Project Harmonia Mundi - Part 26

×

Project Harmonia Mundi - Part 26

Close

Although they were the earliest works that the young Beethoven thought worthy to feature in his catalogue, the three Trios op.1 were far from being his first compositions. But it was in them that he first asserted his ambitions and revealed his imaginative powers. Nearly fifteen years separate them from the famous ‘Ghost’ Trio, one of the composer’s mature masterpieces. Our three performers have judiciously coupled these works with a remarkable trio by Hummel, one of Beethoven’s principal rivals.

Part1 - Part2 - Part3

×

Project Harmonia Mundi - Part 26

Close

Berlioz: Nuits d'eté, Ravel: Shéhérazade [HMC901932] Fink, Nagano, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester
Classical | EAC APE+CUE+LOG | 1CD/240MB | Covers+Booklet | RS.com

A thousand and one summer nights . . .
Bernarda Fink, Kent Nagano and the musicians of the DSO Berlin invite you to a recital of mélodies bathed in typically French sensuality. Sixty years separate the Nuits d'été from Shéhérazade, yet it seems as if time has been abolished, leaving a single conception that stands above mere stylistic differences: the sumptuous sound characteristic of Berlioz’s orchestration, whose Mediterranean strains find an echo a little farther east in the music of Ravel . . .

Part1 - Part2 - Part3

×

Project Harmonia Mundi - Part 26

Close

Brahms: Liebeslieder-Walzer Op.52 [HMC901945] Petersen, Doufexis, Güra, Jarnot, Berner, Radicke
Classical | EAC APE+CUE+LOG | 1CD/237MB | Covers+Booklet | RS.com

‘Love-songs, waltzes for four voices and piano duet’: these colourful lieder inspired by Viennese traditional music were soon as successful in the parlour as if they had been genuine folksongs! From cheerful flirtations to the despair of broken hearts, they run the whole gamut of love. This great classic of the Romantic repertoire is interpreted here by a splendid vocal quartet.

Part1 - Part2 - Part3

×

Project Harmonia Mundi - Part 26

Close

Byrd: Second Service & Consort Anthems [HMU907440] Bill Ives, Fretwork, The Choir of Magdalan College Oxford
Classical | EAC APE+CUE-LOG | 1CD/340MB | Covers+Booklet | RS.com

In Magdalen College Choir’s second collaboration with Fretwork, Bill Ives explores the rich Anglican repertoire of William Byrd. Well-known and much admired anthems such as Prevent us, O Lord and O Lord make thy servant, Elizabeth are interspersed with chamber works for organ, viols, and solo tenor (performed by Rogers Covey-Crump). Highlights include new reconstructions by Dr David Skinner of the Second Service, and a near-lost verse anthem in praise of Oriana herself, Queen Elizabeth I.

Part1 - Part2 - Part3 - Part4

×

Project Harmonia Mundi - Part 26

Close

Crystal Tears [HMC901993] Andreas Scholl, Julian Behr, Concerto di Viole
Classical | EAC APE+CUE+LOG | 1CD/327MB | Covers+Booklet | RS.com

There are few pleasures more delightful than musical melancholy, especially when it flows from the pen of the finest Elizabethan poets and a composer whose name will be forever associated with that emotion: John Dowland. His lute songs and consort songs form the backbone of Andreas Scholl’s latest recital. The countertenor has gathered his favourite partners around him in the service of this sublime vocal art, elegantly distilling its fragile instants of grace. The songs are adroitly interspersed with instrumental pieces by Dowland’s contemporaries. Bonus DVD: a performance of the Song ‘Venus’ birds’ and a ‘beyond the microphones’ documentary on the making of this recording.

Part1 - Part2 - Part3 - Part4

×

Project Harmonia Mundi - Part 26

Close

Händel: Organ Concertos Op.4 [HMU807446] Richard egarr, Academy of Ancient Music
Classical | EAC APE+CUE+LOG | 1CD/309MB | Covers+Booklet | RS.com

In the 1730s Handel was prepared to try any novelty in order to remain at the centre of the musical scene in London. This is what prompted him to interpolate concertos for organ, with himself as soloist, in performances of his oratorios. Their considerable success soon led to the publication of a whole set of such concertos: it is this edition, corrected with great care by the composer himself, that Richard Egarr used for the present recording.

