Acknowledged without reservation as the greatest composer working in England in the 18th century, Georg Frideric Handel is revered worldwide as a master composer. His Harpsichord Suites are among the finest instrumental works of the period, we are privileged to present exquisite performances by Gilbert Rowland, one of Europe's foremost harpsichordists.

"It is impossible to praise this new release too highly. The harpsichord, a copy of a two manual French harpsichord after Goermans (Paris 1750), built by Andrew Wooderson in 2005, is a lovely instrument. The combination of Handel, Gilbert Rowland, Wooderson’s fine harpsichord, the recording venue at Holy Trinity Church, Weston, Hertfordshire and the recording engineer John Taylor is unbeatable providing, as it does, a collection of these wonderful suites that I will return to again and again."

-- The Classical Reviewer

Grammy-winning ensemble Third Coast Percussion releases their newest recording of two landmark works by acclaimed French composer Philippe Manoury. Manoury's work is aligned with the modernist French tradition as articulated by Pierre boulez; his music is imbued with values shared with the world of research and marked by ambitious instrumental challenges. His works has been particularly informed by his expertise in electro-acoustic composition and real-time interaction between acoustic instruments and computer generated sounds. In these two remarkable acoustic works, Le Livre des Claviers and Metal, Manoury explores the rich world of tuned keyboard percussion instruments, a category he broadens to include low pitched Thai gongs and a fascinating set of six homemade instruments called sixxen, originally imagined by pioneer Iannis Xenakis. Xenakis specified some sonic parameters for sixxen, but gave no specific instrument designs. Notably, pitch is not a fixed parameter in the design specifications for sixxen, so it is up to the performers to build instruments that create an engaging pitch landscape. The sixxen works, therefore, are shaped by Manoury's compelling rhythmic writing and elegant sense of contour, and a listener might be tempted to muse on ways the piece would sound different, or the same, with another set of sixxen. While Xenakis' use of these instruments was somewhat brutal, in Manoury's hands, they also display a ritualistic, etheral side, sounding occasionally like clanging church bells from the worship house of an exotic theology. Two movements for thai gongs and marimbas, a marimba duo, and a vibraphone solo represent the rest of Le Livre des Claviers, containing precise, demanding music that nevertheless avoids the kind of dramatic resistance often associated with writing of this complexity. The dynamic between the rigors of the mallet percussion movements of Le Levre des Claviers and the sixxen movements amounts to a kind of refraction of Manoury's vision through a distorting lens, particularly as it pertains to pitch. Present throughout all of these movements and in Metal is a natural, unencumbered flow underlying Manoury's phrases, even in the most virtuosic passages. This is, of course, a testament to Third Coast's well documented expertise, but also suggests that an affect of detached effortlessness may be shared with or influenced by his work in the realm of computer music. Perhap sit is consistent with Manoury's role as a researcher - a detached observer nevertheless infused with a sense of wonder.

about the release Elizabeth Hainen, Solo Harpist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, is known internationally as one of classical music's great harp ambassadors. She has thrilled audiences throughout the world with programmes showcasing the diversity and virtuosity of her instrument. Her first recording for Avie features three concerti spanning as many centuries. Austrian composer Johann Georg Albrechtsberger was a highly regarded teacher who counted Hummel and Beethoven among his pupils, and whose Harp Concerto of 1773 straddled the Baroque and Classical eras. English harpist and composer Elias Parish Alvars toured Europe widely and settled in Vienna. His G minor Concerto, written in 1842, was a virtuosic vehicle befitting his own temperament - Berlioz called him the Liszt of the harp. Saint-Saëns wrote dozens of concertante works but only one for harp, the 1918 Morceau de concert. Elizabeth will be a featured artist at the 2011 World Harp Congress in July, performing the Parish Alvars Concerto with members of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. critical acclaim "silky transparency" - The Washington Post "ability to blend and color the musical line [and] to find transparency in an almost timeless atmosphere." - Philadelphia Inquirer "a complete harpist who knows and uses her instrument's strength and brilliance and strikes its fire" - Miami Herald

A unique programme of music by Alexander Goehr unavailable elsewhere on record. The composer's close association with conductor Oliver Knussen and pianist Peter Serkin give all of these performances definitive status.

Classical Music

Considered the most 'Russian'of Stravinsky' major works, the origin of the Firebird lies in the impresario Sergey Dyagilev' cost-cutting decision to concentrate on ballet, rather than opera.

Attractive and unfamiliar keyboard works, well played.

