ANTONIN DVORAK
Dvorak: Lieder (Songs) Bernarda Fink (mezzo-soprano) Roger Vignoles (piano) [ Harmonia Mundi Gold / CD - released 12/Jun/2015 ] "Songs and performances are good company, each with an element of novelty" Editor's Choice Gramophone Magazine July 2004 |
FRANZ SCHUBERT
Schubert: Mass in A flat D.678 (with Mendelssohn - Psalm 42) Anna Korondi (soprano) Anke Vondung (mezzo-soprano) Andreas Karasiak (tenor) / RIAS-Kammerchor / Orchestre des Champs elysaes / Herreweghe [ Harmonia Mundi Gold / CD - released 10/Aug/2018 ] The Mass in A flat is one of the most lyrical that Schubert composed. It is also one of the most ambitious (Schubert noted at the top of his manuscript 'missa solemnis'), in terms of its instrumental forces, as well as the number and arrangement of... |
SCHUTZ
Italian Madrigals SWV 1 - 19 Cantus Colln / Konrad Junghanel (cond) [ Harmonia Mundi Gold / CD - released 20/May/2011 ] "Cantus C011n has done Schutz proud yet again: let us hope that more will follow." (Gramophone) |
JAN PIETERSZOON SWEELINCK
Sweelinck: Psalms & Magnificat Cappella Amsterdam, Daniel Reuss [ Harmonia Mundi Gold / CD - released 30/Aug/2017 ] Composer, organist, organ builder and teacher of international renown, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck was known in his own time as the 'Orpheus of Amsterdam'. Among his significant contributions to Franco-Flemish polyphony, one finds both psalms in French... |
J. S. BACH
Bach: Dir Kunst der Fuge Davitt Moroney (harpsichord) [ Harmonia Mundi Gold / 2 CD - released 30/Aug/2017 ] Davitt Moroney plays a harpsichord by John Phillips, 1980, after Ruckers, 1646, Blanchet, 1756 and Taskin,1780. |
VIVALDI
Cello Concertos Roel Dieltiens (cello) / Ensemble Explorations [ Harmonia Mundi Gold / 2 CD - released 3/Jun/2013 ] "One-to-a-part transparency and articulation can't overcome the stifling reverberation of a Belgian church. Dieltiens, forward of the strings, plays indulgently, but with heartfelt passion." (BBC Music) |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Mass in C minor / Masonic Funeral Music in C minor Christiane Oelze, Jennifer Larmore, Scott Weir, Peter Kooy / La Chapelle Royale, Orchestre des Champs-Élysées, Philippe Herreweghe [ Harmonia Mundi Gold / CD - released 12/Jun/2015 ] "The most gentle rendition of this work that I've ever heard…" (Fanfare) |
DUFAY
O Gemma Lux - Complete Isorhythmic Motets Huelgas Ensemble, Paul van Nevel [ Harmonia Mundi Gold / CD - released 20/May/2011 ] 1001 Classical recordings you must hear before you die (Pre 1700) - A sumptuous farewell to the musical Middle Ages. |
LASSUS / PALESTRINA / ASHEWELL
La Quinta Essentia Huelgas Ensemble / Paul Van Nevel (conductor) [ Harmonia Mundi Gold / CD - released 20/Jan/2014 ] "Huelgas Ensemble here produce a really amazing range of sounds, full and rich and yet wonderfully translucent. There can be few better ways to introduce oneself to the music of Thomas Ashewell. Paul van Nevel and his singers mine his expressive... |
BELA BARTOK
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Bartok: Sonatas for solo violin / Sonatas for violin and piano Isabelle Faust (violin), Ewa Kupiec, Florent Boffard (piano) [ Harmonia Mundi Gold / 2 CD - released 20/May/2010 ] Gramophone Magazine Young Artist of the Year(1997) - "I would strongly urge you to purchase this superb disc, even if you already own recordings of both works." (Gramophone) |
