Two works by Emmanuel Nunes, both built on the placement of sound in space, are paired here: Minnesang (1975-76) for twelve voices a cappella, on texts by Jakob Böhme, and Musivus for orchestra in four groups, written for the Expo of 1998 and premiered in Cologne in 2001 in an expanded version. The SWR Vokalensemble and the WDR Sinfonieorchester perform, conducted by Emilio Pomàrico.

Nunes was born in Lisbon on 31 August 1941 and died in Paris on 2 September 2012. After studies in Lisbon he attended the Darmstadt courses from 1963 to 1965, settled in Paris in 1964 and followed Karlheinz Stockhausen's classes in Cologne. Schott counts Stockhausen and Pierre Boulez among his important teachers and describes him as an artist of almost intimidating stature. From 1989 he worked regularly at IRCAM, where he found the tools for the complex spatialisation he wanted. Minnesang was rehearsed by Marcus Creed in a production of Südwestrundfunk, and Musivus is a production of Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln.

Minnesang comes from a nine-part cycle. It is a mystical and spiritual work that carries the high medieval art of courtly love song into the present and uses the intelligibility of the text as the condition for its musical effects. The twelve singers form six pairs of one female and one male voice, and the two singers of each pair stand as far apart as possible. In Musivus, nearly forty minutes long, the instruments of the four orchestral groups are spread over four stage levels. Nunes called it a monument of spatialisation: from tiny fields of musical events a splendid sound mosaic grows, one that can make the listener dizzy and sharply challenges process-oriented ways of listening.

Alongside his large cycles, Nunes wrote a series of independent works, and Musivus is one of them. Schott opens its note with his own warning that nothing simpler should be expected from him. In a jury statement of May 2019 reproduced by Schott, Marita Emigholz compared Minnesang to a song of songs on love, praised Pomàrico's gripping performance with his ensembles, and called the disc intelligent, lively music in the best possible interpretation.

CD, Wergo WER 7378 2, released in 2019, with recordings licensed from SWR Media Services and WDR mediagroup.