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SWEELINCK
Sweelinck: Psaumes Francais & Canciones Sacrae Cappella Amsterdam / Daniel Reuss (conductor) [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 1/Nov/2009 ] "The 18 fresh-sounding voices of the professional chamber choir Cappella Amsterdam produce a bright and transparent choral balance. Their intonation is flawless, the French pronunciation idiomatic and unaffected" Gramophone Magazine, February 2010 |
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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... |
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PHILIPPE D'ORLEANS
D'Orléans: Suite d'Armide ou Jérusalem délivrée Cappella Mediterranea; Leonardo García Alarcón; Choeur de Chambre de Namur; Marie Lys; Véronique Gens; Gwendoline Blondeel; Cyrille Dubois; Nicholas S [ Château de Versailles Spectacles / 2 CD Box Set - released 14/Mar/2025 ] The sorceress Armide, infatuated with the valiant knight Roland, but desperate for Roland to return her love, tries at all costs to lure him into her arms. At the same time, the courageous Herminie tries to protect Tancrede, Roland's companion, from... |
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CAVALIERI
Rappresentatione di Anima e di Corpo Cappella Musicale di San Petronio di Bologna / Sergio Vartolo [ Naxos Early Music / 2 CD - released 1/Jan/2007 ] The Rappresentatione offers the first example of a score published with a figured bass, a bass line with numbers and other symbols to indicate the chord to be used by the addition of notes above. The influence of Platonic and Aristotelian theories of... |
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MEINRAD SCHUTTER / CHRISTIAN HENKING / LEOS JANACEK
Bap Nos - In Memoriam Meinrad Schutter Cappella Nova, Raphael Immoos, with Susanne Doll (organ) & Vera Schnider (harp) [ Guild / CD - released 2/Feb/1996 ] The Swiss composer Meinrad Schütter would be celebrating his 100th birthday in 2010. Reason enough and about time to finally introduce this highly original composer to an interested, international audience. |
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CAVALLI / VIVALDI / CESTI / STRADELLA / SARTORIO / LEGRENZI / etc
Ian Bostridge - Tormento d'amore Ian Bostridge (tenor), Cappella Neapolitana, Antonio Florio [ Warner Classics / CD - released 18/Feb/2022 ] With the 10 arias on Tormento d'amore, Ian Bostridge demonstrates the important place that the tenor voice held in Italian opera from the mid-17th to the mid-18th century - often thought of as the era of the castrato. |
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ALEXANDER GRECHANINOV
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Grechaninov: Liturgica Domestica Russian State Symphonic Cappella / Russian State Symphony Orchestra, Valeri Kuzmich Polyansky [ Chandos / CD - released 1/Mar/1995 ] Recorded: St Sophia Cathedral, Polotsk |
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Otto Sauter, Thomas Hammes, Franz Wagnermeyer (trumpet) / Cappella Istropolitana / Mannheim Chamber Orchestra
Four Classic Albums (New Directions In Music / The Sons Of Sauter Finegan / Adventures In Time / Memoires Of Goodman & Miller) [ Avid / 2 CD - released 12/May/2017 ] Eddie Sauter met Bill Finegan in 1939 when both men were making a living as arrangers for the likes of Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Artie Shaw, Red Norvo and Woody Herman who were in fact most of the classic Swing Era leaders of the... |
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ARENA / BONONCINI / GIACOMELLI / HASSE / VINCI / etc
Rival Queens Simone Kermes (soprano) & Vivica Genaux (mezzo-soprano) / Cappella Gabetta, Andres Gabetta [ Sony Classics / CD - released 15/Sep/2014 ] The Album explores the artistic legacies of the two legendary singers (Francesca Cuzzoni and Faustina Bordoni) and the heights of inspiration to which their rivalry moved the leading composers of their era. A thrilling recording, in which Simone... |
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STRADELLA / MONTEVERDI / MARIN / DIAZ / STROZZI / DOWLAND / etc
Sonya Yoncheva - Rebirth Sonya Yoncheva (soprano) / Cappella Mediterranea, Leonardo García Alarcón [ Sony Classics / CD - released 12/Mar/2021 ] With Rebirth Sonya Yoncheva introduces her listeners to the contemporary message and the timeless quality of Baroque music. |
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ANTONIN DVORAK
