In an age of resurgent conflict and frenetic demands on our attention, Angel of Peace offers a slice of tranquillity in many forms courtesy of luminous, purifying music traversing six centuries. This album centres on the power and beauty of poetry in music, bringing together the exquisite simplicity of the songs of 12th-century Abbess Hildegard of Bingen with John Taverner's joyous large scale antiphons composed some 400 years later. Leap forward to more recent times and we hear new settings by Will Todd and Anna Clyne of words by Cardinal Newman and Rainer Maria Rilke. Commissioned for solo violin with choir, both works heighten the intensity of the poetry through the fascinating musical dialogue between strings and voice. Arvo Part, marking his 90th birthday, brings us full circle with his serene clarity. These timeless voices resonate with our deepest need for stillness and with each work we hope to share a moment of peace and connection through the timeless language of music.

This compilation of the greatest sacred compositions for bass and organ finds it's ideal performers in singer Gunther Groissbock and Matthias Giesen on the Bruckner Organ in St. Florian. The repertoire spans from J. S. Bach through Haydn and Mozart to Bruckner and Brahms and ends with the conclusion of the oratorio "The Book with Seven Seals". Here, two of the most powerful instruments meet, not in conflict, but complementing each other to create a sound experience of exceptional quality. Three centuries come to life in the great Basilica of St. Florian, radiating their brilliance within the unique acoustics of this exalted church. Clemens Horak, Manuel Huber and Wolfgang Vladar, all members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, complement the outstanding duo Groissbock/Giesen as instrumentalists.

Festival organ, grand organ, monumental organ - when it comes to talk in Klosterneuburg about Johann Freundt's masterpiece from 1642, people almost exclusively use these superlatives. As the musical jewel of the Augustinian Canons' monastery Klosterneuburg, it radiates far beyond the borders of Austria and is an important tourist attraction for organ enthusiasts in Central Europe. If intending to portray such a magnificent instrument as the festival organ in the context of a CD, one soon has to deal with the phenomenon of being "spoilt for choice". If you look at the European repertoire for organ from around 1642, you quickly realize that much of it can be performed very well on Johann Freundt's Great Organ. Even if you look a few decades or centuries further back, you will still discover pieces in the organ literature that harmonize wonderfully with the festival organ. This portrait CD is intended to give a small insight into the great variety and possibilities of the organ and also demonstrate it's modernity. After all, it is up to us whether an instrument is considered modern or not. In the opinion of the author of these lines, this organ can be played much more authentically than many a new organ, on which, in today's opinion, "anything can be played". Johannes Zeinler

Sensual - that's undoubtedly the word that best describes the music on this album dedicated to the early works of Josquin des Prez. In his early thirties, the composer was already developing a unique sense of sound and language. He knew how to make rhythms resonate, rendering them sometimes enveloping, sometimes liberating. His melodies are full of life - sometimes gentle, sometimes sinuous - and his duets seem to be made of glances exchanged between voices. Josquin composes with great finesse, playing on the contrasts between the intimate and the radiant. As in the art of his time, even when he addresses religious subjects, his music retains a sensual beauty, full of emotion and humanity.

Recognizing the centenary of the Anglo-Irish composer Charles Villiers Stanford's death, this new album from The Sixteen includes a number of premiere recordings of his Irish Folksongs and Partsongs.

Stanford is celebrated both nationally and internationally as a composer of great diversity. He composed a substantial number of concert works, including seven symphonies, but he is best-remembered for his choral works. Stanford's writing for voices is exquisite and his imaginative storytelling is ever-present in his Irish Folksongs where he captures everything from fiery revenge to passionate love with equal effectiveness.

Stanford's dedication to the poetry of Mary Elizabeth Coleridge also stands out-he was drawn to the lyricism of her poetry and the imagery she conjures up-something that is clearly heard in his Opus 127 settings. Much of her poetry is marked by a sense of loss and change, nowhere better portrayed than in The Guest with its unsettling narrative.

