Originally issued on the 2LP set Nativity in 1976, this classic Vox recording is a fine example of Robert Shaw’s expertise as a choral conductor. The album features a selection of carols, choral works and orchestral Christmas favourites performed by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Produced by the legendary Elite Recordings team of Marc Aubort and Joanna Nickrenz, and newly remastered from the original analogue tapes in high-definition.

“[Bach] speaks to us in his work in such clear terms that we may quite well call these fugues poems. (…) These have warmth, quiet joy, love. And running through all the poems, dressed in different guises, is the main theme, creating order, binding the work as a whole together: it is a safe bond in all its diversity. Over all lies the proximity of death.” (Enzio Forsblom)

In this new recording, Bach’s final magnum opus is played by Aapo Häkkinen on a harpsichord built in 1614 by Andreas Ruckers the Elder (1579–?1652) and which belonged to the composer John Blow (1649–1708), organist of Westminster Abbey and former teacher of Henry Purcell. A tradition exists that G.F. Handel had also played this harpsichord.

BACH reconstructed - Neubrandenburg Concertos based on Bach's originals - On the trail of the wonder of Bach's music: resounding works of art such as the Brandenburg Concertos have awakened the ensemble's spirit of discovery. In order to better understand their inner architecture, their genius, ensemble member Christoph Harer has created baroque transcriptions from Bach's originals in exchange with solos and orchestra and combined them into three "Neubrandenburg Concertos". A harpsichord concerto thus becomes music for three competing string trios. Solo and chamber music are transformed into colorful concerto movements for different instrumentations. And a simple vanitas song is transformed into a dreamy string aria. In the process, la festa musicale reaches top form: solo parts are distributed across the whole orchestra, the concertos are carried by the virtuosity and imagination of many together. The creative play with the originals opens up new, unexpected perspectives on Bach's great music.

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the internationally acclaimed German Brass ensemble, the album "Overtures" is set to release this September. This milestone collection features a captivating program of opera overtures, showcasing the ensemble's extraordinary talent and versatility. Listeners will be treated to stunning renditions of Verdi's "Nabucco," Mozart's "Le nozze di Figaro," Shostakovich's "Festive Overture," and many more timeless masterpieces. Each performance captures the grandeur and emotion of these beloved works, brought to life by the ensemble's impeccable artistry. In recognition of their outstanding contributions to classical music, German Brass was awarded the prestigious ECHO-KLASSIK in 2016. To mark their 50th anniversary, the ensemble will embark on a special anniversary tour in 2024, bringing their celebrated performances to audiences around the world.

On its second CD, the piano duo Neeb presents works that illustrate the beginning of an auspicious period in the life of various composers: Full of creative energy, Max Reger threw himself into creative work after surviving years of health and mental strain. Franz Schubert fared similarly after an attack of syphilis, who, in addition to a permanent position at Esterházy Palace, was even inspired to new creative vigour by a secret love. Johann Sebastian Bach was motivated to write new concert repertoire by conducting the high-calibre Collegium Musicum, while Rachmaninov overcame his depression with the Suite op. 17, which had prevented him from composing for three years after the failure of his first symphony. The piano duo Neeb illuminate these emotional worlds in their intelligent interpretation - with creative imagination and effervescent joy of playing.

25 years of La Cetra Basel! To celebrate this anniversary, La Cetra and Arcana are releasing the "greatest musical masterpiece of all time", as the work was called in the 19th century: Bach's Mass in B minor. "It is a dream come true to have recorded this work for La Cetra's 25th jubilee - the best birthday present ever!" says maestro Andrea Marcon. Under his direction, La Cetra Basel has made a name for itself in recent years with acclaimed interpretations of J. S. Bach's most important sacred works. Featuring top-flight soloists, this recording presents Andrea Marcon's particular vision for this Mass, notable for the division of voices between "concertists" and "ripienists". The sonority and character of each movement emerge from the skilfully crafted balance between solos and tuttis, creating a three-dimensional sound reminiscent of a three-manual organ. The result is a unique tonality, full of fresh nuances and colours, and no doubt very close to what Bach had imagined.

