Two of the undisputed choral masterpieces from sixteenth-century England, by one of the greatest English composers: John Taverner’s Missa Mater Christi sanctissima and Western Wynde Mass. The five hundred years since the works’ genesis are but as a watch in the night in these sublime performances from Westminster Abbey Choir and James O’Donnell.

"The Jazz Mass" the Albert L. Marx production produced for Columbia Records by John Hammond, is far and away the best thing of its kind in recorded repertoire. The production brings to the Mass America's most important serious music, Jazz; and this is accomplished in a record which is full of reverence and spiritual values. Listening to the disc provides a vital, thrilling experience.

The extensive body of work by Anton Bruckner (1824-1896), which is often limited to his monumental nine symphonies (eleven if the two scores prior to the First are included), is characterised by the expression of his deep Catholic faith. Bruckner received his training as a young singer at the age of thirteen at the Abbey of Saint Florian, located a few kilometres from Linz in Austria. His faith is exalted in both his religious and orchestral works, as evidenced by his dedication of his Ninth Symphony to 'Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam'. It is not surprising that almost half of Anton Bruckner's catalogue, which consists of around 150 opuses in the Werke Anton Bruckner (WAB), are choral scores.

Alamire, under the direction of David Skinner, complete their survey of the choral works of William Byrd to mark the composer's 400th anniversary with this landmark recording of The Great Service and seven anthems. Emerging from centuries of obscurity, Byrd's Great Service, first revived in the early twentieth century, represents a pinnacle of English choral music. This recording commemorates the centenary of it's modern debut in 1924. With intricate polyphony and poignant text settings, Byrd's masterful use of ten voices reveals his unparalleled skill in capturing the essence of the Anglican liturgy. Complemented by seven anthems, thisalbum offers a comprehensive exploration of Byrd's rich, spiritual, and historical musical contributions.

This recording imparts two large-ensemble and especially extensive Magnificat settings by the composer in C Major (PWV 1503) and B-flat Major (PWV 1514), and an Ingressus, the Deus in adjutorium in F Major (PWV 1407); this piece is also especially festive and Pachelbel composed it for the opening of a vesper service. Two sacred concertos for solo violin, solo voice and basso continuo (PWV 1222 in C Minor and PWV 1203 in A Minor) offer a striking contrast to these. They reveal a different, but no less impressive aspect of Pachelbel’s compositional artistry and have their own history of how they were handed down to us.

Following the publication of the collection Parnassus Musicus Ferdinandaeus in 1615, all kinds of compiled collections of sacred music started to appear, often featuring music for smaller ensembles and of course, in the new early-Baroque style, music scored for voice, instruments and basso continuo. The compiler, usually a composer himself, gathered works from his colleagues, added some of his own work and had the collection published. Nowadays because of copyright this would be unimaginable, particularly if publishing the compositions of one’s own contemporaries.

Profeti della Quinta makes its Linn debut with a unique programme of Italian madrigals, instrumental pieces and Hebrew prayers by Salomone Rossi (c.1570-c.1630). The programme encompasses Rossi's many-faceted talents both as a court composer in the service of the Gonzaga family and as a unique innovator of devotional music for the synagogue. The award-winning a-cappella ensemble, comprising five core male singers, is joined for this recording by Katya Polin and Eva Saladin (violin) and Ori Harmelin and Ryosuke Sakamoto (theorbo). The native Hebrew speaking singers specialize in the music of the Italian Baroque and have an immediate connection to Rossi as a Jewish Italian composer.

Choral Music by Rick Birley Volume 1 is the first collection of choral works by Rick Birley to be released by Prima Facie.

From the rich musical scene of the early sixteenth century comes a repertoire that sings the praises of the vegetable world comprised in the vast geographic horizon stretching up from verdant meadows full of flowers to the mountain pastures where shepherds and shepherdesses playfully send back the echo of their own voices. Allusions, onomatopoeias, adages and bywords, maxims, pangs of love, games and dances to ancient tunes sprout from citations of roses, gardens, shady woods, cypresses, triumphant laurels, broad-beans and beans.

Balthasar Erben, born in Danzig in 1626, was a cosmopolitan. When he applied for the position of Kapellmeister at the main church of St. Mary in his home town at the age of 27, the council granted him a generous grant so that he could "look around the world and perfect himself as a composer". Erben was on the road in Europe for five years and visited all the centers of musical culture up to Rome.

The challenges and rewards of performing early music are here vividly illustrated by The Binchois Consort, as creative scholarship comes to the aid of two substantial—but fragmentary—works by Jacob Obrecht, and an audacious recorded sound attempts to recreate the experience of the original performers 500 years ago: an album set to attract huge interest from critics and Renaissance scholars alike.

Releasing ahead of Cimafunk's two debut Coachella performances, this is the first single from his upcoming 2024 album, the followup to critically acclaimed, GRAMMY-nominated 2021 album 'El Alimento.' The track features acclaimed Haitian musician and producer Michael Brun who has collaborated with J Balvin ("Positivo," 2018 World Cup theme song), Major Lazer, Arcade Fire, Wyclef Jean, and more. The track also features American GRAMMY-winning trumpeter/vocalist/songwriter Keyon Harrold who has collaborated with Robert Glasper, Common, Jay-Z, Beyonce, 50 Cent, Mac Miller, Mary J. Blige, Maxwell, and many more.

Japanese original release. Uses 2012 DSD master based on the Deutsche Grammophon's original analog tape.

Bill Ives has enjoyed a rich and varied career as both performer and composer (Grayston Ives). These experiences, culminating in nearly two decades as Informator Choristarum (Director of Music) at Magdalen College, Oxford, are reflected in a compositional style which is complex yet accessible, rich and colourful. His choral music comes from the heart, and this deeply personal reaction to the texts enables the performer or listener to engage with and enjoy the music to its full extent.

"The mute cornett, whose mouthpiece resembles that of the cornett but is integrated into the instrument, has a very soft and tender sound. For this reason it is called a mute cornett”. Four such instruments that by some miracle survived the loss of the great collections of the Kassel court are now kept in Leipzig; these instruments formed the starting point for a doctoral thesis led by Lambert Colson.