Ich Wollt, Dass Ich Daheime Wär / Herr, Nun Lässest Du Deinen Diener In Frieden Fahren

This recording features compositions by Hugo Distler and Hans Friedrich Micheelsen, two central figures in the twentieth-century German church music revival. These works belong to the tradition of 'Singbewegung,' a movement that emerged during the Weimar Republic and emphasized a return to earlier polyphonic styles and communal participation in liturgical music. The recording captures the technical precision and austere, meditative atmosphere that Distler intended to evoke in his choral arrangements, reflecting the tension between traditional Lutheran devotion and the stark aesthetics of the mid-century period.

The Westfälische Kantorei, under the direction of Wilhelm Ehmann, was instrumental in documenting these pieces for the Cantate label. Ehmann was a prominent scholar and conductor known for his rigorous approach to the choral repertoire of the Reformation era, prioritizing clarity of articulation and historical performance practices. By utilizing the specific acoustics of the recording environment, the ensemble sought to preserve the structural complexity of Distler’s harmonic language, which had been suppressed or sidelined during the preceding political eras in Germany. The resulting record is highly regarded by musicologists as a definitive interpretation of the genre.