Following last month’s recording of Bach’s Mass in B Minor, Naxos is very pleased to present another core choral work, performed once again by an almost exclusively German array of forces. Die Schöpfung (The Creation), Haydn’s greatest and most ambitious work, is a vivid depiction of the seven days of creation as retold in the Bible, with some poetic re-inforcement from Milton. Highlights of this irrepressibly life-affirming and melodious work, include the astonishing Representation of Chaos, remarkable in the context of its time as well as continuing to sound modern even today, and the dazzling Handel-inspired Die Himmel erzählen (The Heavens are telling the glory of God), one of the great all-time choruses. We are delighted to introduce Andreas Spering in his directorial début for Naxos. His previous Haydn recordings have attracted much acclaim `Spering and his supreme ensemble delicately reaffirm the great composer´s genius for maintaining orchestral grandeur with the lightest of touches and the most elegant of gestures in this superb recording.´ The Observer.