Bach:
Kantaten I-III BWV 248

Handel:
arias from Der Messias, Oratorium HWV 56

Buxtehude:
Kantate für Alt, Tenor, Bass, 2 Violinen und Basso continuo BuxWV 101

Schutz:
Zwei Weihnachtsmotetten für 4 Singstimmen und Basso continuo

Telemann:
Kantate auf den 3. Sonntag nach dem Erscheinungsfest TWV 1:1502

Fritz Wunderlich’s early recording of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, from a performance in the Stuttgart Markuskirche on 18th December 1955, presents the singer of the century at the beginning of his career. One rarely hears Bach sung with such a sensual voice, and rarely is one so enraptured by a voice like that of Fritz Wunderlich. This is also the case with the recording of Handel’s Messiah, conducted by Heinz Mende, from a concert in the Stuttgart Liederhalle on 20th March 1959. By this time, Wunderlich already had a string of successes behind him and was well on his way to achieving worldwide fame. The other performances in this collection took place between those two recordings: they are studio recordings, all of them rarities from Wunderlich’s repertoire, which exist only in this early series of Stuttgart radio productions.