The two works on this new release are BBC Broadcast recordings from 1973 and 1977. Included on this album are The Song of Akhenaten Op. 5, and The Water and the Fire, both by Anthony Milner. The Water and the Fire is arguably the climax of Milner’s choral writing, and is widely regarded as a visionary piece. Featured artists on these recordings include soprano Janet Price , soprano Hazel Holt, tenor John Elwes, and baritone Stephen Roberts.

Coupling powerful interpretations with path-breaking scholarship, the choir Contrapunctus presents music by the best-known composers as well as unfamiliar masterpieces. Directed by Owen Rees, a specialist in music of the 16th and 17th centuries, the group presents imaginative programmes revealing previously undiscovered musical treasures and throwing new light on familiar works.

This recording explores the musical 'cries of the oppressed' from opposite ends of Europe, which include some of the most powerful works composed in England and Portugal during this period by Byrd, Tallis, de Monte and Cardoso. The highlight perhaps is the first recording of a newly reconstructed vocal work by Thomas Tallis, 'Libera nos'. This has long been thought to be an instrumental work, and has been recorded as such, but there's persuasive historical evidence for us to be confident that this is in fact a choral setting of the antiphon 'Libera nos', and it is performed here with the relevant text restored to the five vocal parts.

Includes carol(s) by Richard Rodney Bennett. Ensemble: Tudor Choir. Conductor: Doug Fullington.
Includes traditional chant(s).
Includes work(s) by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Robert Fayrfax, Sir William Walton, John Sheppard, Gustav Holst, Peter Warlock.

Telemann was a prolific composer, writing over 40 Passions for the Church of Hamburg alone. His six Passion oratorios differ in that they do not strictly adhere to the literal text of the Gospels. A delightful work that deserves to be heard more often, Das selige Erwägen, was in its time one of Telemann’s most popular and frequently performed compositions. This recording is the perfect starting-point to explore the rich landscape this 18th-century German music.

Mozart: Gehn wir i'm Prater, Secular Canons, Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Artist Chamber Choir Of Europe, Nicol Matt conductor, Format 1 CD, Mozart considered canon-writing an essential compositional skill. Though canons are often small chamber works to be performed in company, Mozart's sketches of some of these works show that the composer carefully considered them before completion, giving them as much thought as his larger and more famous works. This collection includes Mozart's complete canons. The works vary in instrumentation and character; among the vocal ones are puzzle canons (which show one line of music and text, along with only the entry points of the other parts), the ambitious 12-part V'amo di core and the multi-lingual Bona nox! Bist a rechta Ox. Mozart's sense of humor is demonstrated in the two canons written to the daringly-named text of Leck mir den Arsch, as well as in the Difficile lectu mihi mars et jonicu difficile which, provided that the singer has the right accent, provides much hilarity. Aside from the vocal canons, there are several written for instruments, including the Adagio in F major, composed for two basset horns and bassoon. The vocal canons are performed here by the acclaimed Chamber Choir of Europe, directed by Nicol Matt. The collection also boasts performances by the Klarinetten-Trio der Musikschule Achern-Oberkirch and distinguished soloists of the Württembergischen Philharmonie Reutlingen. Recorded November 2002, Alte Kirche Fautenbach, Germany. That Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was not the angelic Wunderkind living in his musical heaven of divine inspiration is proven by his secular canons, which he wrote as a personal pastime entertainment. This is the other side of the genius, essential in order to get the complete picture of Mozart the man and musician. Not all canons bear titles like "leck mir den Arsch", some others are extremely witty and inventive musical jokes. Expertly sung and performed by the Chamber Choir of Europe, conducted by Nicol Matt.

It took more than five decades after the Psalms of David for Krzysztof Penderecki to produce another large-scale vocal-instrumental work setting Polish texts. It was a commission from the Fryderyk Chopin National Institute for a piece to be performed at the final concert of the Chopin Bicentenary celebrations that offered Penderecki a suitable opportunity to turn again to Polish poetry. The conductor Wojciech Rajski leads the Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir and a trio of vocal soloists.

Occasioned to coincide with the 230th birthday of the German composer Louis (Ludwig) Spohr (1784-1859) in April, 2014, this release of the new, live recording of his oratorio Der Fall Babylons (1839-40) features the Staatsorchester Braunschweig, conducted by Matthias Stanze and a fine cast of singers including the St. Petersburg-born soprano Ekaterina Kudryavtseva and the Swiss tenor Matthias Stier.