TRADITIONAL
Mozarabic Chant Ensemble Organum, Marcel Pérès [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 25/Oct/2019 ] "The rich-hued Mozarabic liturgy, peculiar to Iberia and rooted in ancient middle-Eastern and North African traditions, is thrilling." BBC Music Magazine, January 2014 ***** |
Ensemble Pygmalion, Raphaël Pichon, cond.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Libertà! [ Harmonia Mundi / 2 CD - released 30/Aug/2019 ] Between Die Entführung aus dem Serail and the advent of the famous 'Da Ponte trilogy', Mozart threw himself frantically into the search for the right libretto, capable of taking the spectator to lands still unexplored where the drama and the... |
FANTINI / MALVEZZI / CACCINI / MARENZIO / BRUNELLI / STRIGGIO
Stravaganza d'Amore! (Reissue) Ensemble Pygmalion, Raphaël Pichon [ Harmonia Mundi / 2 CD - released 22/Jul/2022 ] Late sixteenth-century Florence was a theatre: first and foremost a political one, in the eyes of the dynasties that wished to use the arts to display their power. A humanist one too, as is shown by these intermedi (interludes) that sought to achieve... |
FANTINI:/ MALVEZZI / CACCINI / MARENZIO / BRUNELLI / STRIGGIO
Stravaganza d'Amore!: The Birth of Opera at the Medici Court Ensemble Pygmalion, Raphaël Pichon [ Harmonia Mundi / 2 CD Box Set - released 15/Nov/2017 ] "The performances are highly polished, chorus and ensemble, producing a glossy and liberally embellished sound while the dozen soloists give fine and well-balanced contributions." BBC Music Opera Choice Oct 2017 |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Symphonies nos. 39, 40 & 41 'Jupiter' Ensemble Resonanz, Riccardo Minasi [ Harmonia Mundi / 2 CD - released 28/Feb/2020 ] "I'm all for new approaches with core repertoire, and find much to admire in this Harmonia Mundi recording." MusicWeb |
STEVE REICH
Reich: Music for 18 Musicians Ensemble Signal [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 1/Jun/2015 ] "the performance is exemplary and the recording crystalline. The textures are all perfectly layered, the playing (and singing) are all gloriously precise yet never clinical. In spite of the strong sense of the intellectual, and indeed a seriousness," |
STEVE REICH
Reich: Double Sextet / Radio Rewrite Ensemble Signal, Brad Lubman [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 1/Sep/2016 ] Following their internationally acclaimed recording of Steve Reich's 1974-76 masterpiece 'Music For 18 Musicians', Ensemble Signal and Brad Lubman present two recent pieces by the composer: 'Double Sextet' from 2007 and 'Radio Rewrite' from 2012 -... |
ROLAND DE LASSUS
Lagrime di San Pietro Ensemble Vocal Europeen, Philippe Herreweghe [ Harmonia Mundi Musique d'abord / CD - released 25/Jul/2014 ] This cycle of 21 spiritual madrigals for seven voices is at once the swansong of the most famous composer of his time, who died in 1594 at the age of 62 just three weeks after dedicating the work to the Pope, and the highpoint of Counter-Reformation... |
CARDOSO
Missa Miserere mihi Domini. Magnificat Ensemble Vocal Europaen / Philippe Herreweghe (director) [ Harmonia Mundi Musique d'abord / CD - released 23/Feb/2008 ] Lisbon, 1589-1650: from the monastery to which he had gone into retreat and where he remained for 61 years, a lone composer was busy carrying on the great Renaissance tradition in polyphony, whilst outside the whole Portuguese nation was gradually... |
OLIVIER MESSIAEN
Messiaen: Quatuor pour la fin du Temps [Quartet for the end of time] Ensemble Walter Boeykens [ Harmonia Mundi musique d'abord / CD - released 20/Mar/2012 ] "Once a winner in Radio 3's Building a Library feature, this performance of Messiaen's prison-camp meditation on eternity, enormously but unshowily virtuosic and very well balanced, remains highly recommendable." (BBC Music) |
Ensemble Zefiro
Various: Joan And Josep Play [ Deutsche Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 31/Jan/2011 ] |
THIERRY PECOU
Symphonie du Jaguar / Vague de Pierre Ensemble Zellig / Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Francois-Xavier Roth, Jonathan Stockhammer [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 1/Jan/2010 ] "In 'Symphonie Du Jaguar', South American animist myths are brought to life with startling shifts and clashing tonal colouration, including shrill, declamatory vocals, blaring horns, and a dense, thunderous barrage of percussion" The Independent,... |
DESPREZ / LEJEUNE / COMPERE / GESUALDO / MARENZIO / etc
Renaissance: Chansons, Madrigaux & Songs de la Renaissance: Songs & Madrigals from the Renaissance Ensemble Clement Janequin, Dominque Visse / The Hilliard Ensemble, Paul Hillier / Huelgas Ensemble / Concerto vocale [ Harmonia Mundi Century / CD - released 20/Dec/2011 ] As with the other discs of vocal music in Harmonia Mundi's Century: A History of Music series, it's a shame that this one includes no song texts. For the newcomer, at whom such a series is presumably aimed, there's no better anchor than knowing what... |
MENDELSSOHN
String Quartets Vol 2 Eroica Quartet [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 25/May/2002 ] "Ravishing playing"- Classic CD |
ROBERT SCHUMANN
Schumann: String Quartets Op.41 (Nos 1 - 3) Eroica Quartet [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 15/Mar/2001 ] "The Eroica Quartet...brings a new perspective to these works." Classics Today |
BEETHOVEN
String Quartets Op.74, 95, 135 Eroica Quartet [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 1/Feb/2009 ] "The players are excellent singly and together; though they play virtually without vibrato, their intonation is impeccable, the tone homogeneous, the balance exemplary." (Amazon.com) |
MENDELSSOHN
Mendelssohn - String Quartets vol. 3 The Eroica Quartet [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 1/Jul/2005 ] Leading the revival of Romantic period-performance style, The Eroica Quartet presents the final installment of its highly acclaimed Mendelssohn cycle. |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Baltic Voices Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Paul Hillier [ Harmonia Mundi / 3 CD - released 26/Jan/2018 ] Paul Hillier was one of the pioneers in exploring the music of the Baltic Countries in the last years of the twentieth century, and has always paid particular attention to their repertory, both sacred and secular. Supported by the grace and fervour... |
BERGMAN / KREEK / SIBELIUS / TORMIS
Baltic Runes Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Paul Hillier [ Harmonia Mundi SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 20/May/2010 ] "The most striking piece is Erik Bergman's "Lapponia", in which the use of wordless phonemes is aptly elemental, with deep lowing beneath scattered snow showers of excited syllables, and a breeze of haunting sussurus which recalls Ligeti." The... |
KREEK / PART / RAUTAVAARA / SANDSTROM / TORMIS / VASKS
Baltic Voices Vol 1 Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir / Paul Hillier [ Harmonia Mundi SACD / SACD - released 1/Oct/2003 ] "pure and impassioned, astounding choral artists." (The Wall Street Journal) - On Hybrid Super Audio CD (SACD) format, presented in full 5.1 surround sound! PLAYABLE ON ANY CD SYSTEM |