This appears to be a reissue of a recital previously available on ASV (ASV CD DCA 890), and recorded, I believe, in 1994. It is good to have it back in circulation, as it offers a well-played representation of an interesting minor composer.

Moleiro was born in Zaraza in Venezuela and in the mid 1920s he studied piano in Caracas with a well-known teacher, Don Salvador Llamozas. He went on to make a career as a pianist, composer and teacher. This present CD includes the bulk of the work he wrote for the piano.

Most of the music here is not strikingly Latin American in manner, although there are a few distinctive touches here and there which speak of its geographical origins. For the most part Moleiro's piano music has about it a kind of aristocratic grace, and works within mostly European models understood from a South American perspective. At times one senses a kind of nostalgia for European forms and what they might represent. One is not surprised to encounter 'El senor de la peluca' - the gentleman with the wig - or to find oneself listening to a charming Waltz.

Moleiro's Sonatinas are written in the tradition of Scarlatti (though being far from mere pastiche); his Prelude and Fugue in C sharp minor have more than a little of Bach about them; the Serenade in the Spanish Style speaks for itself; the Estudio de concierto has clear affinities with Chopin and the delightful La fuente registers its composer's knowledge of Ravel and Debussy. But everywhere there is enough evidence of a personal sensibility at work to maintain the listener's interest. At times Moleiro's programmatic miniatures - such as La muchacha de la herrería (the girl from the blacksmiths), El herrero (The blacksmith) and Los pájaros (The birds) - are attractive additions to a familiar keyboard tradition.

The last two pieces on the CD are the most distinctive. It is unfortunate that the relatively scanty documentation that comes with this CD gives no dates for any of the compositions, so that one has no way of knowing whether or not the sequence of music heard in any way represents the composer's stylistic development. Certainly Estampas del llano (Pictures of the plains) and Joropo are far more thoroughly infused with a sense of the composer's native land, and without that nostalgic air mentioned above. Though the musical language of Estampas del llano is essentially European in nature, its evocation of the Venezuelan plains, in their contrasting fecundity and aridity, makes it music that no European composer would have written. The joropo music of Venezuela grew out of the fusion of ancient Spanish traditions, including the fandango and the malagueña (themselves incorporating Arabic influences) with the musics of African slaves and of native South American Indians. It is a heady mix and from it has grown some exciting music. A good deal of that excitement is captured in Moleiro's Joropo for piano, played with considerable panache by Clara Rodriguez.

Throughout this recital the sureness of Rodriguez' technique is evident, and her flexibility ensures that she can sound at home in all of the various musical idioms on which Moleiro's piano music touches. This makes for a consistently entertaining programme - a CD that makes a case, without overstatement, for the music of a figure too little known beyond his native land.

-- Glyn Pursglove, MusicWeb International 

Classical Music

Hans Pfitzner’s 1901 opera Die Rose vom Liebesgarten sets a libretto by James Grum, which was inspired by an 1890 painting by Hans Thoma, Der Wachter vor dem Liebesgarten. While the premiere of the first act was quite poorly received, the entire opera finally received a successful staging by Gustav Mahler in Vienna in 1905. This production, featuring world-renowned vocalists Andre Riemer, Tiina Penttinen, Jona Buchner, Astrid Weber, and Andreas Kindschuh, is conducted by Frank Beerman. Beerman has gained international renown as a conductor both on the stage and with his many recordings. His always alert interest in new and undiscovered music and in new interpretations of the core repertoire has brought him numerous prizes and distinctions. His recordings feature the core repertoire as well as rediscoveries and contemporary works. They have won several awards, including Echo Klassik prizes in 2009 and 2015.

SAINT-SAËNS Cello Sonatas: No. 1 in c; No. 2 in F. Suite for Cello and Piano • Maria Kliegel (vc); François-Joël Thiollier (pn) • NAXOS 8.557880 (77:32)


It has been previously noted that Saint-Saëns’s four major works for cello were composed more or less in tandem pairs. 1872–73 saw the twin births of the C-Minor Sonata, op. 32, and the A-Minor Concerto, op. 33. The composer was approaching 40 at the time; yet for a man who lived to 86, these may still be regarded as fairly early works. Not until nearly 30 years later did Saint-Saëns turn again to the cello, this time composing in reverse order the D-Minor Concerto, op. 119, in 1902, followed in 1905 by the Sonata in F Major, op. 123.


