Handel: Salve Regina / Roset, Alarcón, Millennium Orchestra
Ricercar
CD
$20.99Aug 26, 2022
Julie Roset, a young French soprano from Avignon, immediately attracted attention with her first recital for Ricercar (Nun danket alle Gott with Clematis) and went on to record a recital of works by Sigismondo d'India with Mariana Flores that met with great critical acclaim. In this new recording she tackles several of Handel’s masterpieces on religious themes: his Salve Regina, Gloria and the motet Silete venti were all composed at the time when the young Handel had been inspired to new heights by his discovery of Roman musical life.
Handel: Semele / Alarcon, Chœur de Chambre de Namur, Millenium Orchestra
Ricercar
CD
$40.99Feb 11, 2022
Semele is a masterpiece. For what else can one call a drama in which the perfect symbiosis of text and music conjures up such suggestive power? ‘To hold the mind, the ears and the eyes equally spellbound’: this recommendation by La Bruyère (Les Caractères: ‘Les ouvrages de l'esprit’) refers to the ‘machine plays’ so adored by the public in the Baroque period. But even without machinery or indeed without sets or real staging, Handel’s oratorio involves us in the tragic fate of his heroine with supreme skill.
Handel: Poro, re delle Indie / Angioloni, Il Groviglio
Château de Versailles Spectacles
CD
$39.99Oct 11, 2024
In 1731, at the height of his London fame, Handel created his 28th opera seria: a vocal pyrotechnic about the rivalry, in love and war, between Alexander the Great and the Indian King Porus. Rage and spite, love and glory drive the extraordinary arias that Handel entrusted to two of his favourite singers: the castrato star Senesino for the title role, and the soprano Anna Maria Strada del Pò as the treacherous Cleofide. It was a sign of the work's success and the prestige of its cast. Poro was performed twenty times in 1731, a virtually exceptional figure. The young tenor Marco Angioloni - singing the role of Alexander - brings this opera back to life with his Ensemble Il Groviglio, and a magnificent cast that would have delighted Handel!
When one of the most illustrious sopranists of our time becomes a conductor, he chooses nothing less than Messiah! Franco Fagioli paints a fresco of Handel's masterpiece with a Latin exaltation, drawing this great English Baroque oratorio in the colours of the Mediterranean, together with the famous Barcelona choir and their Caravaggesque chiaroscuro, which gives the work a shimmer of moiré. The Orchestre de l'Opéra Royal provides the backdrop for the splendours revealed by the soloists, who take us on a journey of joy and sorrow through the life and Passion of Christ: "Behold, I tell you a Mystery … "
Handel: Alcina / Kožená, Morley, Minkowski, Les Musiciens du Louvre
PENTATONE
CD
$35.99Mar 01, 2024
Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre return to Handel with a complete recording of his opera Alcina. The title role is interpreted by Magdalena Kožená, who reunites with Les Musiciens and maestro Minkowski after a series of acclaimed baroque recordings. She is joined by an excellent casts of soloists, consisting of Erin Morley (Morgana), Anna Bonitatibus (Ruggiero), Elzabeth DeShong (Bradamante), Alois Muhlbacher (Oberto), Valerio Contaldo (Oronte) and Alex Rosen (Melisso). This studio recording transports the listener to Alcina’s enchanted island, and shows Handel at the peak of his power: the score is dramatic, lush and colourful as well as introspective and profound where the story requires it. Since its foundation in 1982, and under the baton of its founder and musical director Marc Minkowski, Les Musiciens du Louvre have developed into one of the world’s best period-instrument ensembles, with a vast discography. The ensemble returns to Pentatone after having presented Mozart’s Mass in C Minor in 2020. Alcina is star mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožena’s fifth album as part of her exclusive collaboration with Pentatone, after having presented the baroque cantatas recital album Il giardino dei sospiri and the songs in chamber-musical setting project Soiree in 2019, as well as Nostalgia together with Yefim Bronfman (2021) and Folk Songs with the Czech Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle (2023). The other soloists all make their Pentatone debut.
REVIEW:
There are relatively few recordings of Alcina out there, even though Handel’s Tempest-like opera of infatuation, rescue and enchantment is one of his most popular on stage. This new one scores highly, partly for the dramatic relish with which the conductor Marc Minkowski and his Musiciens du Louvre dispatch the music, but principally for a tour de force performance in the title role from the mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená.
