BENIAMIN LUDWIG RAMHAUFSKI (c.1631-1694): Missa No. 23, JOSEPH BALTHASAR HOCHREITHER (1669-1731): Missa ad multos annos.

Description: Sourced from the archives of the Benedictine Abbey at Lambach in Upper Austria are two masses by composers about whom we know little (Hochreither may have studied with Biber). Hochreither's was for the consecration of a new Abbot in 1705. The choral and instrumental elements are much like the older composer’s style but the overall flow of the music is more imaginative in dramatic wordsetting and the passages for soloists and consort are in a more elegant and expressive style. Ramhaufski’s is a finely crafted work that in no way suffers from comparison with Biber. St. Florianer Sangerknaben, Ars Antiqua Austria; Gunar Letzbor.