With this first recording of the 16-voice Missa Tira Corda by Orazio Benevoli, the Tolz Boys Choir under the direction of Gerhard Schmidt-Gaden presents a true historic gem of the finest musical quality. Their mastery of polychoral effects brings alive the original sound-world and performance practice of music in seventeenth-century Rome.
Tölzer Knabenchor
Gerhard Schmidt-Gaden
Orazio Benevoli (1605–1672)
Missa Tira Corda
Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni (1657–1743)
Dixit Dominus für 16 Stimmen
»»» Detailed informations, texts, photos, etc. inside CD (booklet)
Deutscher Text (24 Seiten) / Texts in english (24 pages)
Gesamtspielzeit / Total Recording Time: 59:19 | Format: 1 SuperAudio-CD | RD: 09/2011
Recording: 8/2010 – Basilika St. Benedikt, Benediktbeuern | Producer: Matthias Keller (BR), Andreas Meixner (Spektral)
(p) & (c) 2011 SPEKTRAL | Reihe SPEKTRAL CLASSICS
Order No.: SRL4-11089 | GTIN (EAN): 4260130380892
In 2006, the Tölz Boys Choir celebrated 50 years of existence. It has been led by Gerhard Schmidt-Gaden since its inception. At present, it consists of over 200 boys who are instructed by seven vocal coaches. The joy of singing is the fundamental basis of the choristers’ comprehensive musical education. The various groups and soloists that make up the choir appear throughout the world in more than 200 concerts and opera performances each year. The broad musical palette of the Tölz Boys Choir embraces vocal music from the Middle Ages to the Modern Period. The choir also focuses on solo roles and choral parts from the great operatic works of the last 400 years. They undertake regular tours that lead them to Japan, China, Israel, and the United States, in addition to all of the European countries. Many top conductors have worked with the choir. The Tölz Boys Choir has been awarded many prizes for their recordings, including the “Deutscher Schallplattenpreis”, the French “Diapason d’Or”, and the “Echo-Klassik-Preis”.
Gerhard Schmidt-Gaden was born in Karlsbad in 1937 and obtained his training as a conductor at the Musikhochschule in Munich with Kurt Eichhorn. He also worked with Kurt Thomas, the choir director of St. Thomas in Leipzig, for three years. His collaboration with Nikolaus Harnoncourt also played a decisive roll in his musical development. Together, they made many recordings and gave many opera performances.
As an conductor, Gerhard Schmidt-Gaden has appeared amongst others at the Salzburg Festival, La Scala in Milan, and the Teatro La Fenice in Venice. As an internationally recognized vocal pedagogue and children’s vocal specialist, he held a choral conducting professorship at the Salzburg Mozarteum from 1980 to 1988. From 1984 to 1989 he was also the choral director at La Scala. He has given courses in vocal coaching for singers, choir directors and music teachers in Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Austria, Italy, South Africa, and Japan. In 1983, Gerhard Schmidt-Gaden received the Bundesverdienstkreuz (Federal Cross of Merit). In 1994 he was decorated with the Bayerischen Verdienstorden (Bavarian Order of Merit), and at the same time was awarded the Prize of the “Bavarian Volksstiftung”. In 2000, the President of Austria bestowed upon Schmidt-Gaden the title Professor for Life.
