Praise of the beauty of nature and eternal life are the subjects of the sacred poems by B. H. Brockes which Handel set to music in his "Nine German Arias". In these nine pieces for soprano and a small group of instruments, to be chosen at will, Handel drew in many places on music from his own operas, with the voice part in the German arias adapted to be less virtuosic and more deeply expressive. The "Three German Arias", recorded for the first time on this CD, by Johann Mattheson, which were formerly attributed to Handel, are a real discovery for the repertoire. The soprano Monika Mauch is accompanied in her beautiful interpretation of the arias by the specialist ensemble L'arpa festante.

World premiere recordings of the Magnificat as well as the festive music Die Himmel erzahlen die Ehre Gottes by C. P. E. Bach. A rousing and convincing interpretation by the Basel Madrigalists, L'arpa festante and renowned soloists under the direction of Fritz Naf. Throughout his life, C. P. E. Bach esteemed his Magnificat as one of his most important works. Here it is presented in the rarely heard early Leipzig version from 1749, with which the son wanted to recommend himself as a potential successor to his father in the office of Kantor at St. Thomas's Church. It fulfils all the criteria that the aesthetics of the time demanded of a large-scale sacred composition: grandeur, dignity, polyphonic and concertante choral movements, sensitive and pathetic arias, and a grand concluding double fugue.