My only grumble about Jamie Walton’s Saint-Saëns CD (reviewed in 29:6) was that had he omitted “The Swan” movement from The Carnival of the Animals , there would have been just enough room on the disc to include the Second Sonata, thereby giving us all four of the composer’s major works for cello on a single disc. It turns out that in writing that review, I overlooked the even earlier, but hardly insignificant, 1862 Suite for Cello and Piano, op. 16, which, at 23 minutes’ duration, is even longer than the First Sonata and certainly qualifies as a “major” work.


With the current release, cellist Maria Kliegel and pianist François-Joël Thiollier fill in the blanks, offering us, along with the C-Minor Sonata, the earlier Suite and the later F-Major Sonata, both of which were absent from Walton’s entry. The juxtaposition of these works on the same disc affords us the opportunity to hear for ourselves the evolution, both professional and personal, of a man whose interior life may have been more complex than received opinion about him has otherwise led us to believe.


The five-movement Suite makes no pretense to a refracted antique or neo-Baroque style—as some of the composer’s early works do—despite note writer Keith Anderson’s assertion that its Prelude loosely resembles the arpeggio Praeludium of Bach’s G-Major Solo Cello Suite. Saint-Saëns’s Suite is an ardent, effusive romantic outpouring that has more in common with the young, though never youthful, Brahms than it has with anything from an earlier time.


The C-Minor Sonata, though coming 10 years after the Suite, is all surface Sturm und Drang somewhat reminiscent of Mendelssohn. It was works such as this that earned Saint-Saëns his reputation as an arch-conservative in thrall to German models and aesthetics.


The F-Major Sonata, written when he was 70, has clearly evolved away from the composer’s earlier, more immediately recognizable profile. Though still adhering to the principles of sonata form, the piece has about it a more through-composed feeling that is carried forward by a gorgeous rippling piano part rather in the manner of the composer’s own student, Fauré. More significant, however, is the genuine expressiveness and depth of the music, which clearly belie the notion that Saint-Saëns was but an extremely gifted tunesmith and facile craftsman with an uncanny instinct for writing music devoid of any meaningful substance.


Maria Kliegel can be heard in a wide range of repertoire that she has recorded for Naxos; with over 50 entries in their catalog, she is perhaps the company’s leading “stable” cellist, a term that unfortunately carries certain uncomplimentary connotations. Be assured that in Kliegel’s case they are not deserved, for she is a fantastic player with solid technique, spot-on intonation, and robust tone, which she projects with a great deal of confidence and authority. If her delivery is not quite as smooth and refined as that of the aforementioned Jamie Walton, my sense is that she wants us to perceive Saint-Saëns as both more serious and more substantive than he is often taken to be.


François-Joël Thiollier has also recorded extensively for Naxos, having made a specialty of the French piano repertoire. His partnering with Kliegel is a natural. For the excellent performances, fine sound, budget price, and smart programming, I’m inclined to call this disc indispensable for lovers of chamber music for cello and piano.


FANFARE: Jerry Dubins

Includes work(s) by François Couperin. Soloists: Markku Luolajan-Mikkola, Mikko Perkola, Aapo Häkkinen.

John Ireland' violin sonatas gained extraordinarily positive reviews when they were premiered. The Star praised the 'delicacy, lucidity, and tonal charm' of the First Violin Sonata, the most genial and optimistic of the three sonatas recorded here.

BEETHOVEN Piano Trios: in B?, “Archduke”; 1 in E?, WoO 38. 1 MOZART Piano Trios: in B?, K 254; 1 in G, K 564. 1 HAYDN Piano Trios: 1 in D, Hob XV:16; in g, Hob XV:19. TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Trio in a, op. 50. 1 SHOSTAKOVICH Piano Trio in e, op. 67. 1 SAINT-SAËNS Piano Trio in F, op. 18. 1 SCHUMANN Piano Trio in d, op. 63. 1 BORODIN Piano Trio, in D. 2 FAURÉ Piano Quartet, op. 15. 3 BRAHMS Trio for Piano, Violin, and Horn, op. 40 4 • Emil Gilels (pn); 1,2,3,4 Leonid Kogan (vn); 1,3,4 Mstislav Rostropovich (vc); 1,3 Dmitry Tziganov (vn); 2 Sergei Shirinsky (vc); 2 Rudolf Barshai (va); 3 Yakov Shapiro (hn) 4 • DOREMI 7921 (5 CDs: 344:47)


This impressive five-CD set from DOREMI presents a fascinating portrait of a splendid Soviet-era ensemble, whose members—pianist Emil Gilels, violinist Leonid Kogan, and cellist Mstislav Rostropovich—collaborated for more than a decade beginning in 1949. They are joined by violist Rudolf Barshai (with whom Kogan and Rostropovich formed a String Trio during the 1950s) in the first Fauré Quartet, and the horn-player Yakov Shapiro joins Gilels and Kogan in the Brahms Trio. The Borodin Trio that rounds out the set features Gilels with two of his earlier chamber music partners, violinist Dmitry Tziganov and cellist Sergei Shirinsky, both members of the Beethoven Quartet.


