‘Vox Luminis & Lionel Meunier’

The ‘Ein Deutsches Barockrequiem’ project, which was sealed with a splendid recording in 2023, grew out of a fascination with Johannes Brahms' Deutsches Requiem. Lionel Meunier and Vox Luminis wondered: what if we reconstructed this requiem with works from the 17th century using the same text as Brahms? For instance, the psalm Die mit Tränen säen was also set to music by Christian Geist. Polyphonic works in madrigal style, such as Ach wie gar nichts by Andreas Hammerschmidt alternate with cantatas with instrumental accompaniment. Only Brahms' fifth movement has no counterpart from the Baroque. A funereal motet by Johann Hermann Schein is a worthy substitute. It is an exploration that eventually leads us to Johann Philipp Förtsch, a talented Hamburger who abandoned his musical career for his calling as a doctor.