On the occasion of it's 40th anniversary Carus has initiated a new series Carus Classics, featuring ten outstanding CD productions from the past library of recordings. This exclusive collection, designed by Friedrich Forssman and Cornelia Feyll, is presented in high-quality DigiPacs and each CD includes an extensive booklet. '... exemplary recording.' (New Classics, September 2005)

IN LOVE JULIA MIGENES JOHNSON

Classical Music

Classical Music

V2: TEAR HEAVEN

3 Tenors of the Golden Age

Sounds of Brazil & Argentina

Ex oriente lux - the musical light from Eastern Europe shines in a calm yet incredibly powerful way. Traditional a capella choral music here has gone its own way for centuries and has not been directly dependent on the development of secular music. Especially striking is the renunciation of the elements of leading-tone tension and cadential harmony so characteristic of Western major-minor tonality. Historical developments have not passed Eastern European church music by without a trace, of course - many innovations, strongly modified, have been adapted to the liturgically influenced context by well-known composers such as Sergei Rachmaninoff, Arvo Pärt and Krzysztof Penderecki. From this process, very attractive choral works have seen the light of day, especially in recent years, from which several have been impressively realised here from the standpoint of sound quality. Following pioneering releases such as the first complete recording of Hugo Distler's Mörike Choral Song Book, the Carmina Mundi Chamber Choir continues to set new standards of excellence in choral music production with this recording.

Volume 11 of the Carus recording project documenting Heinrich Sch�tz's complete works presents the composer's Matth�uspassion SWV 479 (St. Matthew Passion). Sch�tz, who lived well into his eighties, wrote this magnificent edifice in his last decade of life. A compellingly austere work not yet full-throated in it's overt emotionalism, it is supplemented with additional pieces for Passiontide, including the Litania SWV 458. Under the direction of Hans-Christoph Rademann, the Dresdner Kammerchor performs together with soloists Georg Poplutz (as Evangelist) and Felix Rumpf (as Jesus)

English Renaissance

Classical Music

Classical Music

The twelfth part of the acclaimed complete recording of works by Heinrich Sch�tz contains the Symphoniae sacrae III. With this recording, the Dresdner Kammerchor under Hans-Christoph Rademann, supported by well-known soloists, has devoted itself to one of the pinnacles of German early Baroque music. No lesser person than Johannes Brahms presented "Saul, was verfolgst du mich?" to the discerning 19th century Viennese public, causing an outright musical sensation and impressively substantiating the modernity of Heinrich Sch�tz's oeuvre. Even today the Symphoniae sacrae III continue to remain a legacy whose music, with it's abundance of musical ideas, tonal splendor, intricacy and sensuality, has the power to overwhelm, stir up emotions, cause reflection, astonish and comfort.

In the early 1960s, Wergo launched a series that would become legendary in the history of contemporary music recordings. Studio Reihe Neuer Musik featured some of the most significant and cutting-edge compositions of the modern era. These highlights of 20th-century music history have lost nothing of their topicality or liveliness. Many of the recordings in the series have never been released on CD and some have been unavailable in any form for many years. This release, featuring Arnold Schoenberg's sprechstimme monodrama Erwartung, is possibly the most famous Studio Reihe title. Soprano Helga Pilarczyk is accompanied by the great conductor Hermann Scherchen in a riveting performance of one of the most important and influential works of the 20th century.

}Gramophone (1/97, p. 98) "...[Jane Eaglen's] is clearly a rare and splendid voice with exceptional resources of power and a tone-quality which blooms most fully in that area where such refulgence is most needed..."{

Selections recorded at Air Studios, London, England in July 1997, and at EMI Abbey Road Studios, London, England on August 31 and November 23, 1997.
Operatic baritones often wind up playing villains and incidental characters--the tenor's companion, the guy who gets bumped out of the love triangle at the end, the ones who stand by and sing through the ensembles that make the plot work out for other people--but at times there's relief. Bo Skovhus has selected nine good-guy baritone characters. They may not be the leading men, but they're not the bad guys either.
Skovhus' way with this music is entirely winning. As in his lieder recitals for Sony, he is in gloriously rich voice, bringing a warm tone and an apt interpretation to each piece. The romantic rapture of Korngold's "Mein Sehnen, mein Wähnen" sounds as easy to him as the put-on jollity of the drinking song from 'Hamlet.' The selections in this recital run the gamut of situations in four languages, and Skovhus shows himself to be completely at home in all. James Conlon and the English National Opera Orchestra provide ample support for this talented young singer.

