Festive Masses for Lambach Abbey

Beniamin Ludwig Ramhauski and Joseph Balthazar Hochreither, both of whom flourished in the late 17th century, are both largely lost to historical memory today, but this recording demonstrates powerfully what we’ve been missing because of that fact. Both were associated with the Benedictine abbey at Lambach, in Austria, and these festal Mass settings were discovered in the course recent scholarship connected to the abbey. Ramhauski (who may have been a student of Franz Biber) is represented by a magnificent Missa à 23, while Hochreither’s featured work is an equally joyful Missa ad multis annos (which was originally performed to celebrate the appointment of a new abbot in 1705). The performances are very fine, and the natural horn players are especially to be commended.