Das ist meine Freude (Cantatas from the Grossfahner-Collecti

REVIEWS: This disc presents a selection of music from 1650 to 1750 collected and performed in the Thuringian villages of Eschenbergen and Grossfahner. Developments in education, and rising musical standards, led to a demand for new works and the church director in Grossfahner, the composer, violinist and educator Abraham Nagel did much to propagate music new and old in his village. The works that CPO presents are Protestant cantatas for solo soprano and a small instrumental accompaniment. These attractive works are of modest forces for village church performance. Johann Heinrich Buttstett was a pupil of Pachelbel, and a distinguished organist. Das ist meine Freude was composed around 1705 and is written in a sophisticated, theatrical up-to-date style. Its obsessively circling variations on the first four words of the text represent a powerfully authoritative statement. And the duetting violins add to the vibrant spirit of this startlingly dynamic, compact work. The varied nature of the