The music of the Court of Dresden is of special interest to Hans-Christoph Rademann and his two Dresden ensembles, the Kammerchor and the Barockorchester. Johann David Heinichen's Masses Nos.11&12 are presented in a manner in which the musicians can display the entire majestic sound of this festive court music from the baroque era. Mr. Rademann is one of the most sought-after choral conductors and widely acknowledged specialists in choral sound in the world. His concerts and recordings of music from the 17th-18th c., particularly the musical treasures of Saxony, are pioneering.

Bryars: Al suon dell'acque scriva (Madrigals, Vol. 1)

Classical Music

REGES TERRAE • Nordic Voices • CHANDOS 5050 (Hybrid multichannel SACD: 48:52 Text and Translation)


MANCHICOURT Reges terrae. Laudate Dominum. O virgo virginum. Missa Reges terrae: Agnus Dei. MORALES Regina caeli. Exaltata est. CLEMENS NON PAPA O magnum mysterium. GUERRERO Hei mihi Domine. GOMBERT Ego sum qui sum


This collection of 16th-century polyphony is subtitled “Music from the time of Charles V,” but only one of the composers, Gombert, ever worked at the imperial chapel. His motet was recorded recently by Philip Cave (24:1). But all of them moved in the orbit of Spain and the Low Countries that constituted the emperor’s stamping ground. Manchicourt is the central person here, his selections distributed throughout the program. Two of his motets were included in Paul van Nevel’s disc (21:1), and the third was on Edith Ho’s second disc (30:3), but his Missa Reges terrae has not been recorded complete. Guerrero’s motet was included in a program by James O’Donnell (21:3). The two motets by Morales are not common, for while Exaltata est was made by Wolfgang Schäfer (13:3), the Regina caeli is not the same as a setting made by James O’Donnell (17:3). A real find is Clemens non Papa’s motet, which also seems to be a first recording, sadly overlooked until now.


The ensemble of six mixed voices was formed in Norway a decade ago. They give strong interpretations of the music. The moods are varied and the group is involved throughout. There were two sessions two years apart, with a change of mezzos in the process, but the credits are detailed and the ensemble is pictured once with each mezzo. While we hear so many discs from the provinces focused on local repertoire, this is a refreshing example of Norwegians singing repertoire from another part of Europe. It arouses curiosity about their next program.


FANFARE: J. F. Weber
This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

Classical Music

Hardly any other contemporary composer has succeeded in returning sacred music to such a firm position in the awareness of a larger audience, even outside the realm of religious services, as has Arvo Pärt from Estonia. To commemorate Arvo Pärt’s 80th birthday in the autumn of 2015, the Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks under the direction of Peter Dijsktra is releasing a cross-section of the Estonian composer’s sacred music.

Includes traditional folksong(s) from barbados. Soloists: Willard White, Graeme McNaught.
Includes traditional folksong(s) from jamaica. Soloists: Willard White, Graeme McNaught.
Includes traditional spiritual(s). Soloists: Willard White, Graeme McNaught.

Classical Music

This recording forms part of our ongoing Italian series, fronted by the conductor Gianandrea Noseda. In the series so far, we have examined the music of many prominent Italian composers of the twentieth century, such as Respighi, Wolf-Ferrari, Casella, and Dallapiccola, as well as the great nineteenth-century master, Verdi. Noseda and his Italian forces here turn to the choral works of Goffredo Petrassi, an Italian composer who, despite being a relatively late bloomer, developed into one of Italy’s most significant composers of the mid- to late twentieth century.

In the English-speaking world, his contemporary Luigi Dallapiccola may be better known, but Petrassi was just as highly regarded in his home country. His music, inspired by Stravinsky and Hindemith, is dynamic and colourful, although perhaps emotionally reserved by the standards of his countrymen.

Petrassi’s talents showed themselves early. In 1913, aged nine, he became a chorister in the capital, where his encounter with Renaissance and baroque art and music left a lasting impression, one reflected later in several fine, large-scale choral works in which Petrassi combines polyphony with modern harmonies.

Here we have two such choral pieces: Psalm IX, in two parts, for chorus, string orchestra, brass, percussion, and two pianos, and the premiere recording of a Magnificat for soprano, chorus, and orchestra.

Both are performed by the Orchestra and Chorus, Teatro Regio, Torino under their Music Director, Gianandrea Noseda, for entirely idiomatic interpretations. Since he became an exclusive artist with Chandos in 2002, Noseda has recorded works by Prokofiev, Karlowicz, Dvorák, Smetana, Shostakovich, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Mahler, and Bartók, as well as the Italian series discussed above.

- Chandos

Review quote:

The performances by the forces of Teatro Regio, Turin, are committed and persuasive ... Excellent sound makes this a thoroughly recommendable release and I hope Chandos and Noseda go on to give us more choral Petrassi, such as Coro di morte and the late Orationes Christi.

- Gramophone