This recording is the result of my encounter with the Stephen Paulello Opus 102. From the very first notes, I was captivated by the sound of this piano. I had the wonderful feeling that I could shape the sound, dig into it, and discover it's richness-so that, little by little, it's beauty and depth unfolded beneath my fingers. Rich, transparent, and warm all at once, the Stephen Paulello Opus 102 struck me as the ideal instrument to reveal the essence of J.S. Bach's Art of Fugue.

The latest volume in an ongoing series by an acclaimed Bach specialist on the modern piano. With recordings of the French Suites, Partitas and Goldberg Variations on Piano Classics, the Chinese pianist Yuan Sheng has placed himself among the most searching of present-day Bach pianists. As Jed Distler remarked in Gramophone, reviewing the Goldbergs, 'Yuan Sheng's disciplined, scrupulously terraced style often reflects his mentor Rosalyn Tureck.' In a new and illuminating booklet essay for this album, the musicologist and pianist Raymond Erickson remarks that the 15 two-part Inventions and the 15 three-part Sinfonias played an important role in Bach's teaching. These pieces, although today mainly associated with basic piano training, are not at all easy and in fact are sophisticated, small-scale masterpieces. 'They were not composed simply to provide technical training in keyboard playing but, perhaps more important, to teach keyboard players how to compose.' In 1720 Bach's oldest son Wilhelm Friedemann (1710-84) was already of an age appropriate for introducing him into the family trade of musician. So Bach started for him a music notebook: a Clavierbuchlein which included these Inventions and Sinfonias. Bach revised them shortly before moving to Leipzig in the spring of 1720, to take up his new post as Thomaskantor, and copied them out with a preface. In learning and playing these works, Bach affirmed, a diligent student would be taught 'a clear manner for playing not only in two voices but also in three obbligato parts and, furthermore, not only how to invent good musical ideas [inventiones] but also how to develop these well. And above all, how to achieve a cantabile manner of playing, and additionally to obtain a strong foretaste of Composition.' So it is that the Inventions and Sinfonias have given much pleasure to both performers and listeners throughout the subsequent two centuries. Brief as they are, each one of these 30 works elegantly outlines a distinct and often playful world of it's own. They reward intensive listening both on their own and in sequence. And Yuan Sheng's performances draw on all the coloristic possibilities and varieties of articulation available on the modern piano, without seeking to exceed the bounds of style which the works themselves inhabit.

On her first solo recital for BIS, Gramophone Award-winner Helen Charlston performs a selection of songs by the English composer Henry Purcell, some very well-known, others less so, as well as pieces by other composers of the period such as John Blow, John Eccles, Christopher Simpson and Daniel Purcell, Henry's son. Her choice focuses on songs that tell stories exploring the struggle between heart and mind: do we fall in love through reason or because fate destined it to be so? Concerning her special relationship with Purcell, Charlston explains that she finds herself making space for his songs in almost every programme she creates. She adds that his addictive music holds a power over her she cannot and does not want to escape, and this specific programme is a special acknowledgement of the fact that Purcell's music has become an essential part of her identity as a singer. For this release, Helen Charlston is joined by the ensemble Sounds Baroque: Julian Perkins (harpsichord/organ), Jonathan Manson and William Carter (theorbo/baroque guitar), three musicians whose expertise and love for this music, she says, overflow in every note they play.

