'Herzens-Lieder' [Songs of the Heart] – this title would certainly have appealed to the two librettists and four composers featured upon this CD. In terms of music and church history, they all – Johann Kuhnau, Georg Philipp Telemann, Christoph Graupner and Johann Sebastian Bach – form part of the Lutheran church choir tradition.

The text 'Mein Herz schwimmt in Blut', set by both Graupner and Bach, was written by Georg Christian Lehms (1684-1717). In the preface to this work, the poet expresses his hope that composers will set his cantatas to music in such a manner that “not only the harmony of the instruments is heard”, but that “the heart is revived through the power of the sung words”.

The vocal soloist of this recording is the Austrian soprano Miriam Feuersinger, Echo award winner in 2014 for her recording of cantatas by Graupner (CHR77381). She has played with renowned musicians such as Ton Koopman, Václav Luks, and Peter Kooij and with baroque ensembles such as the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, La Cetra, Collegium 1704 and Capricornus Consort Basel to name but a few.