The Passions Sale 2026
Over 120 titles featuring astounding Passions are on sale now at ArkivMusic!
Discover Passions from composers such as Bach, Handel, Telemann and more!
Shop the sale now before it ends at 9:00am ET, Tuesday, April 7th, 2026.
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- Consuelo Velasquez: Besame Mucho
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Kreisler: Praeludium and Allegro
- Piazzólla: Tanti anni prima ('Ave Maria')
- Caccini: Ave Maria
- Monti: Csárdás
- Django Reinhardt: Echoes of Spain
- Albéniz: Tango
- Piazzólla: Vuelvo al sur
- Bart Howard: Fly Me to the Moon
- Kosma: Les feuilles mortes
- Vivaldi: The Four Seasons: Summer
- Guglielmi, L: La vie en rose
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Bach: St. John Passion 1725 Version
Bach: St. Matthew Passion / Kuijken, La Petite Bande
Read our exclusive interview with Sigiswald, Marie, and Sara Kuijken!
Magnificent and transparent, a recording of the famous masterpiece by J.S. Bach by La Petite Bande and Sigiswald Kuijken. The ensemble has a worldwide reputation of aiming for the most authentic sound possible. Again Kuijken and his group of musicians and vocalists have achieved this the most sublime way! By using authentic instruments and the original way of playing them, both in interpretation and sound quality, La Petite Bande strives to revive baroque music as faithfully as possible without lapsing into rigid academics.
Telemann: Passions - Oratorium - Seliges Erwägen Des Bittern
Wagner: Tristan & Isolde - An Orchestral Passion / Albrecht, Staatskapelle Weimar
This new recording from the Staatskapelle Weimar under Hansjörg Albrecht presents a rarely heard compilation of Richard Wagner’s themes from Tristan und Isolde, arranged for orchestra by Henk de Vlieger (b. 1953). This is Hansjörg Albrecht's follow-up Wagner recording to his album Der Ring ohne Worte (OC1872). The Staatkapelle Weimar dates back to 1491, making it one of the oldest orchestras in the world, and one that is more than familiar with the works of Richard Wagner.
Handel: Brockes-Passion / Jonathan Cohen, Arcangelo
Barthold Heinrich Brockes wrote a libretto on the Passion of Christ – based on the account in Matthew’s Gospel – which was set to music by many composers of his time, including Reinhard Keiser, Georg Philip Telemann and George Frideric Handel. It is Handel’s version of the latter that the period-instrument ensemble Arcangelo has chosen to present here. Under the direction of Jonathan Cohen, these specialists in the Baroque repertory are joined by the voices of Sandrine Piau, whose numerous Handel recordings are regarded as a benchmark, the tenor Stuart Jackson and the baritone Konstantin Krimmel, recently revealed in a debut recital for Alpha (Saga, ALPHA549). Together they resurrect the operatic splendor of a work that was first performed in 1719 and is thought to have influenced numerous passages of J. S. Bach’s St John Passion, written a few years later.
REVIEW:
Conductor Jonathan Cohen is working with excellent soloists. They're led by soprano Sandrine Piau, who has a crushing 14 arias and brings personality to each one. Tenor Stuart Jackson has a big, exciting voice, and baritone Konstantin Krimmel is splendid in his duet with Mary Bevan. The oratorio also has smaller solo roles, here taken by members of the choir, and all are well handled.
– AllMusicGuide.com (James Manheim)
Mocnik: St. John Passion / Stagg, Teuscher, Repušic, Munich Radio Orchestra
For this CD production, Damijan Mocnik has created a reduced version of his "St. John Passion" for woodwind, percussion and strings, originally composed with a considerably larger orchestra. The recording took place on March 5, 2022 in Studio 1 of the Bayerischer Rundfunk. Authenticity of performance is guaranteed not only by the Slovenian Philharmonic Choir but also by the Croatian conductor Ivan Repušic, who as chief conductor of the Münchner Rundfunkorchester energetically promotes contemporary music from the Western Balkans.