Johann Sebastian Bach never hesitated to adapt, rework and truly metamorphose his own music with remarkable aplomb. There is no shortage of examples. It is this model of transcription that the D!ssonanti ensemble has sought to follow in the programme on this disc. With the notable exception of the Ciaccona BWV 1004, originally written for solo violin - and already the subject of countless transcriptions throughout the ages - they have for the most part drawn on the keyboard repertoire, and in particular the great organ, an instrument that is both fascinating and sometimes a little intimidating. The Passacaglia and Thema Fugatum BWV 582, almost always written for four voices, is the culmination of this repertoire. Each of the members of the ensemble, in the course of a busy life spent in contact with Bach's music played on period instruments and with a concern for authenticity in the most prestigious ensembles (Les Arts Florissants, Pygmalion, Freiburger Barockorchester, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Concerto Copenhagen...), have acquired sufficient proximity to his musical language to respect, if not the letter, at least the spirit. "Our hope is to use these adaptations to show Bach in a light that is both new and familiar. A protean Bach that we've had a lot of fun imagining - and the treasure chest we've opened is not about to close again...".

This sixth instalment of Masaaki Suzuki's critically acclaimed complete organ works by Johann Sebastian Bach presents the first eleven pieces from a manuscript since referred to as the Leipzig Chorales. Conceived around 1739, this collection is unusual in that it contains no new compositions, but rather 'reworkings' of organ chorales dating from the years 1708-17, when Bach was in Weimar. The chorale arrangements are based on established Lutheran melodies that particularly appealed to Bach. They were not intended as preludes for congregational singing, but rather as music to accompany the communion service or as concert music. Bach took great care with this project, selecting the best of his organ music from earlier in his career, and saw it as his legacy for the future. Together with the Orgel-Buchlein, the Schubler Chorales and the third book of the Clavier-ubung, the Leipzig Chorales represent the pinnacle of Bach's sacred organ music. On this recording, Masaaki Suzuki plays the Arp Schnitger organ of the Martinikerk in Groningen, the Netherlands, one of the largest and most famous baroque organs in Northern Europe. Arp Schnitger was the most famous organ builder in northern Germany in the seventeenth century, and his admirers included Buxtehude, Handel and Bach himself.

The main purpose of this edition is to assist those "desirous of learning" with some suggestions and information that might be helpful in the process of learning, understanding and performing the works of Bach. These suggestions should not be taken as a "must" to follow, but are simply meant to assist in the comprehension and practical execution of The Well-Tempered Clavier (WTC) and to encourage further exploration. This Edition is available in 2 Books, or as 48 separate 'Preludes and Fugues' scores.

In Dmitry Sitkovetsky's transcription, Bach's Goldberg Variations are revealed in a new light: a refined dialogue between violin, viola and cello, where each voice breathes and listens to the others. TrioFenix delivers a strikingly clear interpretation, combining architectural rigour, expressive freedom, and sonic poetry. Backed by nearly twenty years of musical complicity, these three chamber musicians breathe new life into one of the masterpieces of the Baroque repertoire, in a version that is as vibrant as it is intimate.

Following her highly praised debut album, Yasmin Rowe returns to Willowhayne Records for an engaging and delightful programme, in which she returned to Holy Trinity Church, Hereford for this recording. Now resident in Melbourne, Australia, Yasmin has gained critical acclaim as a soloist, collaborator and recording artist in Europe, Asia and Australia. As well as her concert hall recitals, she has given many free-to-air concerts As well as her concert hall recitals, she gives many live-to-air performances, appearing as a frequent guest on Melbourne-based 3MBS Radio since 2019.

Embark on a captivating journey bridging time and soundscapes with Lithuanian pianist Guoda Gedvilaite's latest GENUIN album. Featuring works by Johann Sebastian Bach at it's core, this recording interlaces Bach's original compositions, his arrangements of other Baroque pieces, and romantic piano works by famous pianists such as Wilhelm Kempff and Egon Petri. The meticulously curated album is elevated by the ethereal works of Domenico Scarlatti, a contemporary of Bach, played with brilliance and profound depth, culminating in a masterful blend of artistry.

Skillfully crafted, meticulously executed and utterly enjoyable, Giulia Nuti's solo recordings include three anthologies of keyboard music, the last two released with Arcana. These albums feature historically significant instruments carefully chosen by the artist to enhance the repertoire with which they are associated: Le Cœur et l’Oreille (2017), recorded on the 1658 Louis Denis harpsichord and, more recently, The Fall of the Leaf (2022), featuring the splendid Italian “Rucellai” virginal built around 1575.