The applause continues, even some cheers can be heard: definitely get out again, take a grateful bow! And present some more? Something full of verve and vigor to increase the enthusiasm even more? Or would you prefer something calm and soothing for the soul? - Although encores have certainly not been at the heart of musical performances, they are most often an integral part during the conception stage of a concert evening's program. As sort of an encore to his lifetime's achievements, Robert Wolf, who was principal flute player of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra for almost 40 years, and his daughter Agnes Wolf, piano, pay tribute to the wide range of encore pieces from his many years of concert activity on the present CD "ENCORE". In addition to original works by W.A. Mozart, M. Blavet, C. Debussy, M. Ravel and J.S. Bach, there are also arrangements of well-known pieces by C.W. Gluck, F. Schubert, D. Shostakovich, G. Faure and J. Lanner, among others.

Harry Christophers has been at the forefront of choral music for the last 45 years and this album, in celebration of his 70th birthday, demonstrates the breadth of his musical passions and the wealth of repertoire he has recorded over the years. Featuring 39 tracks hand-picked by the conductor, the works on this collection document Harry Christophers' life in music-from his early years as a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral, through his time at Magdalen College, Oxford, and subsequent founding of The Sixteen, to more recent years as Artistic Director of America's renowned Handel and Haydn Society. This collection charts his discovery as a boy of Purcell and Poulenc to his enduring love for the music of Victoria and Handel and his celebrated partnership with James MacMillan. Each track holds special significance and the stories behind the choices are documented in notes especially written by Harry Christophers for this album.

J.S. Bach: Cello Suites

The cellist Roger Morelló has intercalated three sarabands from the Suites for Cello Solo by Johann Sebastian Bach. The first is the one included in the Suite No. 1, whose prelude served as primary material for the work by Marc Migó. The second saraband that appears is the one from the Suite No. 2, which is in the key of D minor, and the third is the E flat major saraband. Along with these pieces, we encounter the Suite for Cello Solo by Gaspar Cassadó – a renowned Casals pupil and one of the most legendary violoncellists of the twentieth century as well as a composer. Along with this piece, Morelló has added his cello arrangement of an original work for viola da gamba from Les voix humaines by Marin Marais, which is the piece that lends this album its title. Side by side with these historical references that have become timeless, Roger Morelló includes two contemporary works. One of them is formed by the Variations on the name of Casals by Marc Migó, a work commissioned by Morelló himself, to whom it is also dedicated. The other contemporary composition that Morelló wanted to include on this album is a work that he commissioned from Elisenda Fábregas, who in turn dedicated it to him. It has Catalan dances as its title and consists of four dances.

We're worried by it, stressed out from it, frightened of it - and yet we're fascinated by it. Chaos has always been perceived as a threat, but also as the foundation of life. Various creation stories explain how the world arose out of disorder, out of "mayhem". In like manner, it is anarchic spirits in particular that are credited with the ability to create masterpieces of creative art. This conception was perhaps most neatly expressed by Friedrich Nietzsche: "You must have chaos within you, if you are to give birth to a dancing star." The present album is made up of works which, if you like, harbour the sound of chaos. Originally written for a wide variety of instruments, these pieces are arranged here for string quartet and are connected by improvised interludes - linking passages for which the Hungarian composer Samu Gryllus has provided the basis. The Chaos String Quartet emerged from the iconic violist joke: "Well-established, world-famous string quartet looking for a new first violin, second violin... and cellist." That's exactly how it happened. On Cornwall's rugged coast, during a Prussia Cove masterclass, after an illuminating lesson, a sight-reading session, and a candlelit dinner, Sara invited Susanne to form a quartet. After that first conversation, it took some time to find two other brave musicians, both beyond their mid-twenties, who were willing to embark on the exciting, sometimes complex, and risky adventure that is a string quartet. Fortunately, Eszter and Bas joined soon after, with great enthusiasm. As usual, naming proved a challenge. Some suggested using the first violinist's surname; others, a Greek god. A few warned, "Don't start with A - there are too many." Then came a provocative idea: why not call it Chaos? Furthermore, the quartet enjoys inspiring the next generation, sharing it's experience as Young Artists in Residence at Vienna's University of Music and Performing Arts, cheekily sparking a little chaos among the artists of tomorrow. Their recognition as BBC New Generation Artists (2023-2025) and regular appearances at venues like Wigmore Hall, Musikverein, and Concertgebouw illuminate a journey where unpredictability becomes inspiration-reminding us that from the origins of chaos can emerge music of unique order and profound beauty.

