WEISSundBLAU Renner Ensemble Regensburg & Hans Pritschet

• Toni Sulzböck (1922 - 1994): Es muss ein Sonntag g’wesen sein:
• 1Sulzböck: Es muss ein Sonntag g’wesen sein02:24
• Hans Pritschet: Volkslied: Als wir jüngst in Regensburg waren:
• 2Pritschet: Volkslied: Als wir jüngst in Regensburg waren04:09
• Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714 - 1787): Leih‘ aus deines Himmels Höhen:
• 3Gluck: Leih‘ aus deines Himmels Höhen02:22
• Christian Lahusen (1886 - 1975): Wemdinger Wallfahrtslied:
• 4Lahusen: Wemdinger Wallfahrtslied02:18
• Josef Gabriel Rheinberger (1839 - 1901): Walthers von der Vogelweide Begräbnis op.141,1:
• 5Rheinberger: Walthers von der Vogelweide Begräbnis op.141,104:01
• Hans Pritschet: Wessobrunner Gebet:
• 6Pritschet: Wessobrunner Gebet05:13
• Patrick Ehrich (b. 1976): Ich sah einen hohen, schwarzen Wald:
• 7Ehrich: Ich sah einen hohen, schwarzen Wald04:16
• Joseph Hartmann Stuntz (1973 - 1859): Teutscher Bardengesang:
• 8Stuntz: Teutscher Bardengesang02:49
• Hans Pritschet: Volkslied:
• 9Pritschet: Volkslied: Wahre Freundschaft02:00
• Max Reger (1873 - 1916): Volkslied:
• 10Reger: Volkslied: Das Lieben bringt groß‘ Freud‘02:21
• Carl Orff (1895 - 1982): Si puer cum puellula:
• 11Orff: Si puer cum puellula01:03
• Joseph Renner (1868 - 1934): Volkslied: 
• 12Renner: Volkslied: Mei Bua01:43
• Christian Heiß (b. 1967): Volkslied:
• 13Heiß: Volkslied: Horch, was kommt von draußen rein02:36
• Richard Strauss (1864 - 1949): Soldatenlied:
• 14Strauss: Soldatenlied03:07
• Orlando di Lasso (1532 - 1594): Nasenmadrigal:
• 15Lasso: Nasenmadrigal: Hort zu ein news gedicht03:46
• Joseph Renner: Volkslied:
• 16Renner: Volkslied: Der Wendelstoa03:52
• Max Welcker (1878 - 1954): Der Leberkas op.130, 12b:
• 17Welcker: Der Leberkas op.130, 12b05:24
• Lorenz Schlerf: Frankenlied:
• 18Schlerf: Frankenlied02:33
• Richard Wagner (1813 - 1883): Matrosenchor:
• 19Wagner: Matrosenchor01:16
• Franz Xaver Engelhart (1861 - 1924): Dampfnudl-Lied op.36, 1:
• 20Engelhart: Dampfnudl-Lied op.36, 102:18
• Max Welcker: Ein Lob dem Gerstensaft op. 112b:
• 21Welcker: Ein Lob dem Gerstensaft op. 112b04:55
• Max Kunz (1812 - 1875): Bayernlied:
• 22Kunz: Bayernlied01:58
• Brontë (1816 - 1855): Gebell:
• 23Brontë: Gebell00:10
• Total Runtime01:06:34

Info for WEISSundBLAU

Many people associate the term "Bavaria" with Munich with the Oktoberfest, lederhosen, Neuschwanstein or even just drinkable beer, the football stars of FC Bayern and two internationally known car brands. Many of these well-known Bavarian facets can also be found in the programme compilation on this album with the renowned Renner Ensemble Regensburg. However, some of the selected pieces also look beyond the edge of the plate of cherished or indelible clichés and show the inclined listener new, previously unknown aspects of Bavarian cultural diversity.

