Monteverdi’s sacred vocal compositions introduced the expression of powerful and personal emotions to the world of church music. While it took him a number of years to find fulfillment in his work, Monteverdi was a revered composer within his lifetime and his music is regarded as revolutionary, marking the change from the Renaissance style to that of the Baroque. This album includes some of the finest works from Monteverdi’s years as director of music at St Mark’s in Venice, published posthumously in 1650 as the ‘Messa a quattro voci et salmi.’ “Pure- and vintage- Monteverdi, starting with a Dixit Dominus and ending, grandly with a version of Beatus Vir, using material we know from the familiar one. Ideal consort singing.” (The Sunday Times) “As always with The Sixteen, we get superb tuning, balanced ensemble work and a lively pace.” (BBC Music Magazine)

'Music to delight in and to revel in, but also it's incredibly spiritual, it really does get to the heart.'

The story of a Renaissance Duke and the composer who worked for him - and how their volatile relationship would create one of the most revolutionary and beautiful collections of music ever published: The Monteverdi Vespers of 1610.

In this BBC documentary, actor and former chorister Simon Russell Beale invites us into the heart of the Vespers and the world of their creator. From Cremona where Monteverdi was born, via the sumptuous Palace of the Duke of Mantua, to Venice where the Vespers helped the composer to land his dream job. Simon is joined by Harry Christophers and his virtuoso choir 'The Sixteen', together with a hand-picked orchestra of 21 early music specialists. Filmed in the Victorian acoustic marvel of St Augustine’s Church in Kilburn, together they reveal some of the inner workings of the music with its dramatic echo effects and subtle instrumental textures. Performances include thrilling extracts from the Vespers and also some of the poignant secular madrigals that had such an influence on the structure of the work.

MacMILLAN MISERERE. Strathclyde Motets: Data est mihi omnis potestas; Dominus dabit benignitatem; Factus est repente; O Radiant Dawn; Videns Dominus; Lux aeterna; In splendoribus sanctorum; 1 Bendicimus Deum caeli . O bone Jesu. Tenebrae Responsories • Harry Christophers, cond; The Sixteen; 1 Robert Farley (tpt) • CORO 16096 (79:39)


MacMILLAN And Lo, the Angel of the Lord. Strathclyde Motets: Qui meditabitur; O Radiant Dawn; Lux aeterna; Os mutorum; The Canticle of Zechariah; Pascha nostrum immolatus est; Benedicimus Deum caeli. Bring Us, O Lord. Benedictus Deus. Advent Antiphon. Think of How God Loves You. Mass of Blessed John Henry Newman. Tota pulchra es. Who Are These Angels? 1 • Alan Tavener, cond; Cappella Nova; 1 Edinburgh Qrt • LINN CKD 301 (70:00)


Scottish composer James MacMillan (b.1959) has written music for all levels of choirs throughout his career, but since 2004 he has produced a particularly large number of works specifically “designed for a good, amateur church or cathedral choir, or amateur secular choir.” Of course, this refers to an “amateur” choir by British standards. Due to the vastly different choral standards, most of these works would hardly prove easy for a typical American chorus. MacMillan has grouped many of these pieces under the heading Strathclyde Motets , so named because many were written for the choral ensembles at Strathclyde University, under the direction of Alan Tavener. A lifelong devout Roman Catholic, MacMillan was asked in 2005 to accept a post as music director for a small Dominican parish near Glasgow. No doubt his weekly work as a church choir director inspired him to compose a number of these liturgical pieces.


Harry Christophers and The Sixteen need little introduction to fans of early music. However, their devoting an entire disc to music of a living composer is unprecedented, and it comes from Christophers’s belief in MacMillan’s greatness: “In 2001, for the first time in our history, The Sixteen commissioned a new liturgical work; it had always been my intention to do this, but I was intent on ensuring that it would be a composition that survived the test of time. The result was O bone Jesu , and I have no doubt that in this work by James MacMillan we have found that lasting voice.”