Bachkantaten - broken eyes

Sonatas is an album of great contemporary works for soprano and alto saxophones, with piano accompaniment and solo.

Louise Farrenc has emerged in the last decade as a major figure among French composers of the early-Romantic era, whose neglect in previous eras can only be understood in the context of her gender, revealed in both live performances and studio recordings.

Robert Schumann lavished praise on Farrenc’s early published work, and it is easy to hear why from these two piano trios and Cello Sonata, all of which belong to the mainstream of lyrical Romanticism in its early flowering.

The pianist Linda di Carlo has already been the constant presence in two previous albums of Farrenc’s chamber music on Brilliant Classics, and she brings a deep understanding and experience of the idiom to these new recordings.

Music of Johann Sebastian Bach was always fundamental for Aliya Turetayeva. From the first listening of his Mass in B minor in her childhood, his music has accompanied her through her life. Almost every day she starts with the music of Bach in order to be "well-tuned" throughout the day. She always felt connected with eternity through his music and shared many happy and tragic moments during the years listening to his output. Bach's music was always a symbol of faith for the artist - many times in life his music gave Aliya Turetayeva strength to live further and not to give up; it will remain to be a symbol of faith for her, to be her Credo. Aliya Turetayeva was born in 1986 in Almaty, Kazakhstan and received her first piano lesson at the age of five. Aliya moved to Cologne, Germany to continue her studies at the Hochschule fur Musik und Tanz Koln as a student of Professor Pavel Gililov. She was awarded her Masters degree in 2010. As well as her work as a soloist, Aliya Turetayeva is a dedicated chamber musician. She recorded chamber music works by G. Crumb and A. Schnittke for WDR Radio Cologne. She also completed 2013 her postgraduate studies at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg under the tutelage of Professor Gililov with the highest mark.

Argentine violinist Tomás Cotik now resides in the U.S. He is a professor of violin at Portland State University. Here, he performs his own arrangements for violin of the J.S. Bach Six Cello Suites. This is, of course, some of the greatest of all of the solo cello literature, beautifully arranged for and performed on violin.

A Thousand Charms invites listeners into two centuries of English song, from Campion's intimate ayres to Purcell's theatrical masterpieces and Handel's deeply expressive arias. The programme traces how solo song evolved from lute-inspired simplicity to richly ornamented drama, blending poetry with music of striking clarity and depth. Grace Davidson's pure, agile voice and Julian Perkins's sensitive harpsichord accompaniment bring freshness and immediacy to this repertoire, emphasising it's refinement, inventiveness and humanity. For anyone drawn to the beauty of early music, this recording offers an engaging journey through some of it's most timeless works.

Head Space: Candlelight is the first EP in The King's Singers' Head Space series, aiming to connect choral music with calmness and reflection. Inspired by compline, the Catholic night service, it features plainchant, including "In manus tuas Domine" and "Salva nos Domine vigilantes," emphasizing breath-led pacing. The album also includes wordless Orlando Gibbons "Songs," contemporary pieces by Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Judith Bingham, and Arvo Part, and the experimental "4'33" by John Cage, concluding with Robert Parsons' "Ave Maria" and Edvard Grieg's "Ave Maris Stella," all designed to create a contemplative atmosphere.

The Art of Fugue emerges as the central instrumental project of the last decade of Bach’s life, after a gradual development over several years: the exploration in depth and with an overflowing musical imagination of the contrapuntal possibilities inherent in a single musical subject. In this work, the theoretical component of Bach’s thinking is at its clearest: theory and practice merge, old and new stylistic elements and compositional techniques are integrated and demonstrate in an incomparable way his individual approach to composition.