What particularly distinguishes this new album by the Renner Ensemble, however, is the presentation of the previously unknown in Bavarian cultural diversity. Thirteen first recordings are represented, including the Soldiers' Song by Richard Strauss, which until now has only lain dormant in archives, or the Teutsche Bardengesang, composed by the Bavarian court composer Joseph Hartmann Stuntz for the opening of Valhalla in 1842. The wonderful text of the Wessobrunner Gebet, one of the earliest testimonies to poetic poetry in Old High German, can be heard in a new setting by Hans Pritschet, the current director of the Renner Ensemble. Patrick Ehrich set the poem Ich sah einen hohen, schwarzen Wald (I saw a high, black forest) by Emerenz Meier from Waldkirchen-Schiefweg in Lower Bavaria, who, along with Lena Christ, is considered the most important Bavarian folk poet, to music especially for this album. Over a hundred years ago, Joseph Renner Jr. collected and published many folk songs throughout Bavaria and also set some of them himself for four voices for mixed choir or male choir. Two of them, Mei Bua and Der Wendelstoa, have been selected by the Renner Ensemble, thus paying tribute to their namesake. The very interesting booklet contains a lot of interesting information about the recorded pieces. Who knows that the grave of the most important singer of the Middle Ages, Walther von der Vogelweide, is located in the Lusamgärtchen next to the Neumünster in Würzburg and that Josef G. Rheinberger wrote a choral ballad about his funeral? The translation of many Bavarian expressions into High German should also make listening easier, especially in Orlando di Lasso's hilarious Nose Madrigal, in which the most varied nose shapes are described in Bavarian-Franconian dialect.

Renner Ensemble Regensburg
Hans Pritschet, conductor

Renner Ensemble Regensburg
In 1987 the Renner Ensemble Regensburg, named after the Regensburg Cathedral organist and composer Josef Renner Jr. (1868 -1934), was founded by long-time choirmaster Bernd Englbrecht. The majority of the ensemble members received their musical training at the Regensburger Domspatzen music high school.

On this basis, Bernd Englbrecht formed a perfectly coordinated body of sound, which Jörg Genslein was able to continue to lead with great élan from September 2003. Since 2011, Hans Pritschet has been in charge of the ensemble.

The ensemble impresses with its great versatility: the repertoire spans choral works for male voices across the centuries - from the Middle Ages to works of the Renaissance and Romanticism to experimental contemporary vocal avant-garde.

Concert tours have taken the choir to Sweden, France, Italy, Austria, Spain, Latvia, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, the Philippines, Uruguay and Argentina.

In addition to numerous performances, CD productions and radio and television recordings, the ensemble has also participated successfully in national and international choir competitions: the choir won first prizes at the 3rd German Choir Competition in Stuttgart in 1990, at the BBC International Choir Competition "Let the Peoples Sing" in 1991, at the 1st International Competition for Vocal Ensembles in Korntal-Münchingen in 1992, at the 27th Choir Competition in Tolosa, Spain in 1995, and at the 4th International Choir Competition in Trelew, Argentina in 1999.

In 1996, the Renner Ensemble Regensburg was also the winner of the Ernst-von-Siemens Foundation's sponsorship award. In 2000 the ensemble received the Cultural Promotion Prize of the City of Regensburg and in 2005 the Culture Prize of the District of Upper Palatinate in the choir category.

Concert reviews on the occasion of the male choir's 25th anniversary in 2012 were full of praise with comments such as "fantastic homogeneity of the sound body" and "...the singers know how to declaim perfectly under expert guidance and master all dynamic nuances."

Most recently, the ensemble achieved 3rd place at the International Male Voice Choral Festival in Cornwall, England, in May 2015, building on the success of previous years.

The ensemble received a special honour in 2018. The newly recorded CD "War no More" was awarded the Opus Klassik, the successor to the Echo Klassik, in the category "Choral Recording of the Year".

This album contains no booklet.