I have written before on numerous occasions that I, too, believe MacMillan to be one of the most compelling voices of our time, with a personal musical language that draws deep on a rich musical past to forge an intensely expressive musical present. Though his dazzling orchestral scores have won him great acclaim, what he achieves in these sacred choral works (most intended for liturgical performance) is no less great, and I believe places him in a truly select company of the absolute finest composers in the entire history of the art form.


These two superb choral releases collect most all of MacMillan’s shorter choral offerings from the last decade. There are so many gems here that it’s hard to know where to begin in describing them. Both discs focus on a sampling of motets from the 15 that make up the Strathclyde cycle. (Neither disc presents the cycle complete, nor is every motet covered even between the two discs.) The other items range from the absolutely stunning large-scale Miserere (2009) to the ebullient and unexpectedly dance-like Tota pulchra es, from the simple and heartbreakingly beautiful Think of How God Loves You to the congregational Mass of Blessed John Henry Newman (2010), written for the papal visit to the United Kingdom and the Mass celebrating Newman’s beatification. The most popular of these pieces (though many are quite new) is the glorious O Radiant Dawn (one of the only Strathclyde Motets in English), which has already been taken up by a number of American choirs.


Though several of the Strathclyde Motets overlap between the two discs, that is hardly a reason not to acquire them both. Both discs are excellently performed, though it will not be a huge surprise that The Sixteen have a slight edge, producing the terrific performances for which they have long been known.


FANFARE: Carson Cooman

Three composers from the group which styled itself ‘La Jeune France’ test vocal technique as never before, in music that can be rapturous and visceral, perfumed and mystical, fresh, sensuous, erotic; music that was wholly new and yet recognizably French, a subtle mix of primitive emotion and sophistication overlaid with the élan and self-confidence of a re-born Paris, striding into the second half of the twentieth century.

R E V I E W S:

“This disc is something not far from a revelation ... elaborately sonorous, radiantly glowing ... as usual from this fine group, the performances are immaculately detailed, and, especially in the Messiaen, they have a very un-English sense of the sumptuousness that binds it in to a compelling whole.” THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

Fanfare:
"Formed as a counterpoise to the urbane neo-Classicism and iconoclastic tendencies of Les Six, La Jeune France was a group of French composers who, in the words of Harry Christophers, wished to “restore eternal spiritual values to music.” Its members were André Jolivet, Olivier Messiaen, Jean Yves Daniel-Lesur, and, not represented on this CD, Yves Baudrier. All four were born between 1905 and 1908. The three cycles on this CD were commissioned by Marcel Couraud for his eponymous Ensemble Vocale. Couraud specified that they should be in 12 parts, about 20 minutes in length, and set to texts dealing with love.

Jolivet wrote his own text, compiling it from Egyptian, Hindu, Chinese, and Greek sources. This is a fantastically difficult work—not choral at all, but actually a setting for a “vocal orchestra” consisting of 12 solo voices. Similarly, Messiaen wrote his own texts for the Cinq rechants, basing it (as with the Turangalîla-symphonie and Harawi) in part on the story of Tristan and Isolde, and using Sanskrit and the Quecha language of Peru’s original native tribes. The music is absolutely typical of this composer, and the similarities between the Cinq rechants and the aforementioned Harawi are too numerous to mention here. Daniel-Lesur turned to the Bible and the Song of Songs for his text. At least in this recording, La cantique des cantiques uses a larger group of singers (24) than is used in the Jolivet and in the Messiaen (12). (One wonders why this ensemble is called “The Sixteen”!) At least in the United States, Daniel-Lesur is almost unknown today. (Norman Lebrecht, in his Companion to 20th-Century Music, drops the nugget that Daniel-Lesur “retreated” from the ideals of La Jeune France, and “wagnerized Pelléas” in his only opera Andrea del Sarto.) Of these three works, Messiaen’s is the most distinctive, Jolivet’s the most musically advanced, and Daniel-Lesur’s the most straightforward and conventionally erotic.