The least of these performances are very good and the best of them nothing short of brilliant. The “Archduke” Trio must be one of the finest on record. In the first movement development, the juxtaposition of string pizzicatos with the piano’s trills creates an uncanny, otherworldly atmosphere. When the recapitulation finally arrives, it seems not just a satisfying homecoming, but a deliverance from the outer realms of abstraction. The ensemble finesse in the Scherzo is breathtaking, while the spiritual depths of the unique Andante cantabile are plumbed with grace and reverence. The same sort of Apollonian approach that makes this reading of the “Archduke” so successful is applied to the Tchaikovsky trio, with stunning results. Even some of the most celebrated performances of this difficult work (the Rubinstein/Heifetz/Piatigorsky, RCA 63025 among them) narrowly skirt the maudlin. Here, however, the three Russians bring a sincerity and simplicity to Tchaikovsky’s every gesture, allowing his elegy for Nicolas Rubinstein to speak with eloquence, at once dignified, restrained, and heartfelt.


In the Schumann Trio, Gilels, Kogan, and Rostropovich achieve a prodigy of imaginative interpretation, all within the context of the most sophisticated and refined ensemble-playing. It is hard to imagine a more compelling conception of this impassioned score. They also approach Shostakovich’s eerily atmospheric Second Trio with the utmost conviction. The hectic second movement is a kinesthetic tour de force , while the finale’s unconventional oriental textures are deftly maneuvered to great effect.


Predictably, the Haydn and Mozart readings are less satisfactory. Generalizations are always dangerous, but perhaps it is not inaccurate to say that, prior to the inevitable cross-pollination with the West occurring during later decades through travel and recordings, Soviet musicians approached Haydn and Mozart with a prettified delicacy. The results can often sound mannered, if not downright bloodless, and light years away from what we consider appropriate late-18th century style today. One case in point is the weepy vibrato Kogan employs in the sustained passages of the plaintive Andante opening of the Haydn G-Minor Trio; another is the flaccid Allegretto of the Mozart G-Major Trio, where phrase shapes are obliterated by an anachronistic effort to achieve the late-19th century ideal of the “long line.” Despite these reservations, even the 18th-century repertoire is of historical interest: this is the way this music was played behind the Iron Curtain in the years following WW II.


The sound of these recordings is consistent with the technological resources of Melodiya (the original issuing label) during the 1950s. Most were studio recordings, but some were live performances. One can discern the improvement of equipment and recording techniques between the earliest of the performances (the Tchaikovsky Trio, 1950) and the latest (the Shostakovich, 1959). Though the sound is flattened-out relative to modern standards, balances are superb, and no detail seems lost. The accompanying leaflet contains thumbnail bios of the principal artists as well as the works and timings, but no information on the matrices (beyond photographic reproductions of the record labels) or the transfer process. All in all, fascinating performances of representative repertoire by master musicians. Highly recommended.


FANFARE: Patrick Rucker

Classical Music

Simon Trpceski's recording of Rachmaninov's Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 3 was one of the most acclaimed and best-selling classical releases of 2010. His frequent collaborations with Vasily Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra are justly celebrated. Together they complete the not final cover art Rachmaninov canon with this highly-anticipated follow up of Concertos Nos. 1 and 4, and the Paganini Rhapsody. Rachmaninov Concertos 2 and 3 made the Top 10 of Billboard's Classical Chart and won a Diapason d'or de l'année. Trpceski will support the sequel with extensive touring and CD signings at which he regularly attracts hundreds of fans. What the critics are saying: "If you want to fall in love afresh with Rachmaninov's most popular piano concertos, go and get this disc right now" - Classic FM Magazine Editor's Choice "The great thing about these performances ... is not merely that he can deliver these formidable virtuoso showpieces with vigor and technical polish ... It's that he makes you hear beyond the glitter to the dimly flickering musical inspiration beneath ... Trpceski turns these potentially garish creations into something serious and emotionally urgent." - San Francisco Chronicle "an impressive achievement ... committed performances and excellent sound." - BBC Music Magazine "the chemistry between conductor, orchestra and soloist is magical." - Minnesota Public Radio "Avie can certainly congratulate itself on having backed a winner ... Trpceski was born to perform this music, and Petrenko to conduct it." - The Daily Telegraph (UK), Classical CD of the Week Daily Telegraph Classical CD of the Week: 'utterly compelling.' ClassicalSource.com: 'particularly fine ... scintillating ... a notable release' Yorkshire Post: 'dazzingly brilliant ... stunning'