Her albums have been met with critical acclaim and awards, such as the “Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik” (German Record Critics’ Award) and the “Diapason d’or”.

For her fourth solo recital album, Giulia Nuti explores a different path, performing one of the pinnacles of keyboard literature, Johann Sebastian Bach’s Six Partitas. In this recording, she uses a splendid harpsichord by Christian Kuhlmann (2016), a copy of the magnificent Henri Hemsch of 1751.

Bach's six suites for cello (BWV 1007 to 1012) are considered the must-haves of the instrument's repertoire. In this recording, Valérie Aimard offers a generous version that radiates without ever seeking effect for its own sake. With finesse and subtlety, the performer honors Bach's greatness.

While pursuing its constant search for music to study and rediscover, Zefiro undertook another important challenge by recording, in 2017 and 2015 respectively, the Brandenburg Concertos and Overtures, two pinnacles of the 18th-century instrumental literature. For this project Alfredo Bernardini waited until he could count on a select band of musicians who were not only in a perfect symbiosis of spirit and intent, but also equipped with the indispensable virtuosity and long-standing familiarity with the works. Thanks to the historical insight and human energy displayed by the ensemble, the interpretative results are both vivid and profoundly moving.

The recordings acquired not only prestigious awards such as Gramophone’s Editor’s Choice, Diapason d’or, Choc de Classica and Toccata’s CD of the month, but also specific acknowledgements for Overtures nos. 3 (France Musique) and 4 (SRF 2 Kultur), judged to be the best-ever versions. After being out of the catalogue for some time, they are now gathered together for the first time in an elegant box set.

Vom Reden und Klingen showcases the artistry of Laurens de Man, the first organist to be awarded the prestigious Nederlandse Muziekprijs. The album is a highly original recital consisting entirely of program music (music that depicts a story). These organ pieces by Bach, Mozart, Kuhnau, and Kurtag are therefore rare specimens of program music outside the 19th century. Laurens de Man plays the newly reconstructed Contius organ at the St.-Michielskerk in Leuven, Belgium

The large-scale Bach Organ Landscapes project featuring J.S. Bach's entire organ oeuvre recorded on a range of instruments aims to provide an overview of organ-playing and organ-building traditions that were key to Bach's composing. With a keen eye to the unique cultural organ legacy of the places associated with Bach, Halubek has placed Bach's original sound at the heart of his project. The recordings are accompanied by digital material that offer an almost tactile access to the great composer's sound universe.

As an instrument from Italy, one that was exotic and evocative of Mediterranean atmospheres, the mandolin was very much in fashion in France until the end of the Century of Enlightenment: a fact also confirmed by many iconographic and musical sources. Pizzicar Galante, an ensemble that stands today as a benchmark for the interpretation of the galant literature for mandolin and continuo, has been acclaimed for the “finesse, creativity and spirit” (Olivier Fourés, Diapason) and “communicative energy” of its performances (Sébastien Llinares, France Musique).

For its second recording with Arcana, it offers a compilation of the finest music played during the veritable “golden age” enjoyed by the mandolin in Paris from the 1760s to the Revolution. It is a rare and unexplored repertoire in which the dazzling virtuosity of Anna Schivazappa, a specialist in historical mandolins, dialogues with the beguiling and charismatic voice of Marc Mauillon.

This recording emerged from a quest to explore new rhetorical and poetic spaces, timbres, and dynamics, aiming to reveal the soul of J.S. Bach's splendid sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord. The cello piccolo, an instrument similar in size and texture to the viola da gamba, proves ideal for capturing the lyrical quality of some movements and the virtuosity of the more intricate and faster passages. The fortepiano, an English instrument beautifully restored, was chosen to emphasize the contrapuntal nature of the three trio sonatas, particularly in the continuous duetting of the right hand with the cello.

