Carus-Verlag's Christmas at the Court of Dresden could also have been titled "Christmas during the last blast of the Baroque" as
Peter Kopp, the
Körnerscher Sing-Verein, and the Dresdener Instrumental-Concert join forces to present a German Catholic Christmas service as it would have been heard in 1750. This is rather unlike the Lutheran Christmas music that we know from Johann Sebastian Bach; textures are smoother, simpler, and more direct and the use of counterpoint is rather restrained in comparison. The main events here are a striking, Handelian setting of the Te Deum by Johann David Heinichen and a breathlessly racing Christmas mass and motet by transplanted Italian Giovanni Alberto Ristori. Of the eight works featured here, only two have been previously recorded, and the performances by
Kopp and company are accomplished and highly pleasing. This is decidedly a Christmas recording for connoisseurs; while it is very bright, invigorating, and easy on the ears, Carus-Verlag's Christmas at the Court of Dresden will not seem very "Christmasy" to listeners not attuned to the sound of the late Baroque, and that includes those whose primary exposure to it comes through Handel's Messiah. However, for those to whom the Baroque holds no mysteries, it may well prove revelatory. Through its peaceful progression of events and fluid sense of forward motion; clearly with the end of Seven Years' War within reach, the Court of Dresden looked forward to peace, and this is the aura and atmosphere transmitted by Carus-Verlag's Christmas at the Court of Dresden.