While usually associated with sacred music, the organ was also used during the Renaissance and early Baroque periods in noble mansions and courts for the purpose of secular music. This fantastic anthology peeks into the secular organ repertoire from royal courts across five countries. Francesco Cera is a celebrated Italian organist. He performs on a 1772 “Organo ottavino.” Liner notes include information on all pieces, as well as a photo of Cera’s organ.

The works on this recording reflect the richness of the cello repertoire from the late 18th and early 19th Centuries. Mozart's unfinished Sonata movement in Bb, is here, having been completed by Annette Isserlis. Works by his pupils include: J N Hummel's Variations alla Monférine Op.54 and Wölfl's Sonata in D Op. 31 are both beautifully crafted and make virtuoso demands on the performers. Together with the exquisite Mozart inspired sonata by Hélène Liebmann, this is a CD of exhillarating and unjustly neglected masterpieces. Cello Classics' founder Sebastian Comberti and fortepianist Maggie Cole play on instruments of the period bringing these works to light in all their true colours.

Francis Poulenc is perhaps the composer whose works come the closest to embodying the French esprit, a multivalent term referring to a special blend of brilliance, sensuousness, aestheticism, and above all Frenchness. This is music that is mirthful as well as serious, entertaining and demanding, and superficial as well as profound. It was thus that Francis Poulenc composed, he who called himself »Poulenc-Janus« in an allusion to the Roman god who had two faces and could simultaneously look this way and that. Poulenc’s music is often stamped by this ambiguity, and his chamber music for winds is the ideal repertoire for the cpo debut of an aspiring young ensemble from Denmark: the Ensemble MidtVest. This ensemble is formed by eleven musicians, enthusiasts as well as individualists, who are graduates of leading European and American musical institutions of higher learning, and some of them have repeatedly been honored with prizes. The ensemble was founded in 2002 and has earned a fine reputation for its creative programs, high artistic level, and constant questioning of the conventional concert form. Its core formation for string quartet, wind quintet, and piano promotes flexibility, variation, and rich color in the combination of instruments. The Ensemble MidtVest performs as a duo as well as a sonorous nonet. It is one of the five »basis ensembles« in Denmark.

- CPO

In his Choros, Guarnieri wrote music that conjures up the landscape and essence of Brazil. These very personal concertos reveal the composer’s refined instrumental combinations and elegant contrapuntal writing, while their dance rhythms are vivacious, drawing on the baião, maracatu and embolada. The Chorosin this second volume represent all stages of Guarnieri’s compositional development. Also included is the delightful and inventive Florde Tremembé, an early work with choro-like features. The first volume is also available on Naxos.

REVIEW:

This release, the second of two, contains Guarnieri’s Choros for clarinet (1956), piano (1956), cello (1961) and viola (1975). All four abound in high-spirited dancelike passages with syncopated Latin rhythms, alternating with music of pastoral lyricism, and usually end in a celebratory, carnival atmosphere. 

The later pair, for strings, are slightly more modernist: the composer even employs a 12-tone row in the viola concerto, but his lightness of touch and Brazilian exuberance are not affected (Guarnieri hated 12-tone music and penned articles about how unnatural he found it – then wrote some to prove he could!) The program also contains an early work for chamber orchestra, Flor de Tremembé (1937), which is jazzy with echoes of Gershwin.

This disc is even more fun than Volume 1. The musicians are absolutely at home with Guarnieri’s idiom: Roberto Tibiriçá’s tempos are spot on, the soloists are terrific, the sound first rate. This Choros for Clarinet should be as popular as the Clarinet Concerto by Copland (who, incidentally, was the composer’s friend and benefactor in the US).