Since Bach gave no indication of the instrument, nor does his writing shed any further light on the subject, one might even wonder whether this work is a purely theoretical work, intended solely for musical analysis. However, since the composer’s rediscovery in the nineteenth century, musicians have appropriated the work, whatever their instrument. It is now generally accepted that the work was composed for the keyboard. A second harpsichord part is added for three fugues, played here by Masato Suzuki.

After several acclaimed recordings of Bach’s works for keyboard instruments, Masaaki Suzuki finally takes on this immense work, the pinnacle of the cantor’s art and one of the absolute peaks of Western music.

REVIEW:

Although Masaaki Suzuki’s solo harpsichord Bach recordings span several decades, his technical and musical consistency seems to defy time, as borne out in The Art of Fugue. He continues to use a Willem Kroesbergen harpsichord modeled after a Flemish Baroque-style instrument, whose transparent timbres befit the vocal orientation governing his phrasing. For example, his tempos never move faster nor slower than one can comfortably sing. As a result, the contrapuntal lines accommodate Suzuki’s breath pauses, arpeggiations, agogic adjustments, and ritards at cadences.

In lieu of Bach’s completion, Suzuki follows the tradition of placing Bach’s valedictory chorale prelude Wenn wir in höchstein Nöten sein at the end. All in all, a fine Art of Fugue that complements my harpsichord reference versions. BIS’s superb sonics and Bach scholar Christoph Wolff’s in-depth annotations also deserve kudos.

-- ClassicsToday.com (Jed Distler)

Sir Arthur Bliss contributed two staples of the brass band repertoire - Kenilworth and The Belmont Variations, whose enduring success inspired arrangers to turn to his other compositions, for example Eric Ball and Four Dances from the ballet Checkmate or Phillip Littlemore's suite from the film score for Things to Come. Three new arrangements have been made especially for this album: Robert Childs' suite from the ballet Adam Zero, and Michael Halstenson's arrangements of Music from the Royal Palaces and Welcome the Queen. Collectively this program reflects the essence of Bliss's compositional style: the inherent drama of his scores for film, ballet, and television and his flair for the ceremonial, especially in the context of his position as Master of the Queen's Music.

Black Dyke Band, tracing it's continuous history back to 1855, is the most recorded band in the world, having produced a discography of more than 350 recordings to date. It is also the most successful contesting band in the world, having won the European Championships thirteen times, the British Open thirty times and the National Championships of Great Britain twenty-four times. In 2023, they appointed conductor John Wilson as their Honorary President.

REVIEW:

The ensemble balance is superb, the internal voicing clear and detailed, the execution punchy, delicate, breezily confident and heartfelt by turn. This is a wonderful album in every way, highly recommended.

— Gramophone

The program is well put together and demonstrates the essence of Bliss’s style.

— British Music Society Journal

There are several sets of pieces that Bach collated (also) with his lessons in mind, amongst them the 'Orgelbuchlein', the 'Little Organ Book', which he started whilst working in Weimar in 1708, and the so-called 'Inventions and Sinfonias', composed in the 1720s in Cothen for his son Wilhelm Friedemann and for "lovers of the clavier, and particularly those who desire to learn". He worked on the 'Orgelbuchlein' over many years, adding to it and making changes, presumably adapting to his student's needs. His inscription on the title page proclaims in a rhyming couplet that his compositions were "in praise for the Almighty's will, and for my neighbour's greater skill". In the context of this programme two choral preludes and two 'Sinfonias' are used as "warm-ups", or preludes for five imagined lessons, functioning as the binding of the student's portfolio.

The Piatti Quartet and Emmanuel Despax join forces to present an album of works by Farrenc, Schumann and Durosoir. Louise Farrenc arranged her own brilliantly dramatic Wind Sextet and Piano, for Piano Quintet and this arrangement is a World Premiere Recording on this release. They've chosen to include three of Lucien Durosoir's most touching and beautiful pieces, one for violin and piano, and two for cello and piano. "We are very proud to present this album which has been a dream of ours to record for some time" - The Piatti Quartet.