The time and place chosen for the premiere of Damijan Mocnik's "St. John Passion" – Maundy Thursday 2011 in the largest hall in Ljubljana – make it clear what universal aspirations the work wishes to fulfil for believers and music lovers alike. This also includes the use of the Latin language and the decision to dispense with folkloristic local colour, both of which have undoubtedly enhanced the work’s broader reception. In addition, this "St. John Passion" seeks a connection to much older traditions, such as Gregorian chant, early polyphony and old movement techniques including falsobordone and organum. The composer focuses on the words from St. John’s Gospel that Jesus gives to his disciples at the Last Supper: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." These words to his listeners turn out to be the decisive message of the Passion story.
In Slovenia, the name Damijan Mocnik is associated with a lively and young choral music scene, in which he has made a reputation for himself as a teacher, conductor and composer - for example, with the system of a "choir pyramid", with which, over 25 years, he has been able to inspire more than 1,700 singers to sing together at the traditional St. Stanislaus Diocesan Grammar School in Ljubljana. Mocnik wants to create "a triangle between composer, performer and listener. A composer who also performs his works can have much more authentic contact with his audience.” In general, contact with young people is very important to him; his youth opera from 2018, for example, gained him a lot of attention. In addition, he often composes choral works such as masses, hymns and motets, which have become known far beyond the borders of his homeland. During his musical education, Mocnik also sought contact with the greats of the choral music scene, for example during a study visit with Eric Ericson in Sweden. In his own country, as early as 1995, he gained public attention when he won a composition competition on the occasion of the papal visit of John Paul II, with the choral movement "One thousand years have already passed".
J.S. Bach: …con passione
Bach: St. Matthew Passion (Mendelssohn's Version) / Jackson, Bach Choir of Bethlehem
For nearly 74 years from the death of J.S. Bach in 1750 to Mendelssohn’s fifteenth birthday in 1824 the Matthäus Passion had all but disappeared. Young Mendelssohn’s prized birthday gift - a bespoke copy of the Passion - was to change music history when five years later he mounted its first performance in the nineteenth century in Berlin.
Today it is inconceivable to imagine music without Bach, but in the 1820s his music had been relegated to no more than the exercise-book for students of counterpoint. Turning often to Bach’s music after 1829, Mendelssohn performed the Passion again in Leipzig in 1841. Now in a romantic era with a symphonic sized orchestra and choir, he remodelled both the role of the Evangelist and soloists, compacting the Passion’s length by some 30 percent.
After his death in 1847 Mendelssohn’s ‘edition’ of the Passion lay fallow with his heirs in London, his grandson eventually bequeathing it to the Bodleian Library in Oxford. A first complete reconstruction of Mendelssohn’s material by Malcolm Bruno and Caroline Ritchie is published in December 2023 by Bärenreiter Verlag, and the first recording by the Bach Choir of Bethlehem to be released in March 2024 on the Analekta label.
Lang: the little match girl passion / Maroney, Netter, Trio Mediaeval
In producing an update of his Pulitzer-winning 'the little match girl passion,' composer David Lang sought to deliver "...a leaner version of the piece, a more human version, one that emphasizes every breath, and that heightens the individuality of each singer." Featuring inspired performances by singers Molly Netter, Kate Maroney, Gene Stenger and Dashon Burton, as well as the renowned Trio Mediaeval — on the bonus track "I want to live," as well as an updated version of "just (after song of songs)" — this new recording accomplishes everything that Lang set out to explore, opening up fresh vistas of accessibility to a beloved work in modern choral music.
The Many Passions of Leoš Janáček
An original selection of Leoš Janácek’s works released on the occasion of the 95th anniversary of the composer’s death.
In connection with the previous compilation, The Many Loves of Antonín Dvořák, which met with favorable response from reviewers in the USA and in the UK, we asked the BBC3 long-time music producer and one of the great experts in and lovers of Czech music and its recordings, Patrick Lambert, to compile a similar series dedicated to the Moravian master.
Its name alone – Many Passions – reflects Janáček’s temperament and the selection is a result of thorough research into his personality. The composer approached all life’s changes with a wide range of emotions. Therefore, eight categories were created and got the same names as Janáček’s passions: the Folk Tradition; the Czech Case – Politics and Patriotism; Family; Life and Nature; Friendship with Dvorák; Women; Russian Literature; Religious Roots.