The members of The Sixteen sing with such accuracy and control that parts of the Cinq rechants are actually terrifying. (The climax of the middle song may have you worrying that your CD player is malfunctioning.) In terms of technique, there’s nothing lacking from these readings." - Raymond Tuttle, FANFARE

Celebrate Christmas with America's oldest arts organisation, the Handel and Haydn Society, as they explore a fascinating and eclectic selection of festive music from traditional carols using American tunes to Christmas motets by Charles Ives and contemporary American composer, James Bassi. Also included are carols by the 'father of American choral music', Bostonian William Billings, and the captivating and instantly-recognisable Carol of the Bells by Mykola Leontovich.

REVIEWS:

There are some surprising and beautiful arrangements on the Boston-based Handel and Haydn Society’s Joy to the World – An American Christmas, conducted by their English artistic director, Harry Christophers. What Christophers has offered is an overview of the most popular carols sung in America (sometimes presenting them alongside their English counterparts), yielding not only the usual fare of Rutter and Howells, as well as a particularly accomplished performance of Morten Lauridsen’s O magnum mysterium, but some new works including Quem pastores laudavere, a wonderfully creative combination of traditional melodies and barbershop ideas by James Bassi.

-- Gramophone

This is not the brash affair that you might expect from the Christmas-card cover; even the pseudo-Handelian Joy to the World receives the most tasteful performance I’ve ever heard. It contains slightly more familiar material than the [comparable offerings from other labels]...there’s some material that isn’t specifically seasonal or familiar and the presence of Harry Christophers at the helm of the Handel and Haydn Society lends it distinction well above the run of the mill. Good recording and the inclusion of the booklet provide added incentives.

-- Brian Wilson

This Christmas collection consists of 19 numbers, many traditional and familiar. Included are two settings of ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’ and three of ‘In Dulci Jubilo’. The superlative musicianship and the almost perfect blending of voices make this one of the best Christmas recordings I’ve heard. If you like “different” arrangements, there are ‘Joy to the World’ and ‘Angels We Have Heard on High’ with harmonies slightly altered from the usual. If you prefer the traditional, you can hear perfectly sung renditions of ‘It Came upon the Midnight Clear’, ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’, and ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’. Other high points include gorgeous choral sound in Marten Lauridsen’s ‘O Magnum Mysterium’ and James Bassi’s ‘Quem Pastores Laudavere’.

My favorites come near the middle of the program. Harry Christophers, the director, has included two songs new to me: ‘The Shepherd’s Carol’ by Bob Chilcott and Charles Ives’s simply-titled ‘Christmas Carol’. Both are simple, beautiful texts set to lovely music and scrupulously performed. Just these two selections make this recording worth owning. There is also a fine solo on ‘I Wonder as I Wander’, a beautiful diminuendo to end Herbert Howells’s ‘A Spotless Rose’, and at the end as perfect a ‘Carol of the Bells’ as one is likely to hear.

The excellent booklet includes texts and background information on the music and the performers. An excellent addition to one’s Christmas collection!

-- American Record Guide

When the Handel and Haydn Society sing holiday standards, it’s as though carolers stopped by your house—and happened to be top-ofthe-line professionals. Starting with a single pure voice, an a cappella rendition of “I wonder as I wander,” with pristine tone and impeccable intonation, opens the recording. The singers bring a gentle lilt to various settings of “In dulci jubilo” and blend seamlessly in a reverent “O magnum mysterium,” drawing attention to its arresting harmonic shifts. The ensemble also performs an exuberant “Joy to the World,” with florid accompanimental lines and calland-response sections buffeting the familiar melody, as well as a “Carol of the Bells” that highlights the vocalists’ pinpoint precision.

-- NJ.com

Followers of The Sixteen will recognize this Coro title as identical to the choir's 1997 release on Collins (now deleted). Of course, you have to open the package and read the very small print on the back of the liner booklet to find out for sure--just one of several annoying, user-unfriendly design features present on Coro's first batch of discs (including the near-impossible-to-remove "security" tape and the listing of tracks and timings only on the back of the disc box). Fortunately, the music and performances are outstanding, the sound is vibrant, and we're treated to first-rate interpretations of rarely heard repertoire.