Soprano Francesca Aspromonte and violinist Boris Begelman present an all-Handel programme exploring the vicissitudes of love, together with Arsenale Sonoro. On Un’alma innamorata, Aspromonte urges us to take ownership of our amorous infatuations, rather than blaming it on Cupid’s arrows. The programme consists of several worldly cantatas with violino concertante - including the famous Mi palpita il cor and a world premiere recording of S'un dì m'appaga la mia crudele - interspersed with instrumental sonatas. The overall chamber-musical approach of Un’alma innamorata increases the emotional impact of the tragic heroines depicted by Aspromonte. Francesca Aspromonte presents her third Pentatone album, after having released Prologue (2018) and Maria & Maddalena (2021). Boris Begelman featured on the latter album, whereas Arsenale Sonoro makes its Pentatone debut.
A composition, as a phenomenon or an act of creation, can be understood as a reflection of the time in which it was written. An improvisation, in some sense, is also an act of creation, a kind of composition, and it also reflects its time. Performing transcriptions, “borrowings” (even of whole pieces), remakes, and quotations was a common thing at the time of George Frideric Handel (1685–1759). Handel himself, as the first cosmopolitical composer in the world, was open to various styles and cultures and would quote and remake his own works. He was a Great Master, undoubtfully equal to Johann Sebastian Bach, but he was not a purist, which may explain some of the solutions we used on this album. Handel was a star and a celebrity of his times. He would compose, understand, and love the genre of opera, which, out of all kinds of art, is closest to the man (with his issues, traumas, and challenges); a genre that is full of life and “venous” like a human body. He was perfectly at ease in the world of theatre, stage, and entertainment. All the above can be easily heard in the harmony and melodies of his sonatas. In some way, we are following this way of thinking – being fascinated by the music of the Great Master, we allow ourselves some surprising (in our opinion) differentiations and modifications. We are doing this here and now, drawing on the past eras (classicism and especially romanticism [sic!]). We are also not afraid to refer to different forms of popular music such as jazz or even pop music. We are doing it, because the music of our time, i.e. popular music, is all around us and sneaks into our minds. We are being impregnated with it beyond our conscience and will, since it is “everywhere we listen”, i.e. in restaurants, shops, on our way to work. Although this aspect of entertainment stands out a bit on our recording, we decided not to remove it. The sonatas presented on this CD are not one-dimensional – there are many parenthesis, interrupted thoughts, and surprising endings. However, the listener will quickly find the beauty, charm, elegance, logic, and depth of this music, always combined with masterful harmony and melodies. The audience can notice perfect, but natural and sincere melodies, in which Handel vents his feelings in a bit uncontrolled and improvised way; feelings that are “poignant in their poetry.” It is especially the slow movements that sound like elegies, epitaphs, or odes, full of pain, longing, mysticism, and wisdom. “Our art, weary of post-Beethovenesque and post-Wagneresque art, can find in Handel’s music (similarly to chamber music by Mozart) a poetic refuge, to heal its futile anxiety and to experience again silence and wellbeing.” Paweł Losakiewicz & Robert Morawski
Landmark works of Baroque chamber music given a 21st-century twist. The extent to which George Frederic Handel's flute sonatas 'belong' on the flute is an open question. Some sonatas were composed with the violin in mind, and then arranged by Handel's London publisher, John Walsh, ever alert to a commercial opportunity. Others were probably conceived for recorder and basso continuo, and then transposed for the different register of the flute. Most of them were written around the 1720s, but some date from rather earlier, so far as we can tell. Even more than his contemporaries such as Bach, Handel was an assiduous reuser and recycler of his own material, and thus the notion of early and late style in this music, and an evolution between them, becomes somewhat moot. Not entirely, however, for there is a discernible movement away from Italian and towards French models of rhetoric in the sonatas, just as the oratorios develop an increased richness of harmony and economy of gesture during the decades of Handel's English period. To accompany this new recording, the flautist Lorenzo d'Antò has supplied invaluable chapter and verse for each sonata in his booklet essay. He also brings them alive in his partnership with the guitarist Michele Di Filippo, with the aim of rediscovering 'these antique masterpieces, and observing them from a new and modern perspective.' Thus the basso continuo lines, usually encountered on a harpsichord or combination of cello, lute and keyboard, have been mapped on to the guitar. This is a practice with many honourable precedents, dating back to Handel's own time. Lorenzo d'Antò graduated from the conservatoire in Rome in 2017. While at a relatively early stage in his career, he is already principal flute of the orchestra of the Arena di Verona. He has also performed as a concerto soloist and recitalist in festivals and venues across Italy and Switzerland. He is partnered here by Michele di Filippo, a guitarist born in 1994 who is also active as a composer.
