This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

Renaissance choral music from English composer Peter Philips who was, second only to William Byrd, the most published composer of the Elizabethan Age. Philips trained as a choirboy at St Paul's Cathedral in London and later spent years in Rome, imbuing his sacred music with an awe-inspiring Italianate beauty. Featuring Choir of Trinity College Cambridge, Richard Marlow (conductor).

Includes work(s) by Johann Adolf Hasse.

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Classical Music

Includes work(s) by Franz Xaver Richter. Ensemble: London Mozart Players. Conductor: Matthias Bamert.

Includes work(s) by various composers. Ensemble: Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Gabriel Chmura.

Triple Feature.

Simon Standage is particularly renowned for his Telemann recordings with Collegium Musicum 90. The repertoire here is especially vivacious and rich in melodic invention with the doubling of oboes and bassoons used to striking effect. Telemann's penchant for colour is strongly evident in the Burlesque de Quixotte. Collegium 90 is regarded as one of today's premiere early music groups and regularly receive outstanding reviews for their Chaconne recordings. Recorded in: All Saints' Church, East Finchley, London 29-31 July 2002 Producer(s) Nicholas Anderson Sound Engineer(s) Jonathan Cooper Michael Common (Assistant)

Classical Music

Classical Music

My review of volume 1 of this series appeared in Fanfare 26:6, at which time I praised the performances, finding them to be of “the highest quality.” This second generously timed issue follows a similar format in presenting a group of cantatas, or more accurately sacred concertos, in the chamber form intended by the composer. There is a greater emphasis this time on solo works, no fewer than four falling into that category, with the lion’s share going to tenor Charles Daniels. BuxWV 92 is also included on a Stylus Phantasticus disc, but Daniels’s approach is markedly different to that of Victor Torres, his slower tempo emphasizing the heaviness of the soul as it seeks refreshment rather than the exultation of the climax. Both BuxWV 71 and BuxWV 37 are also scored for solo tenor, the first being a dignified setting of the familiar words from the opening verses of Psalm 103, Lobe den Herrn (“Praise the Lord”), the ritornello Sonata of which is particularly lavishly scored in six parts (three violins, two violas, and violone with continuo). BuxWV 37 is a version of the Nunc Dimittis, Buxtehude treating the aged Simeon’s words not as a valediction, but a joyous revelation culminating in gigue-like dance. In all three works, Daniels’s distinctive high tenor is deployed with rare musical intelligence and insight.

Dixit Dominus is a rather more interesting work than Stephen Rose’s rather dismissive mention in the notes might suggest. Scored for solo soprano (Emma Kirkby singing with her customary command of technique) and a five-part string ensemble, it is notable for the unusual degree of rhetorical Affekt Buxtehude conjures up from the familiar text of the Vespers psalm, which is simply set in arioso style with the voice largely supported by organ continuo, the soloist’s lines being echoed or commented upon by the strings. Of the ensemble works, the most striking is perhaps An filius non est Dei, a Passion-tide work scored for alto, tenor, and bass, its reflective character underlined by the richly-hued accompaniment for two gambas and violone. The performance is one of the highlights of the disc, with Michael Chance, Daniels, and Peter Harvey combining to form a splendidly integrated trio that extracts full expressive value from the poignant text. Chance indeed sounds happier here than he does with the low-lying tessitura of BuxWV 77, which he negotiated with greater assurance on Ton Koopman’s legendary Erato set (ECD 75374) of cantatas in 1987.

As with the earlier disc, I would have preferred a rather less smooth tone from the Purcell Quartet’s strings, but there is little other cause for complaint. This is a further indispensable addition to a storehouse of inexhaustible riches that lay virtually untouched until Koopman’s pioneering recording, which really should be restored to the catalog.

FANFARE: Brian Robins

Recorded in: All Saints' Church, East Finchley, London 8-10 March 1999 Producer(s) Nicholas Anderson Sound Engineer(s) Jonathan Cooper

Includes work(s) by Nino Rota. Ensemble: Ensemble Nino Rota. Soloists: Paolo Ferrigato, Suela Mullaj.

Classical Music