Gramophone Magazine
September 2025
Editor's Choice

Europäisches Hanse-Ensemble, Manfred Cordes

Gallus Dressler: Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden
Agricola, M: Ach Gott vom Himmel, sieh darein
Agricola, M: Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott
Heintz, W: Nu bitten wir den Heiligen Geist
Gallus Dressler: Fundamentum aliud nemo potest ponere
Gallus Dressler: Die Toren sprechen in ihrem Herzen / Es spricht der Unweisen Mund wohl
Gallus Dressler: Quicquid erit tandem mea spes
Leonhard Schröter: O lux beata Trinitas
Leonhard Schröter: Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr
Leonhard Schröter: Verleih uns Frieden / Gib unserm Fürsten
Weissensee: Peccavi super numerum arenae maris
Weissensee: Cantate Domino à 6
Weissensee: Nun sei dir Dank
Grimm, H: Herr, unser Herrscher
Anonym, Johann Hermann Schein: Merk fleißig auf / Warum betrübst du Dich mein Herz
Siebenhaar: Ihr Kinder Israel

After Stralsund and Danzig, Magdeburg is the third stop on Manfred Cordes’ journey through the cities of the Hanseatic League. This stop not only takes him to a city quite far from the sea but also to the earliest period of Protestant church music. Magdeburg introduced the Reformation already in 1524, just seven years after Luther’s decisive act. Immediately, the transformation began of what the former monk from Eisleben cherished as a "gift and blessing from God" and saw as an effective means of preaching the Gospel. A genuine "Magdeburg School" emerged, with its representatives cultivating and developing the music of the new faith up until the Thirty Years’ War. This program follows that tradition, bringing to life the works of cantors from Martin Agricola to Heinrich Grimm, thus allowing compositions spanning approximately 120 years to resound once more.

"The quality and polish of what they achieve absolutely stands comparison with Cordes's 'grown-up' ensemble (if I may put it like that)...The earworm that is Heintz's Nu bitten wir owes much to these young musicians' artistry." - Gramophone Magazine, September 2025