The Best of Dvorak Balázs Szokolay (piano), Maria Kliegel (cello), BBC Philharmonic, Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Cappella Istropolitana [ Naxos / CD ] Artists: Balázs Szokolay (piano), Maria Kliegel (cello) BBC Philharmonic, Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Cappella Istropolitana, Moyzes Quartet, Stephen Gunzenhauser, Zdenek Kosler, Michael Halász, Jaroslav Krcek |
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HASSE / HANDEL
A Tribute to Faustina Bordoni Vivica Genaux (mezzo) / Cappella Gabetta, Andrés Gabetta [ Deutsche Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 22/Jul/2013 ] Mezzo-soprano Faustina Bordoni was considered to be one of the greatest singers of the first half of the C18th, entrancing audiences in Italy and throughout Europe and commanding huge fees. All of the great Baroque composers wrote for her, including... |
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CARL MARIA von WEBER
Weber: Abu Hassan / Symphony No. 1 in C Wolfgang Völz, Jörg Dürmüller, Johanna Stojkovic / Cappella Coloniensis, Bruno Weil [ Deutsche Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 2/Feb/2003 ] "The Cappella Coloniensis is an exceptional period instrument band with crisp attack and ensemble playing. Weil consistently whips up the exhilaration and keeps the musical arguments fresh and logical." MusicWeb |
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CALDARA / PORPORA / HANDEL / ALBINONI
Cecilia & Sol: Dolce Duello Cecilia Bartoli (mezzo), Sol Gabetta (cello) / Cappella Gabetta, Andres Gabetta [ Decca Music Group / CD - released 20/Dec/2017 ] "Gabetta's light touch is the ideal foil for Bartoli's expressive agility, whether the two of them are sparring in separate displays of virtuosity, weaving melancholy webs around each other, or hurtling along in parallel." Guardian |
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GYORGY LIGETI
The Ligeti Project (5 CDs special price) Siegfried Palm (cello) Frank Peter Zimmermann (violin) Pierre Laurent Aimard (piano) / Cappella Amsterdam / Amadinda Percussion / Reinbert de Leeuw [ Warner Classics / 5 CD Box Set - released 15/Jan/2016 ] "If Ligeti's music has a trademark, it is unpredictability…He remains one of the severest critics of contemporary music, as well as one of its greatest composers" The Guardian |
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ANTONIO VIVALDI
Il Progetto Vivaldi 2 Sol Gabetta (cello) / Cappella Gabetta, Andres Gabetta [ Sony Classics / CD - released 20/Mar/2013 ] "it is the fertility of imagination undergirding every one of Gabetta's performances which marks this colelction out as being something exceptional...Highly recommended." (International Record Review) |
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AMANTE FRANZONI
Franzoni: Vespro per la festa di Santa Barbara Accademia Degli Invaghiti, Concerto Palatino, Cappella Santa Barbara, Francesco Moi (conductor) [ Brilliant Classics / CD - released 1/Nov/2016 ] The scene is Mantua in Lombardy, Italy. The Duke of Mantua - himself a composer and eager to become a patron of the arts ¬- establishes a Basilica in the city. Freed from the auspices of Rome and with its own bespoke liturgy, the Basilica became the... |
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DOMENICO CIMAROSA
Cimarosa: Requiem Adriana Kucerova / Terezia Kruzliakova / Ludovit Ludha / Gustav Belacek / Lucnica Chorus / Cappella Istropolitana / Kirk Trevor [ Naxos / CD - released 1/Aug/2010 ] Domenico Cimarosa's abilities as an operatic composer are evident in his large-scale Requiem in which the soloists and chorus range from the mournful supplication of the opening movements, through vivid evocations of the 'day of wrath'. |
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CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI
Monteverdi: L'Orfeo (complete opera) Alessandro Carmignani / Marinella Pennicchi / Rosita Frisani / Cappella Musicale di San Petronio di Bologna / Sergio Vartolo [ Naxos Early Music / 2 CD - released 1/Jan/2007 ] "Carmignani has an expressive tenor voice...Pennicchi is lovely as Euridice. The singers are excellent and integrated into a carefully prepared ensemble...You will not do much better at triple the price" - Fanfare |
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HANDEL
Siroe, Re di Persia (Opera in Three Acts) Ann Hallenberg (alto) Johanna Stojkovic (sop) Sunhae Im (sop) Gunter Schmid (countertenor) / Cappella Coloniensis / Andreas Spering (director) [ Harmonia Mundi Heritage / 2 CD - released 20/Aug/2015 ] CLASSICAL CD OF THE WEEK, The Sunday Times RECORD OF THE WEEK, The Guardian CD OF THE WEEK, The Daily Telegraph |