KURTAG / KODALY / VERESS
Cello Sonatas Jean-Guihen Queyras (cello) Alexandre Tharaud (piano) [ Harmonia Mundi Gold / CD - released 20/May/2011 ] "Altogether an intelligently laid-out disc, with interesting repertoire and magnificent playing and recording." BBC Music Magazine - March 2002 Performance***** Sound***** |
JOSEPH HAYDN / GEORG MATTHIAS MONN
Haydn/Monn: Cello Concertos Jean-Guihen Queyras (cello) / Freiburger Barockorchester, Petra Müllejans [ Harmonia Mundi Gold / CD - released 30/Jun/2014 ] "a sense of seemingly effortless bravura to [Queyras'] playing, as well as superb technical control and intelligence. an extremely attractive proposition." (International Record Review) |
ANONYMOUS
The Elfin Knight: Ballads & Dances from Renaissance England Joel Frederiksen (coloratura basso profondo) / Ensemble Phoenix Munich [ Harmonia Mundi Gold / CD - released 10/Aug/2018 ] "the lion's share of the singing goes to Frederiksen, whose rich, clear bass seems capable of an almost infinite degree of tonal shading. His diction is impeccable, as is his taste" International Record Review |
FELIX MENDELSSOHN
Mendelssohn: Choral Works (Lieder) Op. 41, 48, 59, 88, & 100 RIAS Kammerchor, Hans-Christoph Rademann [ Harmonia Mundi Gold / CD - released 10/Aug/2018 ] "This is first-class singing, captured in equally first-rate sound (from Berlin's Jesus-Christus-Kirche)-and if you want to fall in love with Mendelssohn's choral writing, this is where it will happen. Highly recommended!" 10/10 Classics Today |
TRADITIONAL
Stille Nacht - German Christmas Carols RIAS Kammerchor / Uwe Gronostay [ Harmonia Mundi Gold / CD - released 20/Sep/2009 ] "a very classy alternative to Carols from Kings." The Independent on Sunday |
POULENC
Poulenc: Figure Humaine/Motets RIAS Kammerchor / Marcus Creed [ Harmonia Mundi Gold / 2 CD - released 3/Jun/2013 ] |
JOHANNES BRAHMS
Brahms: Secular Choral Songs RIAS-Kammerchor / Marcus Creed (director) [ Harmonia Mundi Gold / 2 CD - released 1/Jun/2010 ] "These are wonderful performances--well-blended, secure in intonation, full of light and shade." - American Record Guide |
JOHN BLOW
Blow: Venus & Adonis Rosemary Joshua (sop), Gerald Finley (bar), Robin Blaze (countertenor), Clare College, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Renae Jacobs [ Harmonia Mundi Gold / CD - released 29/Sep/2008 ] "Rene Jacobs and his musicians present Blow's Venus and Adonis with persuasive style and dramatic clarity...Venus's lament and the closing plaintive chorus touch the heart deeply." (Daily Telegraph) |
CASPAR KITTEL
Arias & Cantatas Schola Cantorum Basiliensis / Rene Jacobs [ Harmonia Mundi Gold / CD - released 20/May/2010 ] Caspar Kittel (1603-1639) was a German musician who trained in Italy and returned to work at the Dresden Court, deputizing for his colleague Heinrich Schütz when the latter spent a period in Denmark. |
J.C. BACH / BUXTEHUDE / ROVETTA / SCGUTZ/ ERIEBACH
German Baroque Cantatas Andreas Scholl (counter-tenor) / Concerto di Viole / Basel Consort [ Harmonia Mundi Gold / CD - released 25/Mar/2008 ] Editor's choice Gramophone - The Times (London) Classical CDs of the Year 1998 - "Expressively versatile though Scholl unquestionably can be, it is perhaps in the sphere of elegy and plaint that his art can be heard to strongest advantage...this is... |