Harmonia mundi is proud to welcome the exceptional countertenor Carlo Vistoli as a new exclusive artist. Here he joins the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin to explore some of Vivaldi's finest sacred music. Alongside the famous Nisi Dominus and Stabat Mater, the quasi-operatic motet, In furore, shows the extravert, theatrical side of Vivaldi's genius, for the purposes of edification, to be sure, but also for our greater delight.

This new album rounds off the complete recording of the symphonies of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach that the musicians of the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin began over two decades ago. The final batch offers the quintessence of his art, revealing the full originality of Johann Sebastian's inspired son, whose freedom and inventiveness paved the way for Haydn and Mozart.

After the success of his introduction to the St. Matthew Passion, author Wieland Schmid takes US on a journey through the Christmas Oratorio with thrilling insights into Bach's creative process and background information on the composition. Outstanding narrators and the complete recording of the 2010 performance of the Christmas Oratorio with the Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks and the Akademie fer alte Musik Berlin under the direction of Peter Dijkstra make this 4-CD set the ideal Christmas gift.

In 1786 Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach presented the greatest musical achievements of his century to a captivated audience and enthusiastic reviewers. The music director from Hamburg arranged a remarkable program for a charity concert, including not only his own music, but also popular and forgotten works by his father J S Bach and works by George Frideric Handel.

As a tribute to the 300th anniversary of CPE Bach, the RIAS Kammerchor and the Akademie für Alte Musik in Berlin revive the memorable concert from April 9, 1786 and reawaken a great historic moment in music history.
C.P.E. BACH: THE 1786 CHARITY CONCERT – A Revival

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach:
Introduction to the Credo of J.S. Bach’s Mass BWV 232, H. 849
Sinfonia in D Major, Wq. 183/1, H. 663
Magnificat, Wq. 215, H. 772
Heilig, Wq. 217, H. 778: Herr, wert, dass Scharen der Engel / Heilig ist Gott

Johann Sebastian Bach: Mass in B Minor, BWV 232: Credo

George Frideric Handel: Messiah, HWV 56: Ich weiss, dass mein Erloser lebet / Hallelujah!

Christina Landshamer, soprano
Wiebke Lehmkuhl, alto
Lothar Odinius, tenor
Thomas E. Bauer, bass

RIAS Chamber Chorus
Berlin Akademie für Alte Musik
Hans-Christoph Rademann, conductor

Recorded live at Konzerthaus Berlin, 15 June 2014

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo / Dolby Digital 5.1 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: Latin, German, English, French, Japanese, Korean
Running time: 109 mins
No. of DVDs: 1 (DVD 9)

Classical Music

The Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin returns to PENTATONE with Joseph Haydn’s opera L’isola disabitata (The Desert Island), together with an excellent quartet of vocalists.

Officially called an azione teatrale, L’isola is a serious opera about love, loss and misunderstanding with a happy ending, set on an exotic deserted island. Special about this opera is that Haydn chose orchestral accompaniment for the entire work, with colourful and dramatic accompagnato recitatives. In Haydn’s printed score, many of the elaborate instrumental sections were deliberately cut, because he feared that they demanded too much from the players, and that some audiences may not have been cultured enough to fully appreciate them. Special about this recording is that these parts have all been reinstated, using a recent edition by Thomas Busse.

The seasoned players of the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, led by Bernhard Forck, play this lavish score with fervour and swing, while Anett Fritsch (Costanza), Sunhae Im (Silvia), Krystian Adam (Gernando) and André Morsch (Enrico) offer an equally virtuosic vocal delivery.

The Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin is generally seen as one of the best period-instruments ensembles of today, and has a substantial PENTATONE discography.

REVIEW:

Haydn's opera L'isola disabitata ("The Uninhabited Island") was premiered in 1779. In one act, it was termed an azione per musica, suggesting a more compact work than an opera seria, and it has just four voice parts. The quartet of singers is fine, led with pleasant lightness by mezzo-soprano Sunhae Im in the lead role of the abandoned Costanza. The main attraction, though, is the work of the venerable Akademie für alte Musik, which has kept itself vibrant and relevant since its days behind the Iron Curtain. With Bernhard Forck leading the group from the first violinist's chair, they completely avoid the mechanical quality that often infests Baroque groups that move into Classical repertory; they grasp the essential forward-moving trajectory of the music and don't linger too much on the serviceable but ordinary arias. A totally satisfying Haydn opera release.

-- AllMusic.com (James Manheim)

The RIAS Kammerchor Berlin and its chief conductor Justin Doyle present Handel’s Messiah, together with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and an all-British quartet of outstanding soloists, consisting of Julia Doyle (soprano), Tim Mead (countertenor), Thomas Hobbs (tenor) and Roderick Williams (bass). Messiah is not only Handel’s most famous work, but equally one of the cornerstones of British choral culture. Soon after the work’s premiere, a tradition of mass performances full of pomp and circumstance took root, with the Hallelujah as a showstopper. This new period-instruments recording, however, aims to bring the piece back to the size and intimacy of the 1742 premiere in Dublin. The Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin has a substantial PENTATONE discography, including Handel’s Concerti grossi Op. 6 and Op. 3, (released in 2019 and 2020), Telemann’s opera Miriways (2019) and CANTATA with Bejun Mehta (2018). The RIAS Kammerchor Berlin, Justin Doyle, Julia Doyle, Tim Mead, Thomas Hobbs and Roderick Williams all make their PENTATONE debut.

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REVIEW:

The list of solid performances of Handel's Messiah, HWV 56, from outside Britain is growing longer, and this one, released in 2020 just in time for sacred music season, is a case in point. All four soloists and the conductor are indeed anglophones, and they offer much to enjoy. Veteran baritone Roderick Williams is in fine voice, and the silvery soprano of Julia Doyle has a classic Handelian sound with a nice bloom at the top, but Messiah succeeds or fails on its chorus, and the work of the RIAS Kammerchor is as impressive as that of the soloists. The historical instruments of the Akademie für alte Musik Berlin add sharpness in the trumpets and drums. Listeners new to historical performance will find a satisfying and friendly instance of it here.

– AllMusic Guide (James Manheim)

It was in Rome, where he resided between 1707 and 1710, that the young Handel composed these three dazzling sacred works. The Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and the RIAS Kammerchor give us an extremely lively and colorful reading of these pieces in which the composer showcased his talent: allegiance to the forms of the past, total mastery of counterpoint and, already, a unique feeling for storytelling. Everything here announces musical genius.

The Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin continues it's PENTATONE Mozart series with the composer's 29th and 33rd symphonies. These works are coupled with his ravishingly beautiful Clarinet Concerto, performed by Ernst Schlader in the original edition for basset clarinet. Schlader, a specialist in historical instruments, has written an essay on the basset clarinet for the album booklet that includes a rare historical image showing the original shape of the instrument used in the years after the concerto's premiere. The first release of this series was longlisted for the Preis der deutschen Schalllplattenkritik. The Akademie fur Alte Musik is generally seen as one of the best period-instruments ensembles of today, and has a substantial Pentatone discography, including CANTATA with Bejun Mehta (2018), Handel's Concerti grossi Op. 3 and 6 (released in 2019 and 2020), Telemann's Miriways (2020), Handel's Messiah (2020), Haydn's L'isola disabitata (2021), La Passione with Christina Landshamer (2022), a recording of Mozart's Paris and Haffner symphonies and Oboe Concerto with Xenia Loffler (2023), and Telemann's Ino (2024).