Among Handel's seventeen English oratorios, Theodora (1750) is unique. The story is not taken from the Bible, it is set in the Christian era, there is no national triumph and it does not end in joy. At the end, the hero and heroine are dead, the community with which the audience identifies is in mortal danger, and the final chorus is in a minor key. As a musical drama, it is the direct ancestor of Dialogues des Carmelites. At the age of 65, Handel produced a work that was too radical and complex for most of his audience. Today, Theodora is regarded as a benchmark "thinking person’s opera", both deeply stimulating and powerfully moving.
With it's latest CD, the Trumpet Consort, under the direction of renowned trumpeter Matthias Hofs, takes you into a fascinating world of trumpet sounds that unites tradition and innovation in a unique way. With exceptional skill and impressive arrangements, the ensemble showcases the entire range of the trumpet family - from festive baroque works to modern compositions. Experience the masterful variety of sounds created by the special collaboration between experienced musicians and young talents.
In London in 1736, the Baroque genius Handel celebrated the power of music with his oratorio about Alexander the Great, one of the greatest successes of his life. Covent Garden was never so full as on the evening of the premiere. For this original English version, Alfredo Bernardini unites the fantastic voices of the Arnold Schoenberg Choir with his lively Zefiro Baroque Orchestra. The three soloists Miriam Kutrowatz, Daniel Johannsen and Damien Gastl tell the ancient story of how the singer Timotheus was once able to change the mood of the great Alexander, evoking a whirlwind of diverse emotions, highlighting the power of music over politics and war.
Handel: Sonatas for Violin & Basso Continuo - Se in fiorito
Arcana
CD
$20.99May 09, 2025
Handel's violin sonatas composed in London stretch from the heyday of the Royal Academy of Music's Italian opera productions to his last English oratorios. The original purposes, contexts and performers of the sonatas are unknown: only a few survive in autograph manuscripts, and the authorship and instrumentation of pieces preserved in unreliable early printed sources are a confusing mess. Quartetto Vanvitelli invent a narrative that explores the possibilities of emotions, sonorities and connecting tonalities that are offered by several authentic violin sonatas, a few spurious misattributions, quotations from Giulio Cesare in Egitto (1724) and arrangements from several keyboard pieces - a creative vision designed to refract light through the prism of Handel's music.
Originally issued on the 2LP set Nativity in 1976, this classic Vox recording is a fine example of Robert Shaw’s expertise as a choral conductor. The album features a selection of carols, choral works and orchestral Christmas favourites performed by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Produced by the legendary Elite Recordings team of Marc Aubort and Joanna Nickrenz, and newly remastered from the original analogue tapes in high-definition.
Some three hundred compositions by Handel such as Overtures, dances and short instrumental interludes titled Ritornello, Sinfonia or Sarabande are hardly ever perceived as a separate category, despite appearing in his most important compositions. Such observations provided the basis for this concept album. The pre-dominant instruments of the first Suite are the horns, which originally play an important role in the Overture to Handel's great success Samson and the operas Giulio Cesare and Ariodante. In the second group, launched by the Overture to the early opera Teseo, various solo instruments are highlighted: horn, recorder and in particular the traverse flute. The last cycle focuses on the virtuoso trumpet.
Handel: Water & Fire / Sinkovsky, B'Rock Orchestra
PENTATONE
CD
$19.99Jul 14, 2023
With Water & Fire, B’Rock Orchestra and Dmitry Sinkovsky present Handel’s Water Music alongside his Music for the Royal Fireworks. Both works were written for royal open-air ceremonies, were likely substantially drowned out by the noise of fireworks and the waves of the Thames during their first performance, and were never played again during Handel’s lifetime. Since then, they have, however, become favourites of the public, and they contain some of the most appealing instrumental music of the baroque era. B’Rock performs these works with an ensemble that approaches the ca. 50 musicians that Handel originally employed, conveying the pomp and splendour while also highlighting the coloristic richness and refinement of Handel’s scores. B’Rock Orchestra is one of today’s most forward-thinking period orchestras with a desire for encounter and exchange. The ensemble returns to Pentatone after having released Schubert’s complete symphonies with conductor René Jacobs between 2018 and 2022, as well as Antwerp Requiem c. 1650 (2022). Dmitry Sinkovsky is in demand as a conductor, violinist and countertenor, and previously appeared on Pentatone with Monteverdi: Il delirio della passione (2021).