The set contains famous pieces, such as Sinfonietta, Taras Bulba, Glagolitic Mass, Jenufa and The Cunning Little Vixen, as well as many discoveries that put Janáček’s work into context, e.g. his choruses Seventy-thousand and The Czech Legion, the Danube Symphony, Prelude in G minor for organ and a fragment of his Mass in E flat major. The selection of performers includes the classics of Janáček interpretation from Brno and Prague and some unique archival recordings as well as many new ones.
Among the conductors are Bretislav Bakala, František Jílek, Jaroslav Vogel, Václav Neumann, Karel Ancerl, Bohumil Gregor, Sir Charles Mackerras and Jakub Hruša, and other performers include important Bohemian and Moravian choirs, soloists Theodor Šrubar, Beno Blachut, Libuše Domanínská and Gabriela Benacková, and instrumentalists Josef Suk, Ilja Hurník, Jan Panenka, the Janáček Quartet and the Pavel Haas Quartet. The choice of compositions deeply reflects Janáček’s greatly varied music, paying homage to the most remarkable 20th-century Czech composer on the occasion of the 95th anniversary of his death and celebrating the unique richness of Supraphon’s archives.
Bach: St. John Passion / McGegan, Cantata Collective
Cantata Collective, an ensemble “of San Francisco early music luminaries” (San Francisco Chronicle) inaugurates a major series of J. S. Bach’s choral works with a live recording of the composer’s St. John Passion. With celebrated conductor Nicholas McGegan, the toast of today’s new generation of vocal soloists and a three-to-a-part chamber choir, the Cantata Collective conveys the emotional intimacy and dramatic power of this monumental passion in a highly polished performance that led Early Music America to implore: “To the excellent musicians of Cantata Collective: More Bach Please!”
Martinu: The Greek Passion
Martinu: The Greek Passion
Passion on 10 Strings - Spanish Music & Tango for Guitar & Viola / Corti, Jonkers
The Spanish pieces on this CD became famous mainly as solo guitar compositions by the three Catalan master pianists Isaac Albéniz, Joaquín Malats and Enrique Granados. I have often played them that way in concerts as well. In 2019, Nicolas and I had the idea to transcribe these works combined with works by Astor Piazzolla for viola and guitar. Since then, we have enjoyed playing this music in numerous concerts. The viola-guitar combination gives these compositions a whole new dimension. Compared to the solo guitar versions, the works appear in a completely new light, allowing the compositions to emit transparency and a variety of tonal colors.
The Spanish music of the CD program alternates with music by one of the most frequently performed works of Manuel de Falla (1876–1946), and the Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla (1921–1992). Piazzolla is considered the great innovator of the Tango, the “Tango Nuevo”. He originally composed the “Histoire du Tango” for flute and guitar. The other compositions are short character pieces, all of which we have arranged for viola and guitar. The two movements “Bordel-1900” and “Café-1930” evoke the history of Tango in their respective eras. “Bordel-1900” goes back to the beginnings of the Tango. The new dance form was played in the brothels of Buenos Aires around this time. As “1930” marked a new era, the Tango was no longer danced as it was around 1900, and people limited themselves to listening to it. The Tango becomes more musical and romantic, the movements become slower, new harmonies are added. The music takes on a strong melancholic streak.
Beethoven: Power, Passion & Ecstasy - Sonatas "Tempest," "Pathétique" & op. 110 / Black
"What an impossible task- to select for this recording just three out of Beethoven's extraordinary body of piano sonatas! I've settled on three from different periods of his life, both to demonstrate the striking originality of his output and to illustrate how the challenges of his difficult life and health are reflected in his music. These sonatas express so excitingly the elemental power of Beethoven's music and its impact on the human psyche. The three Sonatas are perfect examples of how Beethoven broke the rules of composition that preceded him, establishing his own trademark style. Loud, soft; fast, slow; dramatic key changes; silences … harmonically daring, provocative, surprising.