After listening for a while (to orchestral music on the radio) Idil would detect the main melody and then play it on the piano with one finger. Afterwards, when she reached the age of four, she would play these with two hands and with the correct harmony. Bach preludes and fugues from the Well Tempered Clavier, for example, which even the talented musicians took considerable time to study and memorise, were mastered by Idil in only a few days after listening once or twice, after which she would play these without a single wrong note. (Leman Biret, 1988)

Bach published during his lifetime four volumes of keyboard pieces under the title Clavierubung which began with a set of six Partitas, published between 1726 and 1731. The first of the set was the Partita No. 1 in B flat major. The Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D minor, was apparently written during Bach's time at Cothen, probably about 1720, and revised in Leipzig about 1730. The six English Suites, the 3rd being included here, have nothing particularly English about them, except their title. They were written perhaps in Weimar in about 1715 or possibly during Bach's period at Cothen. Bach brought together a set of five French Suites, of which the 5th is Biret's favourite, later augmented to six and forming part of the Clavierbuchlein for Anna Magdalena, his second wife. The Italian Concerto in F major was published in 1735 in the second volume of the Clavierubungen, with the original title Concerto nach Italienischen Gusto. It reflects the style of the Venetian solo concertos by Vivaldi.

In 2018, the Styriarte Festival in Graz launched, in collaboration with Zefiro, a project to rediscover the operatic output of the Styrian composer Johann Joseph Fux (1660-1741), Kapellmeister at the imperial court in Vienna for forty years, with the aim of restaging six of his nineteen operas, one per year. With a cast of Baroque vocal specialists, led by Monica Piccinini and Carlotta Colombo, this set of La corona d’Arianna represents the second instalment of the Arcana series which documents the recordings made in the course of this six-year cycle, following the success of Dafne in lauro (A488, 2021 – awarded Gramophone Editor’s Choice and rated Eccezionale by Musica), La corona d’Arianna was described as a "festa teatrale" and indeed it breathes a festive atmosphere throughout. It was written and performed in Vienna in 1726, as a birthday present from emperor Karl VI to his wife Elisabeth Christine. The choir, representing the guests at this big party, has a predominant role. On a closer look, Venus (Monica Piccinini) is busy combining couples of characters so far unlucky in love: Arianna (Carlotta Colombo) with Bacco (Rafal Tomkiewicz), Teti (Marianne Beate Kielland) with Peleo (Meli-li). This recording was made following the stage performances in Graz in June 2022 in which the work was shortened in relation to post Covid requirements. Yet the music by Fux flows happily, with plenty of dramatic tension and variety of colours. 

Gregor Meyer, director of the GewandhausChor, fulfills a dream by returning to "his" instrument, the organ, and recording an album at GENUIN that gathers sounds from Saxon organs of an organ-building dynasty: the Kreutzbach family from Borna. Meyer plays organs from three eras, taking us through Saxony from Johanngeorgenstadt to Wiederau and Zwickau-Marienthal. Meyer's organ playing utilizes the full range of the highly characteristic and historically valuable organs to faithfully and differentially portray music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Georg Böhm, and Max Reger. A must for lovers of historical, regionally anchored organ craftsmanship!

Summits of the violin repertory, Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin have always fascinated performers and music lovers alike for their architectural perfection, their spiritual content and the breadth of their emotional palette. It is therefore not surprising that, like so many of Bach’s works, they have been constantly arranged for other instruments. On a purely practical level, there are elements in the writing of these works that seem to suit the guitar particularly well, with its polyphony, melody, dynamics and sound colours that lend themselves particularly well to the complexity of works that seem to go beyond the solo violin.

After his transcription for guitar of Bach’s four lute suites (BIS-2285), which BBC Music Magazine described as ‘a remarkable combination of technical ease, musical understanding and emotional directness’, Franz Halász now offers us his own arrangements of the Sonatas and Partitas – fresh performances that combine historically informed practice with modern technique.

