Though born a Slovene, Jacobus Gallus centered his entire work around Vienna, Prague and the diocesan city of Olomouc (Olmutz). The surpris-ing mobility of Gallus's truly Renaissance career shows him as a model of the sixteenth-century composer. Gallus was active at both abbey and court, though at times for only a brief period before moving on: Melk, Brno (Brunn), Wroclaw (Breslau), Legnica (Lieg-nitz), Gorlitz, Zwettl, and elsewhere. Mis cosmopolitan spirit is reflected, moreover, in the numerous variations of his name: Handl, Petelin, Haehn, Handelius, Coq, Kohoutek.

This CD is the first in a new series of Collins Classics devoted to Renaissance religious European polyphony. The first part focuses on England with works by William Byrd and Thomas Tallis. Both composers set the lamentations of Jeremiah. William Byrd's "Four part mass" and Thomas Tallis's "Audivi vocem de caelo" can also be heard. The works are sung by The clerks of the choir of New College Oxford conducted by Edward Higginbottom.

Very little is known about the life of Giovan Battista Leonetti. He was born in Crema and it is likely that he received his musical education from Giovanni Battista Caletti-Bruni. The latter was the father of Francesco Cavalli, who was to become the central figure in music life in Venice after the death of Claudio Monteverdi. The first - and only - book of madrigals by Leonetti is dedicated to Caletti. This collection also contains two pieces by him, one of them the 'balletto pastorale' Or sì che 'l vago aprile. The booklet doesn't indicate which is the other.

The Arundel Choirbook is one of the most significant surviving collections of English polyphony from the early 16th century. As well as containing invaluable sources for masses by Robert Fayrfax and Nicholas Ludford, it also contains many works by lesser known and anonymous composers of the period. The Arundel or Lambeth Choirbook is celebrating its 500th anniversary (Arundel College in Sussex was founded in 1380 and dissolved in 1544), and it is fitting that the Iken Scholars has selected a sequence of pieces by anonymous composers (known as the Lambeth Anonymous) that are receiving their world premiere recordings.

Without doubt, this is one of the most important recordings of music by Janácek in recent years. Paul Wingfield’s restoration of the original performing version of the Glagolitic Mass is a fine piece of work and deserves to become the standard text. Those familiar with the Mass will notice changes right at the start, where the ‘Intrada’ (normally the conclusion) appears twice, at both the beginning and end. This introduces a number of fundamental alterations to rhythm and instrumentation which make for a markedly different whole: undoubtedly harder to perform, but infinitely sharper in outline.

Founded in 1982, the Czech Boys Choir Boni Pueri carries on the tradition of a choir that has been active in the metropolitan chapter of St Vitus in Prague since 1252. The present ensemble, which has 200 members ranging from 4 to 19 years old, has performed more than 4,000 international concerts. Boni Pueri also performs at important state events, and has appeared alongside numerous distinguished artists. It is often invited to perform as a guest artist at festivals around the world, and also works closely with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.

On this breathtakingly expressive, fluid, and brilliantly paced 2002 compilation release, world-renowned British virtuoso Julian Byzantine delivers a high-fidelity masterclass in classical guitar craftsmanship. Released via the esteemed EMI Classics label, Popular Guitar Classics gathers a definitive sanctuary of the instrument's most celebrated, emotionally evocative repertoire. With flawless fingerstyle technique and a deeply nuanced sense of dynamic control, Byzantine brings a vivid, sun-drenched warmth to the works of master Spanish and Latin American composers. The collection highlights timeless touchstones of the instrument, running through Isaac Albéniz's sweeping, dramatic landscapes ("Asturias", "Granada"), Francisco Tárrega's hauntingly romantic, tremolo-laden melodies ("Capricho Árabe"), and the rhythmically intricate, rich modernisms of Heitor Villa-Lobos. Recorded with pristine acoustic clarity that captures every subtle resonance of the wood, string, and fingernail, this comprehensive 74-minute program remains an indispensable, definitive treasure for both devoted classical scholars and casual acoustic purists globally.