"The uncompromising emotion and energy in Beethoven's music, combined with his propensity to break the compositional 'rules' of the day, is what leads to the visceral thrill these sonatas provide. No wonder the Pathetique reportedly had ladies swooning in the aisles at early performances by Beethoven himself! It's illuminating to listen to Beethoven's works with an awareness of his personality and mental state at the time of composition, and in the notes that follow, John Suchet sets the scene for us. I'm indebted to John for so vividly setting the piano sonatas in the context of Beethoven's life and times. PASSION is the word most associated with Beethoven and, ultimately, the only thing that really mattered to him was his music. For that reason, perhaps, the best way to listen to these sonatas is to allow yourself to be drawn into the music, and to be swept along by the emotion, to share in Beethoven's passion, and to be consumed by it!" -- Virginia Black
Passion of the Soul / Park, Gailey, Wrigley, Royal, Marshall
David H Park, ‘a soloist with extraordinary artistic gifts’, (Pulitzer Prize winner-Salt Lake Tribune), ‘that commands respect … of the highest order,’ (Le Journal Sud Ouest, DN), started playing the violin at the age of five in Seoul, Korea. Park has studied with two of the most distinguished pedagogues, Josef Gingold and Dorothy Delay. He received his Bachelor of Music at the University of Indiana, where he also studied with Yuval Yaron, and Master of Music at the Juilliard School. At the age of 14, he was one of the youngest students of the legendary Jascha Heifetz. Park maintains a balance between his engagements as soloist with orchestras throughout the world and his recital and chamber music activities. Park has performed solos and recitals in many of the world's great concert halls including Carnegie Recital Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York, Salle Pleyel in Paris, and Sejong Music Center in Seoul. Park has also performed on national television and radio broadcasts in the United States, France, Hong Kong and Korea. Park was featured on KUTV CBS News; where according to the website blog, his performance brought tears to the news anchor, commenting ‘so pure and perfect.’
CONTENTS:
Lukaspassion 1744
Selle: Johannespassion 1643
The proud Hanseatic city of Hamburg enjoys a special status in northern Germany - and that was already the case 400 years ago. Maritime trade made it prosperous even back then, and through skilful diplomacy and a gigantic defensive wall, the city was almost completely spared the devastation of the 30 Years' War, while much of the rest of Europe sank into rubble and misery. The office of Hamburg's city cantor was thus one of the most attractive positions that northern Germany had to offer at that time. Thomas Selle held this position from 1641 and repaid his new home with outstanding compositions such as the St. John Passion from 1643, which is particularly striking for the extraordinary colourfulness of the instrumentation. The Göttingen Baroque Orchestra, conducted by Antonius Adamske, brings it out radiantly, providing the perfect support for the illustrious trio of soloists.
J.S. Bach, Dohnanyi, Enescu, Francaix & Sibelius: Passion
Three extraordinary musical personalities from several nations meet and let the string trio literature blossom in multi-layered sound and intelligent dialogue. When the Leipzig String Trio was founded, violinist Adrian Iliescu, violist Atilla Aldemir and cellist Rodin Moldovan were already internationally successful soloists who had won multiple awards. Their chamber music passion brought them together in 2019. After several joint concerts and chamber music festivals, their first CD is now available, whose repertoire selection (Ernst von Dohnányi, String Trio "Serenade" C major, Op.10 - Jean Françaix, String Trio - Johann Sebastian Bach, Chaconne for solo violin, arrangement for string trio by András von Tòszeghi - Jean Sibelius, String Trio in g minor, JS 210 and George Enescu, Aubade C major, demonstrates the artistic maturity and virtuosity of this ensemble.
J.S. Bach: St. John Passion / Mulroy, Lunn, Potter, Harvey, Concerto Copenhagen
Bach’s St John Passion is like an eternal cry into the void, carrying the essence of western, protestant answers to the fundamental questions in life in music. Our wrongdoings on Earth contrasted with higher moral principles. Nowhere else does it crystallize into music more profoundly and beautifully than in this immortal manifestation of Bach’s genius.
Mold: Passiontide - A Lenten Cantata / Cowen, Gull, Knighton Consort
PASSIONTIDE – A Lenten Cantata. Simon Mold’s new setting is a triumph drawing deeply on the traditions of baroque Passion settings as well as such works as Stainer’s ‘The Crucifixion’ and Maunder’s ‘Olivet to Calvary’, this work is a masterpiece which, if there is any justice in the world, will be widely sung, to be appreciated by choirs, audiences and congregations. A strikingly accessible work that explores a range of emotions with a sure feel for word-setting and an irrepressible tunefulness, while nonetheless capable of many passages of gravitas, poignancy and lingering beauty. Highlights include dramatic moments in the Garden of Gethsemane and before Pilate, a searching setting of the Reproaches for choir and soloist, the heart-rending farewell duet for Mary and Jesus and a final scene that taps into the feelings of believer and non-believer alike.