Scarlatti's Stabat mater has received several decent recordings--nearly all of which appear on programs with works by other composers--but the rest of this all-Scarlatti disc fills gaps in the catalog that are important more than just for musicological reasons. The Te Deum, the Missa Breve "La Stella", and the lovely hymn setting Iste Confessor are significant works that extend the common view of this composer from essentially a keyboard master to a more detailed and rounded picture that includes a serious facility for choral writing. The Sixteen is in top form--just listen to the last minute or so of the Te Deum--and Scarlatti often surprises with an unusually clever fugal idea or flashy harmonic sequence (again, the ending of the Te Deum). If you have the Collins disc, you won't need to replace it; if you don't, then grab this and enjoy.
--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com

If you own The Sixteen's 20th Century Christmas Collection (on now-defunct Collins), you have most of the works included on this reissue offered by the choir's own Coro label. The difference is that Britten's A Ceremony of Carols (also previously issued on Collins in The Sixteen's Britten series) appears here instead of Peter Maxwell Davies' O magnum mysterium, a move that certainly makes for a more marketable package. If you don't have the original, this program features many of what have become classics of modern Christmas choral repertoire, among them Howells' A spotless rose, Warlock's Balulalow, Britten's A Hymn to the Virgin, Tavener's The Lamb, and Gardner's setting of Tomorrow shall be my dancing day. But Kenneth Leighton's Coventry Carol is a rarely heard masterpiece, as is Warlock's Corpus Christi--and Rubbra's short The Virgin's Cradle Song and Peter Fricker's similarly brief A babe is born are well worth repeated hearings. This Ceremony of Carols is arguably the finest in the catalog (at least among performances with women's voices), and throughout the disc there is consistently top-notch ensemble singing and solo work of the highest order. The sound is identical to the exceptional quality of the initial releases. An essential disc for any choral and Christmas music library. [10/19/2002]--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com

And the mezzo lode continues to run as rich and high-quality as ever, supplying the world with yet another first-rate singer. Of course, Sarah Connolly hasn't exactly come out of nowhere: she's been a member of The Sixteen Choir and has made acclaimed appearances for the past several years in opera roles and concerts throughout the U.S. and Europe. This collaboration with her former Sixteen conductor, Harry Christophers, reveals the impressive maturity and technique of Connolly along with Christophers' solid command of Handelian drama. The repertoire may not be the most common collection of arias (only one is very familiar), but the selection is no less engaging for that; the idea of this recital was to "depict not only the close links between opera and oratorio in Handel's works but also equate the position of hero and heroine." Interesting programming concept aside, what you hear is top-notch Handel singing in some very characterful and artistically challenging pieces.


From Connolly's first notes, "Sta nell' Ircana" from Alcina, we have no doubt about this voice's considerable dramatic capabilities, and we can't help but be impressed with both her range (free of discernible register breaks) and ease of delivery from top to bottom. By the aria's end she's confirmed the power of her lowest register notes and ability to fully embody and project her character. I'm not wild about her "ha-ha-ha-ha-ha" articulation in one of the aria's repeated figures, but since she doesn't exhibit this annoying mannerism anywhere else, I assume it's an intended "effect" (imitating the orchestral figures, perhaps?) and only mention it because it's so striking and uncharacteristic of her singing in general.


Connolly is just as convincing and her voice is as lovely in the slower arias, including "Mi lusingha il dolce affetto" from Alcina (all seven minutes of it!). Her breath control is amazing and she completely enthralls with her attractive, sensible ornaments. And she's lucky to have such a partner in Christophers and his attentive orchestra: listen as he takes Connolly's lead from the intro to Ariodante's tender "Scherza infida" and hands her a perfectly set atmosphere of sorrow and tragic determination. This is the highlight of the CD, Connolly's subtle vocal shading, expressive phrasing, and vibrant tone varying from gently floating to more emphatically projected--the definition of captivating.