L'Orfeo Barockorchester and it's director Michi Gaigg have created an impressive discography through their close collaboration with cpo. Their repertoire spans from Baroque and Classical instrumental works to Schubert's symphonies and includes rarely performed compositions by Telemann and Haydn's delightful Incontro improvviso. New to the cpo catalog is their exploration of Johann Sebastian Bach by this refined, spirited ensemble. Seven sacred solo cantatas form the program, featuring two proven specialists in early music who sing the vocal part: Dutch bass-baritone Peter Kooij, awarded the Leipzig Bach Medal in 2016, and Austrian alto Margot Oitzinger compellingly demonstrate how people in the time of the great Thomaskantor strove to guide Christians on the right path.

Five of the best brass players in the world united in a chamber music ensemble: The Reinhold Friedrich Brass Quintett was founded in 2022 and presents here its first CD, UNITY.

For this brass quintet's lifelong dream, world-renowned trumpeter Reinhold Friedrich has brought together the best players in their respective fields, musicians who not only get along extremely well with one another in a musical sense but also on a personal level. In their playing, one can feel their mutual appreciation and their joy in making music together, and, coupled with their unique technical and musical skills, as well as their chamber music experience, this enables the musicians to merge into a single unit.

The players that form this top-class quintet come together from a variety of European countries: Jeroen Berwaerts hails from Belgium and as a former principal trumpeter of the NDR Symphony Orchestra is a much-sought-after soloist who now teaches at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media. The Dane, Lasse Mauritzen, who was knighted to the Order of Dannebrog by Queen Margarethe II, is first principal horn of the Copenhagen-based Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra (DRSO). Although Ian Bousfield is British, he now lives in Switzerland and is accustomed to performing around the world as a former principal trombonist with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as being a soloist and a conductor. Fundamental to the quintet is the Norwegian Thomas Røisland, who now lives in Sweden and is principal tuba in the DRSO, as well as playing in other renowned European orchestras.These five musicians are united by their desire to set new standards in brass chamber music for their audiences and to present premiere recordings and commission arrangements of classics that have not yet been recorded at a world-class level.

The album "Inner Spaces" is the third album of the Istanbul-born pianist Serra Tavsanli. With great certainty one can claim that it is her most personal album. With the works by Johann Sebastian Bach recorded here, she not only presents a masterful interpretation on a modern grand piano, but also connects the music with her own history and origins. In doing so, she reveals her innermost self and provides insight into very personal spaces of thought.

Based on the initials B A C H, Serra Tavsanli has selected the pieces that match the key. Even more, because in the album's booklet she writes: "Pieces that for me stand for different concepts that make up being human and play a role in all traditions and religions. B (Partita in B flat major) symbolizes faith; A (Partita in A minor) stands for hope. C (Toccata in C minor) represents love. B (French Overture in B minor) symbolizes our present. With this selection, the pianist takes her audience directly into her emotional worlds, into her "Inner Spaces".

Serra Tavsanli has ventured deeply into the world of Bach and is completely absorbed in it while playing. In a certain way, she also intentionally makes herself vulnerable. Her playing is narrative, it opens up associative spaces and is at the same time effortless, yet completely uncompromising. In the booklet she writes: "I was suddenly there, where everything succeeds, where it is safe and free. A place that is accessible to everyone, and where origin, religion, skin color or gender no longer play a role. A place where we are not alone." Serra Tavsanli decided to share her insights and experiences, which made her become an exceptional pianist, with her audience. At concerts, she likes to recite texts that she wrote in collaboration with cultural manager and Bach specialist Folkert Uhde to give the works even more context, but also to bring them into our time.

"As an artist, I want to open this place to everyone, to share with anyone and everyone the experience that fear becomes strength, that paralysis becomes strength. A place of hope, of freedom, of doing well. A place where no one is excluded," Serra Tavsanli describes her concern. With this recording, she will certainly succeed in this.

Gluck's Orphee et Euridice is a masterpiece of the operatic canon, inspired by one of the most mysterious and cruel stories in Greek mythology. The gods allow Orpheus to descend into the underworld to revive his beloved wife Eurydice, but on condition that he must not look at her while returning. This production from Florence re-imagines this myth as a story for our times. It explores each character anew, highlighting the music and text as a more sophisticated psychological thriller than previously imagined, creating a moving and transformative narrative with which we can all identify.