--Limelight (Phillip Scott)

2018 Gramophone Magazine Chamber Recording of the Year

Seven years after they triumphed with Dvorák’s quartets, Pavel Haas Quartet are back to Dvorák. For the occasion of recording his quintets, they have invited two guests: the pianist Boris Giltburg (winner of 2013 Queen Elizabeth Competition), as well as one of the PHQ founding members, violist Pavel Nikl. Antonín Dvorák composed his Piano Quintet No. 2 while staying at his beloved summer house in Vysoká in the late summer of 1887. The renowned critic Eduard Hanslick responded to its performance in Vienna enthusiastically: "It is one of his most beautiful works. A genuine Dvorák.“ The String Quintet op. 97, albeit only six years younger, presents a completely "different Dvorák“. After the Symphony from the New World and the “American” quartet, the string quintet is the composer’s third work written in America. Besides drawing inspiration from the music of the Native American tribe of the Iroquois which he heard in Spillville in the summer of 1893, he built the third movement around a theme that he had previously considered using in a proposal for a new American anthem. And Hanslick’s testimonial? "This is probably the simplest, most natural and happiest music composed since Haydn’s times. The ear enjoys it with an easy-going attitude and the spirit is not bored for a single moment.“ Pavel Haas Quartet is at home in Dvorák’s music – to quote the Sunday Times, "In this repertoire, they are simply matchless today.“

-----

REVIEW:

It is the happiest of reunions and their sense of shared purpose is evident from the very start. Giltburg is completely at one with the quartet, who set off full of sighing pathos. From the off, they make the music their own; their sense of story-telling is very persuasive. Another triumphant addition to the Pavel Haas’s already Award-laden discography.

– Gramophone

This rare collection of works offers an insight into the creative heritage of the great cellists of the past as composers and arrangers. 'Virtuoso Cello Transcriptions'combines highly virtuosic performing with a nostalgic look at the past, ranging from the baroque through to Schnittke. Since his studies with Nikitin and Shafran, and following early successes at competitions in Paris and Geneva, Leonid Gorokhov has been in great demand as soloist with orchestras throughout Europe. A large discography for Melodya and Supraphon has won many plaudits and his recent CD 'Russian Discoveries' was voted Record of the Month by London's Classic FM. 'Between the mercurial movements, such as Frescobaldi¹s Toccata, we can enjoy Gorokhov¹s smooth and lyrical qualities in the slow movements, the elegance of the Adagio in Locatelli's Sonata being of rare beauty. His bowing technique is so wonderfully fluid, Weber's Adagio being just one of the examples of his seamless legato.' The Strad August 2001 'Especially good however is the trilogy of Popper showpieces in which Gorokhov shows himself a deftly spirited advocate. A promising start for a new label that's certain to excite cello devotees, and whose promised historical bias should also have general wider appeal.' Michael Jameson, BBC Music Magazine August 2001

"• Jana Vonášková, a member of the Smetana Trio for many years, partners here with the eminent Latvian pianist Irina Kondratenko for this nearly all-Brahms recital. • Brahms' violin sonatas are touchstones of the chamber music literature • Rarely recorded or performed, the F.A.E. Sonata is here heard in its entirety. • New recordings – 2013."

Mozart, W.A.: Flute Quartets Nos. 1-4

The Old Testament Book of Lamentations has been subjected to a number of settings since the Middle Ages; that of Jan Dismas Zelenka occupies a significant position among them. In his Lamentations, Zelenka succeeded in combining the contemplative aspect with a powerful dramatic charge. His penchant for unusual instrumentation is evident in, for instance, the final Lamentation (solo violin, bassoon and chalumeau). Zelenka only set to music two lessons of the first Nocturne for each day; here, every third reading takes the form of Gregorian chant, as was most likely heard at the Dresden court.

The Eton Choirbook is famous – and important – because it uniquely preserves some of the most spectacular music composed in Britain before the age of Purcell and Handel. Had this book not survived, literally dozens of superb pieces would have been irretrievably lost; among them would have been the ones by Walter Lambe, William Cornysh and Robert Wylkynson on this album. Whilst the book itself is of huge historic significance, its legacy is immeasurable, informing and influencing scores of composers and performers for more than 500 years. This unique recording emphasizes that legacy with the premiere of four new works by contemporary composers all commissioned by the Genesis Foundation and all inspired by the works from the Eton Choirbook alongside which they sit. This album also features Stephen Hough’s stunning exploration of faith worldwide- Hallowed- which was commissioned for The British Museum’s ‘Living with Gods’ exhibition. “… the singing of The Sixteen under Harry Christophers was wonderful beyond words.” (Church Times) “Wonderful music, wonderfully performed… sit back and let these glorious sounds fill your ears and lift your spirits.” (Gramophone)