modern piano.
https://www.youtube.com/v/-pGyht7CGCk
I like the Fernando de Luca stuff. Not really around on CD it seems but it's on Qobuz. Too bad I missed out on the freebies.
@71 dB, thanks for the rec. I'll have to see if I can find a cheaper copy. I've been curious what kind of music you actually like (beyond Elgar), given I usually see you criticizing this and that composer ;D
Thoughts on the CPO cantatas and stuff?
Try here for Fernando de Luca
https://www.saladelcembalo.org/archivio/a2011_03.htm
Quote from: vers la flamme on August 22, 2020, 01:13:35 PM
@71 dB, thanks for the rec. I'll have to see if I can find a cheaper copy. I've been curious what kind of music you actually like (beyond Elgar), given I usually see you criticizing this and that composer ;D
I am only criticizing? Wow. I like a lot of music, both classical and non-classical.
There's just some composers I'm not into. You probably know those if you have seen a lot of my "criticizing" posts. ;D
In General North German baroque is my thing, but I also have this tendency of "cherry picking" genres, especially when it's about non-classical music. I adore the music of
Carly Simon, but I'm not into artists
similar to her.
King Crimson is one of my favorite bands, but I don't listen to other "70's rock bands." I enjoy the pop songs of
Kesha and
Katy Perry a lot while never having heard one song by Taylor Swift that intrests me musically. I am very much into
Autechre, but I don't listen to Boards of Canada and even Aphex Twin only selectively.
Tangerine Dream is a massive thing in my life, but I don't listen to Kraftwerk. Some people have their genre of choice and listen to almost anything within that genre and nothing outside it, but I am the other way around. I find my few favorites within most genres.
Quote from: vers la flamme on August 22, 2020, 01:13:35 PMThoughts on the CPO cantatas and stuff?
Better than the Hyperion discs imo.