I have devoted this most recent recording to dance. The pieces that I perform here are all linked to the art of dance from different eras and different cultures. Throughout history and in most people's perception, dance has always been a source of entertainment and joy, but it can also represent more sombre occasions, with pomp and grandeur. The Chaconne, for example, has become both tragic and sublime over time and today it's rhythm has mellowed! Chopin's Mazurkas can be rustic and folkloric, haunting or lyrical, even dramatic. In short, dance can express diametric opposites and unite those opposites at the same time. That's why I also want to pay homage to Shiva's dance, for this god, the symbol of destruction, illusion and ignorance, destroys in order to awaken human beings and lead them to create a new world. Shiva's divine dance, Tandava Nritya, is regarded by Hinduism as the origin of the cycle of creation, preservation and devastation. Vagharshapat Dance is based upon a melody from 'Yerangi' found in "Six Dances for Piano" (1906) by the legendary Armenian composer Komitas (1869?935). Vagharshapat is the location of Etchmiadzin Cathedral and the fourth largest city in Armenia located 11 miles west of Yerevan. My recording ends with Khachaturian's "Sabre Dance", in an arrangement of my own. The duality of this piece's character is obvious, as while the sabers suggest the idea of death, the dance becomes a 'living dance? one that enchants us or, a dance that comes alive. I hope that the current times of wars, destruction and social upheaval will soon be replaced by peace and the joy that comes with it, and I hope that this recording brings a form of respite and quietude and with it lightness, joy and happiness. Vardan Mamikonian "Vardan Mamikonian demonstrates a technique that combines power and poetry... and flashes of interpretive genius." New York Times Vardan Mamikonian has come to the attention of the international press and public thanks to his prestigious technique and extraordinary musicality. He has performed in the United States with such renowned orchestras as the Atlanta, San Francisco, Detroit, Pacific, Houston and National Symphonies, as well as with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. He is a guest at major international festivals such as Verbier and St. Moritz in Switzerland, Ravinia in the USA, La Roque d'Antheron in France, the Schleswig Holstein Musikfestival in Germany, and the Hong Kong Arts Festival. He gives recitals in some of the world's most prestigious music venues: Musikverein Vienna, Carnegie Hall New York, Theatre des Champs-elysees Paris, Herkulessaal Munich, Wigmore Hall London, Tonhalle Zurich, Davies Symphony Hall San Francisco and Kennedy Center Washington, to name but a few. Born in Yerevan, Armenia, into a family of musicians, Vardan Mamikonian began studying piano at the Spendiarian School of Music in his hometown, under Arkui Haroutunian. He continued his studies at the Moscow Central Music School and the prestigious Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow with Valery Kastelsky, one of the last proteges of the legendary Heinrich Neuhaus. He then went on to perfect his skills at the Piano Academy in Imola, Italy, under the guidance of Lazar Berman. In 1991, Vardan moved to Paris, and in 1992, he won the World Music Masters Competition in Monte Carlo, reserved exclusively for winners of international competitions. Vardan Mamikonian has taken part in numerous recordings for radio and television, as well as for the German label Orfeo. Several of his recordings have been praised by the international press.

From the mid-1790s to the early 1820s Johann Simon Mayr wrote just under 70 operas, a good number of which went on to triumph across Europe. Set in the Spanish city of Zamora, and described as a comico-heroic melodrama, Amor non ha ritegno ('Love Knows No Bounds') was admired for it's exquisite music, exemplifying the early Romantic style that was evolving circa 1800. This is an opera filled with bizarre happenings and a range of seria and buffa characters, from the sublimely inconsolable heroine, Donna Luigia, to her ridiculous suitors, proving as hugely entertaining today as it did over two centuries ago.

In Johann Sebastian Bach's six organ sonatas, three independent voices sound interchangeably. The right hand plays the highest voice, the left hand the middle voice and the feet the bass. A true musician wants to play each voice as if for the first time, responding spontaneously to what the others bring up. To bring such a sung conversation to life with hands and feet, he listens with equal attention and love to all the voices simultaneously. It is a miracle that it can be done. When it succeeds, it all seems simple and natural. A world opens up to the listener, in which it is hardly imaginable that there is anything more beautiful than a trio sonata by Bach.