Other listeners may cite the following "Dopo notte", a brisk, high-energy aria from the same opera, as the most impressive of Connolly's performances, and it would be hard to argue in light of the singer's command of the reams of rapid runs and wildly leaping lines while maintaining the flow and emotional intensity of this fiendishly difficult seven minutes of music. And then there's the beloved and oft-performed "Verdi prati", which Connolly renders as sensitively and with as sumptuous a tone and smoothly-spun legato as we could hope for. The final "Where shall I fly?" from Hercules is a magnificent display of virtuoso vocalism, although I still prefer Stephanie Blythe's more fluid, richer-voiced rendition--purely a matter of personal taste. And again, much credit must go to Christophers' smart orchestral leadership and to the crisply pointed accents, finely honed rhythms, and warm sound of the Symphony of Harmony and Invention, recorded to the highest modern standard. Some errors in the packaging list several incorrect track timings, but these all indicate that we get less of Connolly when actually we get more--and that's definitely a good thing. [10/11/2004]
--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com

Joseph Haydn's The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour on the Cross is one of the most unusual and remarkable compositions of the classical period. Performed here by the brilliant Callino Quartet, the piece exists in four different versions and the edition for string quartet, which has a particular purity and intimacy, is the form in which the music is most often heard today. Suffused with profound sorrow and grief but also with strength and hope. The Seven Last Words is a work so deeply moving and contemplative that it has impassioned listeners in all its forms for over 200 years and was considered by the composer himself to be one of his greatest masterpieces. The Callino Quartet was formed at the West Cork Chamber Music Festival in 1999 and has been delighting audiences ever since with its fresh, enthusiastic interpretations and engaging programmes. The versatility of the quartet has enabled it to cultivate a diverse and challenging repertoire with a thoughtful and historically informed approach to the classical quartet literature as well as develop close collaborations. The quartet has worked with numerous contemporary composers and has received many awards including prizes at the Borciani and Tromp international string quartet competitions. The group has performed in many of the world's best concert halls including Wigmore Hall and Carnegie Hall.

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REVIEWS:

I have listened to this over and over, each time finding it more evocative of how the music sounds in my head. If you want to replace whatever quartet version you already own, this is the time to do it.

– Fanfare

If the quartet version of the Seven Last Words convinces you, this recording certainly offers a perspective worth hearing.

– Gramophone

Inspired by Haydn's trips to England, where he first heard Handel's oratorios, The Creation is widely considered Haydn's crowning masterpiece. Set for three vocal soloists, four-part chorus, and a large Classical orchestra, there seems little doubt that Haydn wanted a big sound (by the standard of his day) for this work. Based on both the biblical Book of Genesis and Milton's Paradise Lost, the oratorio was premiered in the US by the Handel and Haydn Society in 1819. Harry Christophers says: "Haydn's music is always a joy to perform but with The Creation he excels himself, allowing soloists, chorus and period orchestra to revel in vivid word painting, both vocal and instrumental. Can there be a more consistently happy work than The Creation? Feel free to smile at his genius." Handel and Haydn Society is America's oldest continuously operating arts organization.

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REVIEW:

An exceptional account of the oratorio from all points of view. What is wholly exceptional is the diction of both soloists and choir; you can hear every word without referring to the text printed in the booklet.

­– BBC Music Magazine

In the third installment in their acclaimed series, Harry Christophers and the Handel and Haydn Society present a new live recording devoted to the master of the symphony – Joseph Haydn. This release showcases Haydn’s Symphony No. 8 Le soir, which completes the trilogy written for Prince Paul Anton Esterházy. Also included is the later Symphony No. 84 which shows just how much Haydn’s symphonies had transformed from those early years. Not only is it an incredible fusion of grace, brilliance and warmth but it also contains one of the most striking wind band solos in all of his Paris symphonies. Completing the programme is the Violin Concerto in A major performed by H+H’s fiery and expressive Concertmaster, Aisslinn Nosky.

