Classical Music

Classical Music

Many questions persist surrounding J. S. Bach’s Mass in B minor, one of the master’s most frequently performed vocal works, enigmas and problems that musicologists and performers continue to research or grapple with, including early performance, textual and revision issues. The present new live 2015 recording by the combined forces of the Gächinger Kantorei, Freiburger Barockorchester, conductor Hans-Christoph Rademann and vocal soloists rigorously follows – in the Kyrie and Gloria – Bach’s own meticulously configured “Dresdner Stimmen” [Dresden parts] and is therefore based, for the first time, exclusively on the musical text that emanated from Bach’s pen. Additional movements with marked deviations from the familiar version are accessible as variants as bonus material on Disc Two. Renowned Bach and Mozart scholar Ulrich Leisinger, upon whose new edition of the work this recording is based, also prepared the notes in the accompanying booklet. The Deluxe version also contains a bonus DVD with additional material: Film: Bach’s Secret Legacy – Hans-Christoph Rademann in search of the true B-minor Mass. Also: Bach’s Manuscript: The “Dresden Parts“ of 1733 in PDF format.

ESSENTIAL: PRICE

IN MY HEART: 17TH & 18TH ITALI

PODLES AND OHLSSON LIVE

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

THE CARMEN PROJECT

This seems to me an unusually successful example of a crossover CD, with Denyce Graves applying the sultry mezzo of a Carmen to songs that demand precisely that Latin heat and passion. Piazzolla is the starting point of the collection, in the shape of the heroine’s sensual song from María de Buenos Aires; but the tone for the CD is set by its arranger, Pablo Ziegler. One of Piazzolla’s most faithful disciples, Ziegler is responsible also for the arrangements of songs by another leading 20th-century Argentinian composer, Carlos Guastavino. Though a veteran of the Buenos Aires jazz scene, Ziegler is classically trained, and it is classical textures that are the most striking feature of his instrumentally varied arrangements for four or five musicians.

Perhaps the jazziest number in the whole collection is Villa-Lobos’s Estrella é lua nóva, arranged by the composer’s New York-based fellow Brazilian Eliane Elias. She uses a trio comprising piano, acoustic bass and percussion. For performances of their own works by two Cuban musicians, José María Vitier has a quintet, while Chucho Valdés simply accompanies at the piano.

The original challenge was to synthesise classic, jazz and Latin music, to present graceful melodies in uncluttered arrangements. This has been achieved extraordinarily successfully. Nothing conspires to destroy the atmosphere of relaxed sensuality and eroticism that pervades the whole collection. Piazzolla’s Milonga sin Palabras, performed as a wordless vocalise with piano, bandoneon, bass and flute, is perhaps the most haunting item in an altogether beguiling collection.

-- Andrew Lamb, Gramophone

Classical Music

From its 1742 premiere, Handel's oratorio "Messiah" has continued to be an audience favorite and for many, the initial portal into the world of Classical choral music. Portraying the life of the "anointed one" (the literal meaning of the Hebrew word 'Messiah'), from the Annunciation and his birth to his death on the cross and revelation, and including the famous 'Hallelujah Chorus.' , “Messiah” continues to draw rapturous reception when performed live. Featuring vocalists Julia Doyle, Lawrence Zazzo, Steve Davislim and Neal Davies performing in the original English-language version, along with the Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks under the direction of Peter Dijkstra, and accompanied by the whimsically named B'Rock, the Belgian Baroque Orchestra Ghent, working from the original and historically informed scoring, this live recording manages to add to the canon of the “Messiah”.

RUSSIAN DUETS

Classical Music

Includes work(s) by various composers.

Classical Music

Recordings from 1968-1982.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Includes work(s) by Anonymous. Ensemble: Sequentia. Conductor: Benjamin Bagby. Soloists: Benjamin Bagby, Stephen Grant, Paul Guttry, William Hite, Frank Kelley, Eric Mentzel, Sanford Sylvan, Barbara Thornton, Elizabeth Gaver.

Classical Music