Kleine Geistliche Konzerte
Heinrich Schütz published two volumes ofKleine geistliche  Konzerte("Little Sacred Concertos") during the 1630s. They're certainly  small in scale compared to the lavish Psalm settings in the composer'sPsalmen Davids; these  "concertos" are mostly solos, duets, and trios, with no instruments but keyboard  or lute. (TheThirty Years Warwrecked the economy of central Europe, and the resources for grander church  music weren't available--and neither, most likely, was the inclination to  perform it.) Yet this is some of the sweetest, most tender music Schütz  ever wrote. For example, the way in which the melodic lines in the duos and  trios wrap themselves around each other, come apart briefly, and rejoin is  magical; the solo tenor in "O misericordissime Jesu" adores the name of Jesus  with as much passion as anything inMonteverdi. Weser-Renaissance, a  German ensemble that deserves to be much better known, gives us all theKonzerte--on three discs for the price of two, no less--in exemplary  performances with careful attention to the text that was so important to  Schütz. The standard of singing is generally high, but sopranos Susanne  Rydén and Nele Gramß have such beautifully pure tone and musical  rapport that they're surely first among equals here.--Matthew Westphal