Halász appears on a number of acclaimed discs for BIS, in wide-ranging repertoire, from Spanish baroque music to the contemporary works of Takemitsu and Gubaidulina, as well as tango and Brazilian music.

How fascinating must it have sounded when Johann Sebastian Bach competed with an entire orchestra at the organ? Under the direction of Jörg Halubek, the baroque ensemble il Gusto Barocco becomes a musical think tank. Together, they attempt to reconstruct three of Bach's organ concertos, which today are primarily treated as harpsichord concertos. The recordings of the soloist ensemble presented here convey a tangible and unique impression thereof.

While the life of Giuseppe Tartini (1692-1770) is well documented, the same cannot be said for Leonhard Frischmuth (c. 1725-1764), a name unknown to many. Frischmuth is today best known for having created and published keyboard transcriptions of six of Tartini's violin concertos. Frischmuth hailed from the Thuringian village of Grafenroda, near Gotha, where he studied organ under Johann Christoph Keller, himself a student at Leipzig's Tomasschule during the tenure of J. S. Bach. Frischmuth travelled to Amsterdam probably around 1750, where he became a pupil of Conrad Friedrich Hurlebusch, organist of the Oude Kerk. On 26 July 1763, Frischmuth was appointed organist of the Nieuwezijdskapel, the only position he is known to have held, and he died having served in the role for just 15 months. His Tartini transcriptions were published as his Opus 4 by the Dutch printer Arnoldus Olofsen in a collection of concertos 'accommodati per il cembalo' (adapted to the harpsichord) and, as was the custom, playable on other keyboard instruments such as the organ. Holland in the early 18th century was 'ground zero' for burgeoning interest in organ transcriptions of Italian instrumental concertos, beginning with the blind organist Jan Jacob de Graaf (1672-1738), who performed his own transcriptions of concertos by various composers at concerts he gave on the organ of the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam. The decision to record these concertos on a historic Italian instrument, built around 1745-50 by the Dalmatian-born organ builder Pietro Nachini (1694-1769), whom Tartini probably knew personally, can only enhance these pieces, as it's sonic characteristics would undoubtedly have been familiar to Tartini: at the Basilica del Santo in Padua, Tartini had four organs at his disposal, some of them reconstructed by Nachini in the period 1743-49. Other information: - Recorded May 2024 in Castelferretti, Ancona, Italy - Booklet in English contains liner notes by the organist, a description of the organ with stoplist, and a profile of the artist - Italian liner notes available at brilliantclassics. Com - Giuseppe Tartini (1692-1770) was a virtuoso violinist, composer, theoretician and teacher, a spider in the international cultural web in a time when Italy was the centre of the musical world, his violin school, the "School of Nations", attracted musicians from all over Europe. - Tartini wrote 125 concertos for his own instrument, the violin, attractive and melodious works full of bold harmonies and featuring brilliant solo parts that freely converse with individual voices within the orchestra. These violin concertos were so famous and popular at the time that the organist and composer Leonard Frischmuth (1721-1764) made organ transcriptions of six of them. Frischmuth, of German origin, was a student at the Thomasschule in Leipzig from 1726 to 1734, during the tenure of Johann Sebastian Bach (later he was an organist in Amsterdam). - Recorded at the historic 1750 Pietro Nachini organ at the Church of Sant'Andrea Apostolo in Castelferretti, Ancona, Italy. - Organist Luca Scandali is one of Italy's foremost scholars and keyboard players. For Brilliant Classics he recorded the complete organ works by C. P. E. Bach (nominated for the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik, BC 94812), Galuppi, Pasquini (BC 9434) and Pellegrini & Padovano (BC 95259).

BBC Music Magazine: Roth sustains his flawlessly smooth, luxurously toned sonority, so that each movement emerges in terms of its majestic formal perfection. The Strad: This is a fundamentally lyrical account, imbued with grace and beauty. Pizzicato Supersonic: The great realization of this CD by the technicians and the carefully edited booklet complete this outstanding recording. Just listen and enjoy.