Part1 - Part2 - Part3 - Part4

×

Project Harmonia Mundi - Part 26

Close

Händel: Solomon [HMC901949.50] Daniel Reuss, RIAS Kammerchor, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin
Classical | EAC APE+CUE+LOG | 2CD/702MB | Covers+Booklet | RS.com

Handel was 63 years old when he composed Solomon, one of his final masterpieces. This monumental oratorio depicts the three highpoints of the biblical king’s life: the building of the temple, the famous judgment, and the visit of the Queen of Sheba. With a dramatic instinct keener than ever, the composer did not hesitate to combine political and patriotic reflections with exaltation of carnal love and celebration of earthly riches. This ‘perfect marriage of music and English words’, as Winton Dean has called it, caused the composer serious financial difficulties in 1749 on account of the exceptional forces it required – but today, under the baton of Daniel Reuss, it finds performers totally devoted to its noble cause!

Part1 - Part2 - Part3 - Part4 - Part5 - Part6 - Part7 - Part8

×

Project Harmonia Mundi - Part 26

Close

Lassus, Ashewell, Palesrina: La Quinta Essentia [HMC901922] Paul Van Nevel, Huelgas-Ensemble
Classical | EAC APE+CUE+LOG | 1CD/349MB | Covers+Booklet | RS.com

Paul Van Nevel and the Huelgas-Ensemble have collected the quintessence of a musical art. Their recording illustrates the three dominant styles of the Renaissance: the Roman school, Franco-Flemish polyphony, and English late Gothic. The chosen formal framework is the mass, and three of its greatest masters contribute to the programme: Lassus, ‘counterpoint on a human scale’, Palestrina, ‘the path of transcendence’, and Ashewell, ‘the irresistible appeal of virtuoso ornamentation’. A whole world recreated in sound!

Part1 - Part2 - Part3 - Part4

×

Project Harmonia Mundi - Part 26

Close

Mozart: The Last Concertos [HMC901980] Andreas Staier, Lorenzo Coppola, Freiburger Barockorchester
Classical | EAC APE+CUE+LOG | 1CD/247MB | Covers+Booklet | RS.com

The Last Concertos (Vienna, 1751)
This recording is the last of the triptych of CDs that the Freiburger Barockorchester has devoted to Mozart’s concertos. We are in 1791: his final instrumental work (the Clarinet Concerto) comes just a few months after the last piano concerto. In both cases, the performers have gone back to the original manuscripts to unearth the detailed traces of the composer’s own performing practice. If his markings are followed precisely, it is possible to rediscover a fascinating variety of sonic perspectives.

Part1 - Part2 - Part3

×

Project Harmonia Mundi - Part 26

Close

Mozart: Wind Concertos, Horn Concertos [HMC901946] Petra Müllejans, Freiburger Barockorchester
Classical | EAC APE+CUE+LOG | 1CD/331MB | Covers+Booklet | RS.com

After a first recording exploring the spirit of the symphonie concertante, the Freiburger Barockorchester presents the second instalment of its trilogy devoted to the concertos of Mozart. Performance on period instruments is all the more revealing here in that wind instruments were then undergoing an era of rapid development. Constantly pushing forward the frontiers of technique and expressiveness, these works also offer us a truculent portrait of the composer’s close rapport with his soloists.

Part1 - Part2 - Part3 - Part4

×

Project Harmonia Mundi - Part 26

Close

Les Plaisirs du Palais [HML5908224.25] Dominique Visse, Ensemble Clément Janequin
Classical | EAC APE+CUE+LOG | 2CD/627MB | Covers+Booklet | RS.com

As its title suggests, this CD-book has something to delight every palate. It brings together some of the most truculent drinking songs ever to grace a Renaissance monarch’s table. A sumptuous buffet of Rabelaisian verse, seasoned with a wide variety of sauces prepared by the finest chefs of French polyphony – Claudin de Sermisy, Fréneau (a Fricassée!), Compère, Certon, Clemens non Papa and many others – and garnished with a delicious side-order of paintings and recipes by the great masters!