You have to look at the German-language tracklist to see what you're getting here: not two separate "Creation Masses," but the late Haydn Mass in B flat major, H. 22/13 ("Schöpfungsmesse"), composed in 1801, along with a mass by Salzburg-based composer Luigi Gatti. This is not an original work but an adaptation of Haydn's oratorio The Creation, with texts from the mass fitted to musically and liturgically appropriate melodies. This work, rediscovered only recently, was apparently one of a number of sacred adaptations of secular works that appeared around this time.

Renowned conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads an exceptional cast and ensemble in his upcoming album featuring a new recording of Mozart’s Requiem and Great Mass in C minor. Recorded live at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden in summer 2025, the album brings together two of Mozart’s most profound and spiritually resonant masterpieces. Joined by soloists Ying Fang, Emily D’Angelo, Stanislas de Barbeyrac, and Michael Volle, alongside the RIAS Kammerchor and Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Nézet-Séguin presents interpretations that reveal both the dramatic intensity and transcendent beauty of these landmark works. The programme reflects the conductor’s deep affinity for Mozart and his commitment to exploring the emotional and spiritual dimensions of the composer’s music. Richly detailed and thoughtfully conceived, this recording offers a compelling new perspective on two cornerstones of the choral repertoire and marks a significant addition to Mozart’s recorded legacy.

Agnew's close attention to textural nuance enables us to discover many a subtle detail in the music. His declamation is clear and authoritative and his ability to embrace comfortably the high…

Johann Joseph Fux (1660-1740) was an influential teacher, having written 'Gradus ad Parnassum' which codified compositional principles for musical training throughout the classical era. His compositions include abundant church music, operas, and numerous suites and trio sonatas. Counterpoint in his compositions was a hallmark of his style but did not keep him from incorporating modern tendencies in his music. The 'Missa Corporis Christi' was written in February, 1713, probably written for the next Feast of Corporis Christi, which fell on June 15 in that year.

'Jonas' and 'Dives Malus' are particularly showy examples of the "sacred oratorios" with Latin texts chiefly taken from the Bible, which were extremely popular among the Italian aristocracy, both secular and clerical, throughout the 17th Century. Such musical theater pieces were the Counter-reformation's answer to the opera and secular oratorio, usually based on tales from Graeco-Roman sources, beloved of the Humanists. If any difference in the music is to be heard, it is that the sacred oratorios are more purely aesthetic and intellectual, while the secular oratorio is more easily comprehended by the untrained listener.

The "Office of Fools" was a popular festival featuring theatre, games and dressing-up, a pagan rite whose abuses and excesses the Church tried to control until its disappearance in the 16th century. The vocal and instrumental ensemble Obsidienne, using a manuscript in the library at Sens as its basis, performs a variety of medieval repertoires inspired by this jubilant traditional feast with its disorderliness and inversion of values.

Membra Jesu Nostri (The Limbs of our Lord Jesus) is the single largest and most compelling of the 110 or so sacred vocal works left us by Dutch-German master Dietrich Buxtehude. Buxtehude is better known for his organ music and is rightfully acknowledged as a formative influence on Johann Sebastian Bach. However, Buxtehude's vocal output is slightly larger than that for organ, and he was a key player in the refinement of the German sacred concerto into what we now call the sacred cantata, which he and his wife inherited from its creator and his predecessor, Franz Tunder, in the town of Lübeck. In the years following Buxtehude's death in 1707, German composers of all kinds were gainfully employed writing cantatas in the thousands, Georg Philipp Telemann produced nearly 2,000 of them on his own.

St John’s Passion is a newly discovered masterpiece of the Italian baroque. The autograph manuscript is in the Biblioteca dei Filippini in Naples. The Evangelist is a countertenor and Jesus and Pilate are tenors. The choir is the crowd and the accompaniment is a string quartet. An Italian harpsichord and an organo di legno have been used for the basso continuo and they are joined by a harp.