ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
PHILIPPE HERREWEGHE
Mass No.2 in e minor for choir and winds,
WAB 27 (version 1882)
Works by J.Brahms and F.Mendelssohn
Collegium Vocale Gent
Orchestre des Champs Elysées (winds)
Philippe Herreweghe conductor
In the Romantic era, a love of early music served as inspiration for many new works. Johannes Brahms passionately collected manuscripts of old masters like Lassus, Schütz and Bach. Just like Anton Bruckner, he threw himself into studying counterpoint and techniques like canon and fugue. These influences can clearly be seen in his motet Warum ist das Licht gegeben dem Mühseligen, a reworking of his Missa canonica. As inspiration for his Mass in E Minor (1866), Bruckner turned to Palestrina, the favorite composer of the bishop of Linz, to whom the work is dedicated. Written for 8-part choir and wind instruments, this concert mass contains numerous passages in pure polyphony that Bruckner masterfully combines with his mature musical idiom.