The celebrated Swedish mezzo-soprano Ann Hallenberg is a two-time winner of the 'Best Operatic Recital' Award at the International Opera Awards, while Ian Page's previous Gluck recording with The Mozartists ('Blessed Spirit - a Gluck retrospective') was selected by Gramophone magazine among the top 10 Gluck recordings of all time. Following previous partnerships in the opera house and the concert hall, Hallenberg and Page are now collaborating in the recording studio for the first time on a new recital disc of Gluck arias. The backbone of the programme is provided by three arias from Il trionfo di Clelia (Bologna, 1763) that were written for the renowned castrato Giovanni Manzuoli (1720-1782) - one of the greatest singers of his day - and the album also includes previously unrecorded arias from Ipermestra (Venice, 1744 and Le nozze d'Ercole e d'Ebe (Dresden, 1747). Also featured is Gluck's revised version of the exquisite "Che puro ciel" from Orfeo ed Euridice (written for Parma in 1769), and the popular "O del mio dolce ardor" from the last of the composer's three so-called 'reform' operas, Paride ed Elena. "In an age where so much music of the past is being explored and made available, Gluck nevertheless remains one of the most neglected and undervalued of the great composers, a name that continues to crop up more often in textbooks than in opera houses or concert halls. We very much hope that you will find this music to be of far more than merely historical interest, and that you enjoy listening to this recording." - Ian Page

Johann Sebastian Bach's stature as a composer of extraordinary talent and widespread influence is so firmly established in Western culture that it is difficult to believe that only 150 years ago his works lay in veritable obscurity, unknown to all but a small group of scholars. It is largely thanks to ohn, who essentially effected a revival of the composer's music through his rediscovery and promulgation of the St Matthew Passion, besides other pieces, that his works are today regarded as pinnacles of music expression. That they are among the most performed and widely attended is in no doubt; in Holland alone, thousands of singers and musicians are involved in dozens of performances of the St Matthew Passion in Holy Week, with hundreds of thousands listening in churches and concert halls, or gathered around the radio, to what has been described as 'the Gospel according to Bach'. Bringing together all of his works, this dynamic 142-CD set offers a resounding impression of this great spirit of our Western culture, presenting dynamic performances - many period-based, many acclaimed by the international press - that are divided according to genre, thus making for a highly user-friendly compendium. The set draws on all periods of his career, tracing the development of a style that was much influenced by contemporary and past fashions but which was always adapted to Bach's own purpose, often far surpassing the models on which he drew. The German composer travelled a great deal from city to city, and the different circumstances of his various positions are reflected in the great range of works comprising his output: while his early years are dominated by much keyboard music, on account of the numerous organist posts he held during this period, later positions at various courts accorded him more personal and artistic freedom - in Cothen, for example, Prince Leopold's passion for music-making and his renowned resident orchestra resulted in a string of unforgettable works including the Brandenburg Concertos, the Solo Cello Suites and the Well-Tempered Clavier Part 1, beside many others. Bach was a master of all genres, whether sacred, secular, instrumental or vocal, and his oeuvre is a rich mixture of severe Baroque craftsmanship and expressive Romanticism. Thomas Zehetmair, Kristof Barati, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Rene Jacobs, Peter Schreier and Lucia Popp are just a handful of the first-class performers and ensembles gracing this set. At the bargain price of €100, it is a collection not to be passed up. Other information: - 142 CDs representing the entirety of Johann Sebastian Bach's oeuvre in historically informed performances. This includes all 200 sacred cantatas recorded for Brilliant Classics on period instruments and sung by the Holland Boys Choir. - For reasons of completeness, pure musical enjoyment, scholarly research, attractive, spacesaving design and price, you cannot afford to be without Brilliant Classics' Complete Bach Edition. - Extensive liner notes, sungs texts and complete tracklisting with performers available for download, by clicking on 'Download booklet' below the cover.