An English Concert (Festliche Musik Fur Trompete & Orgel) / Hofs, Janz
Berlin Classics
CD
$21.99Jan 05, 2024
Matthias Hofs (trumpet) and Matthias Janz (organ) present a program of works by English masters from the Renaissance to the late Baroque. The instrumental combination of trumpet and organ let this repertoire resound in festive splendor. The musical performance is historically informed and played on modern instruments. Among the works on this album are songs from “The Musical Entertainer 1737”, English Dances and Trumpet Voluntaries by George Frideric Handel, John Stanley and many more.
Turkish pianist KCS is the Grand Prize winner of the 2022 Alexis Gregory Vendome Prize, where he was also awarded the Recording Prize. has performed in concert halls such as the Morgan Library & Museum’s Gilder Lehrman Hall in New York, Wiener Saal in Salzburg, Verbrugghen Hall in Sydney and in other venues in cities such as Paris, Nice, Brussels, Cleveland, Verona and Istanbul. He has appeared in festivals such as the Gümüşlük Classical Music Festival, Antalya Piano Festival and Bellapais Music Festival. This season, he will appear at the 2024 Sydney Festival as the winner of The Rex Hobcroft People’s Choice Prize at the Sydney International Piano Competition, as well as in concerts with the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by James Judd and New Manhattan Sinfonietta conducted by Gürer Aykal.
Born in 1999 in Ankara, he began his musical education with Gamze Kırtıl at the Bilkent University’s Music and Ballet Primary School at the age of seven. After studying with Antonio Pompa-Baldi and Sergei Babayan at the Cleveland Institute of Music, he received his bachelor’s degree from The Juilliard School, where he was a recipient of the Ahmet Ertegün Memorial Scholarship and the Susan W. Rose Piano Fellowship twice. In 2018, he was accepted as a scholar of “Young Musicians on World Stages” (YMWS), led by Güher-Süher Pekinel. During his studies, he has had the chance to work with musicians such as Jacques Rouvier, Pavel Gililov, Boris Berman, Ilya Itin, Michel Beroff, Jean-Francois Heisser, Gabriela Montero and Emanuel Ax. He is currently pursuing graduate studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music under the direction of Maestro Babayan.
Kommet ihr Hirten / Dresden Philharmonic Brass Ensemble
Berlin Classics
CD
$21.99Jan 05, 2024
KultBlech is the brass ensemble of the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra. KultBlech presents an album with subtly arranged and masterfully played Christmas music for brass! Under the baton of Steven Verhaert the one of a kind arrangements written especially for KultBlech Dresden by Markus Höller & Hans Reiner Schmidt make the christmas time humorous, lively and emotional! KultBlech Dresden takes you on an extraordinary Christmas musical journey around the world - and this every year! An album for the whole family!
To compose a few lines upon the fifth anniversary of the late Wolfgang Gluxam's decease is a task at once light and solemn. Light, for though the inevitable gloom of his too-early passing doth weigh heavy, it is Hope that doth prevail-that sentiment of a positive onwardness, which Music itself may impart, but only when artists of due skill are at work. Wolfgang's talent was singular: through his playing, he could spin tales, rousing in his auditors a tension for "What next?"-a suspense he deftly stoked to fervor. No note was struck without it's precise place in the chaos of the score defined, each tone a pillar in the storm. Some may deem this method contrived, a sign of some cold design-yet I affirm him, in the noblest sense, a genius both calculating and questioning, ever striving for perfection, yet tempered (with a grain of salt) by self-doubt. Though such rigor left certain long-forged schemes-as his endeavor with Bach's Art of Fugue-unrealized, we, in this age of vulgar mass-production, find solace in his scant recordings. These relics, though few, leave us quietly content, brimming with gratitude and joy. For such artistry cannot be reckoned by arithmetic, nor conjured by artificial engines; it demandeth a feeling soul, one that breathes and bleeds. Herein lies the power of Wolfgang's works: they compel us to love. That we may likewise rejoice in the album Brook Street is thanks owed to his descendants, who, in their benevolence, hath permitted it's release-a boon to all who cherish his memory.
