Dear Friends,
It is our great pleasure to announce the long-awaited premiere of a double disc recording of 55 extraordinary motets written by Polish composer Andreas Hakenberger (ca. 1574-1627) when he was kapelmeister at magnificent St Mary’s Church in Gdańsk. This recording sets Hakenberger’s work free from the opaque constraints of ancient music and opens the way to its being appreciated by the broader public. This is the goal that Jan Łukaszewski wanted to achieve through all his years of working with these scores.
These motets are all sacred works with Latin lyrics taken mostly from the Vulgate. The number of voices ranges from 6 to 12 (= one, two or three choirs), which means that most of these motets are polychoral. Their style, rooted in the late Renaissance and early Baroque, was inspired by the Venetian polychoral style from the Basilica San Marco di Venezia and adapted to the vast acoustics of St Mary’s (which remains one of the world’s largest churches) by, among other things, a masterly use of the cori spezzati technique and maintaining a constant lively dialogue between the choirs.
Hakenberger’s scores are available only in a rare critical edition by distinguished Polish musicologist Prof. Jan Węcowski, who spent four years transcribing the motets from the Pelplin Tabulature.
The Pelplin Tabulature is an extensive collection of about 800 works, primarily unknown vocal compositions by many artists (including Hakenberger), almost 100 pieces for harpsichord (Merula, Morley, Philips) and organ (Scheidemann, Tunder). The collection was discovered by chance in 1959 and is invaluable for both historians and musicians. The critical edition was published as part of the Antiquitates Musicae in Polonia series.
The recording took place on 18 - 28 September 2013 at the Church of the Visitation in Krosno near Orneta, Poland, as a collaboration between the Polish Chamber Choir and the Musica Fiorita ensemble, who specialise in ancient music. The CD was released thanks to funding from the City of Gdańsk, the National Centre for Culture and Polish Radio Two.
The record was released by the world famous NAXOS label, which has been making important contributions to the world of classical music since 1987. Naxos uses innovative recording strategies to provide a remarkable repertory with the highest quality sound.
The recording’s instrumental part was arranged by Daniela Dolci based on the historically informed performance approach and the number of instrumentalists available to Hakenberger at St Mary’s Church. The order in which the motets are presented is by Jan Łukaszewski, based on the liturgical calendar.
The disc’s were recorded and released in partnership with the National Centre for Culture.