Hugo Distler's contribution to Lutheran church music of the twentieth century can hardly be overestimated. His clear musical language marked by lightness and transparency has influenced generations of church musicians and composers. With the Norddeutscher Kammerchor in top form, Maria J?rgensen has now recorded a program with works from Distler's Liturgische S?tze and - as a complementary contrast - Hans-Werner Zimmermann's jazz-inspired chorale variations on Distler's N?rnberger Gro?es Gloria. The Liturgische S?tze (Liturgical Settings) are based on original Lutheran melodies from the Reformation period. The various Kyrie and Gloria settings of the sixteenth century continue to be used in Lutheran religious services. In Distler's settings the text always occupies the foreground; unfamiliar harmonies sometimes result from his very individual, word-related part writing. The rhythmic refinements of this centuries-old music also fascinated Hans-Werner Zimmermann - and did so precisely in Distler's version of the N?rnberger Gro?es Gloria (Nuremberg Great Gloria). The static chorale by Nicolaus Decius is transformed into a "walking bass" under the free soprano upper voice - a splendid effect! This extensive work displaying manifold contrapuntal virtuosity, from Sprechgesang to psalmody, ends with a magnificent intensification colored with blues allusions.
