What a shame Graupner’s name is mostly remembered in conjunction with his contemporary, Johann Sebastian Bach: indeed the Leipzig authorities wanted to hire Graupner – whose employer at the time, the court of Hesse-Darmstadt, raised his salary, getting him to stay in this position for his entire life – as Thomaskantor after Telemann and three other musicians declined the offer. Then came a moment of immense administrative stupidity, as the city council decided to hire Bach, declaring: ”For important reasons, the situation is delicate and since the best men are not available, mediocre ones must be considered”. But this is not the point here: Graupner is far from mediocre himself, and his talent quickly comes through upon listening to these three cantatas (out of some 1,400 cantatas that have survived to this day!) and two orchestral works (out of over 200 ensemble pieces). His melodic and harmonic language is extremely rich, and he doesn’t hesitate to borrow from “old-school” resources to write his music, while often exploring the lyrical idiom of his time, particularly from Italy. Here, the delightful soprano Dorothee Mields is supported by the ensemble Harmonie universelle, led alternately on the violin by Florian Deuter and Mónica Waisman. © SM/Qobuz