In a program packed full of great drama and theatricality, Harry Christophers and the Handel and Haydn Society present a new live recording devoted to the master of the symphony. This disc showcases Haydn's Symphony No. 7 "Le midi" which is amongst the most striking of his early symphonies and one of the very first the composer wrote as Kapellmeister to Prince Paul Anton Esterh�zy. It is set alongside the much later Paris Symphony No. 83 "La poule", named as such because of it's famous clucking dotted note motif. Completing the program is the Violin Concerto in C major performed by HH's fiery and expressive Concertmaster, Aisslinn Nosky. Handel and Haydn Society is America's oldest continuously operating arts organization. It's Bicentennial celebration began with the 2014-2015 Season and continues into the 2015-2016 Season. Harry Christophers has been Artistic Director since 2008.

Harry Christophers and the Handel and Haydn Society release the first in a new series of recordings devoted to Haydn and introduce violinist Aisslinn Nosky. "Onstage, Christophers has what it takes to inspire the Society's fine musicians." The Wall Street Journal "...lively and characterful string playing, part of a performance that blends bonhomie with drama. The orchestra proves itself as expert in period style as it is musically spontaneous, with some particularly lovely flute solos." BBC Music Magazine In Harry Christophers' expert hands, Haydn comes to life in the first in a series of new live recordings from the Handel and Haydn Society. This disc showcases one of Haydn's Paris Symphonies, L'ours (The Bear), a festive and jubilant work commissioned by a Parisian orchestra in the 1780s, as well as one of his earlier symphonies, No. 6 Le matin, which is characterised by unusual virtuoso writing across the orchestral ensemble. Completing the disc is Haydn's Violin Concerto in G major performed by Handel and Haydn's fiery and expressive Concertmaster, Aisslinn Nosky, who will be making her solo debut on the CORO label. Harry Christophers was appointed Artistic Director of Boston's internationally acclaimed Handel and Haydn Society in 2008. Founded in 1815, the Society is considered the oldest continuously performing arts organization in the U.S. and has given the American premieres of major works by Handel, Bach and Haydn, has won a Grammy Award. It will celebrate its Bicentennial in 2015. Aisslinn Nosky is one of the most versatile and dynamic violinists today. She is in demand internationally as a soloist and leader and was appointed Concertmaster of the Handel and Haydn Society in 2011. She has performed in solo and chamber music recitals across North America, Europe and Asia.

The Handel and Haydn Society presents one of Haydn’s early Sturm und Drang (storm and stress) symphonies – No.49 in F minor, more commonly known as ‘La Passione’ because of its dark, brooding penitential adagio. Symphony No. 87, the last of the six masterly ‘Paris’ Symphonies, displays Haydn’s astonishing craftsmanship and, along with symphonies 82-86, were the first symphonies since the Sturm und Drang days. The Paris Symphonies blended an approachable and popular style with an inventiveness and broad emotional range that revealed new possibilities in what was still a relatively youthful genre. Completing the programme is Mozart’s elegiac and richly beautiful Sinfonia Concertante performed by H+H’s inspirational concertmaster, Aisslinn Nosky and viola player Max Mandel. Handel and Haydn Society is America’s oldest continuously operating arts organization. Harry Christophers has been Artistic Director since 2008.

Continuing their acclaimed live series on CORO, the Handel and Haydn Society presents one of Haydn’s early Sturm und Drang (storm and stress) symphonies – No. 26 in D minor. More commonly known as ‘Lamentatione’ because of its association with Easter week, Haydn incorporates an old plainsong chant of the Passion of Christ juxtaposing it against the furious opening theme. The later Paris Symphony No. 86, with its unusual "off-tonic" exposition, shows Haydn at his most inventive and expansive; richly scored it tests the performers’ skill and technique to the limit. Completing the programme is Mozart’s lively and vibrant Violin Concerto in G major performed by H+H’s inspirational Concertmaster, Aisslinn Nosky.