Just a few days after performing Bach’s B Minor Mass with Vox Luminis at Wigmore Hall in London, I travelled to Belgium (via the Eurostar) to record Heinrich Schütz’s Weihnachtshistorie (‘Christmas Story’) [SWV 345] with Vox Luminis in Gedinne, in the tranquil Belgian countryside near the French border.
I played the second clarino part, alongside Rudolf Lörinc, and a small continuo team comprising Simon Linné (theorbo), Anaïs Ramage (dulcian) and Marc Meisel (organ). Sebastian Myrus (baritone) sang the part of Herod in this short Intermedium VI. Since this short movement is all that the trumpets play, the part is often played by the cornetto players (who are utilised elsewhere in the work), so it was a pleasure to play this movement with the trumpets. It was also great that we could use the church organ in the (aptly named) Église Notre-Dame de la Nativité in Gedinne.