When in 1648 the great Heinrich Schütz published his “Sacred Choral Music,” German!language sacred music was strongly in#luenced by the modern and innovative madrigal style from Italy. One spoke of a “strangely charming Italian madrigal manner,” or of a “a strangely delightful kind of madrigal.” Heinrich Schütz, on the other hand, shows how one could write lively polyphony in a pure contrapuntal style without violating the sacrosanct compositional rules of the six! teenth century. On its new recording of the “Sacred Choral Music 1648” by Heinrich Schütz, Ensemble Polyharmonique combines ideas of the German and Franco!Flemish singing cultures into lively poetic interpretations. As a listener, one must perhaps have the courage to let oneself succumb to the “pervasiveness” of this music, a music that does not becomeboring and time and again opens up to him who engages with it. But in the end, one will be richly rewarded by the greatest enjoyment of art and valuable musical experiences that touch both the heart and spirit.