The Passionate Amy Beach / Solungga Liu
Solungga Liu has been acclaimed as a pianist of great breadth. She is a champion of early twentieth-century American music and underrepresented works of the standard repertoire. She is also known as an uncanny interpreter of new music. The American Record Guide described her recording “The Pleasure-Dome of Kubla Khan: Piano Works of Charles Tomlinson Griffes” for Centaur Records, as having, “excellent sound, sensitivity and beguiling color,” to which the Seattle Post-Intelligencer added, “This is an excellent recording. Liu has done justice to this sometime overlooked body of work with her playing, as she pays tribute to a unique and evocative composer.”
Passion for Ukraine: Art Songs & Folk Arrangements / Belkyna, Petrychenko
The Ukrainian folk song is unquestionably a unique phenomenon. No nation in history has amassed such a wealth of songs as those created by the Ukrainian people. UNESCO has an impressive audio library of folk songs from all over the world. The Ukrainian contribution amounts to some 15,500 songs and is far and away the biggest collection in the library. Folk music in the Ukrainian language originated in the 9th century at the time when Kyivan Rus was founded; the authors of the texts of most songs have long since been forgotten. Over the years, many composers researched and arranged them, principally for voice and piano, and transformed them into “Romances”, art songs, like German Lieder. The program includes 15 songs: three romances by four composers and three folk songs. Each work has accompanied the artist's life in one way or another, so it has a special meaning for Lena Belkina.
Many of the works on this album are being recorded for the first time – and this is a great opportunity to discover Ukrainian music, its character, its temperament, its melodic language and the influence of time upon it. The program is emotional and multi-faceted and would not have sounded so authentic without the pianist Violina Petrychenko. She is making Ukrainian piano music known around the world, recording composers like Kosenko, Revutskyi, Barvinskyi and other artists little known in the wider world. This duet is a union of opposites that are brought together to complement one another, to reflect personal strength and passion for music. The artists united by a common goal – showing Ukrainian art full of love for their country to the whole world.
Passions - Gubaidulina & Golijov
These works were commissioned by the International Bach Academy in Stuttgart to write works to mark Bach Year 2000. Osvaldo Golijov´s Pasión Según San Marcos is the work of one who moves back and forth between different worlds and can scarcely be pigeonholed as representing a specific culture. His work unites the music of South America, Cuba, the West and Jewish tradition to produce an unconventional conception of a “Passion“ in which Jesus is not a light skinned European, but instead a person of color. Sofia Gubaidulina's response was a St John Passion, and subsequently she added a sequel, St John Easter, which was premiered in Hamburg in March 2002. Both those works originally had Russian words, drawn mostly from St John's gospel and the Book of Revelation, but in 2006, prompted by conductor Helmuth Rilling, Gubaidulina collaborated on a German translation of the text, while also making revisions to the score itself.
La Passione - Beethoven, Haydn & Mozart / Landshamer, Forck, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin returns to Pentatone together with soprano Christina Landshamer, presenting La Passione, a collection of dazzling concert arias on love, longing and loss by Mozart, Beethoven, and Haydn, paired with the latter’s “La Passione” Symphony. Ranging from pastoral simplicity to exuberant outrage, the program offers some of the finest vocal writing around 1800, including some of Beethoven’s rare and little-known excursions to Italian bravura opera, as well as one of the most dramatic and expressive symphonies of the eighteenth-century.
The Akademie für Alte Musik is generally seen as one of the best period-instruments ensembles of today, and has a substantial Pentatone discography, including CANTATA with Bejun Mehta (2018), Handel’s Concerti grossi op. 6 (released in 2019 and 2020). Telemann’s Miriways (2020), Handel’s Messiah (2020) and Haydn’s L’isola disabitata (2021). Christina Landshamer featured as Marzelline on Beethoven’s Fidelio (2021).
