Gift Guides,
Gifts for... Baroque and Early Music fans
New Recordings
A collection of works by Bach, some originally for keyboard instruments and some arranged for piano by the multi-award-winning French pianist Alexandre Tharaud.
Great for: Anyone who loves the music of Bach but perhaps isn't completely sold on the sound-world of the harpsichord!
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
André Campra: Messe de Requiem & Les Maîtres de Notre-Dame de Paris
Sébastien Daucé, Ensemble Correspondances
Campra’s majestic Requiem alongside works by his less well-known contemporaries Jean Veillot and François Cosset.
Great for: Anyone who enjoys the stately, dancelike grandeur of the French Baroque style.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Robert Fayrfax: Maria Plena Virtute; Ave Dei Patris; O Maria, Deo Grata; Eterna Laudis Lilium
The Tallis Scholars (early music ensemble), Peter Phillips
The latest release from The Tallis Scholars, exploring the soaring sonic cathedrals of pre-Reformation England.
Great for: Anyone who likes The Tallis Scholars, particularly if they also enjoy the luxuriously sprawling choral soundscapes of the pre-Tudor era.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Orazio Benevoli: Missa Benevola
I Fagiolini (early music ensemble), The City Musick, Robert Hollingworth
A second helping of 'Colossal Baroque' from I Fagiolini as they continue to dig up lost works of glorious scope and scale - the four-choir Missa Benevola, never before recorded.
Great for: Anyone who enjoyed the first volume in 2023, or anyone who loves the polychoral, poly-ensemble sonority of Gabrieli and his contemporaries, which these works build on.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
An incredible solo recital from rising star Nardus Williams - three Italian cantatas for soprano solo and ensemble.
Great for: Anyone who loves Handel, in particular his solo vocal works. The Dunedin Consort and John Butt are also especially expert in this repertoire.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Works from the era following the Council of Trent, when monasteries and convents enjoyed a new burst of fervour spurred on in no small part by the Reformation. Sacred music - both plainchant and polyphony - entered something of a Golden Age, a snapshot of which is captured here.
Great for: Anyone who enjoys Renaissance polyphony and exploring works a little off the beaten track.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV
A tribute to the late Frans Brüggen, early music trailblazer. Lucie Horsche performs a selection of arrangements of early repertoire, including some on recorders from Brüggen's own collection.
Great for: Those already among Horsch's considerable body of devoted fans, or anyone interested in hearing characterful recorder-centric arrangements of favourite early works.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Antonín Kraft - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: Cello Concertos
Jean-Guihen Queyras (cello), Ensemble Resonanz, Riccardo Minasi
A delightful dip into the galant style, this album juxtaposes a concerto by CPE Bach with one by the overlooked Czech composer Antonín Kraft.
Great for: Fans of early cello music, and of the transitional period between the Baroque and Classical eras as they're commonly understood.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Rameau: Les Boréades
Sabine Devieilhe (Alphise), Reinoud Van Mechelen (Abaris), Benedikt Kristjánsson (Calisis), Thomas Dolié (Borée), Philippe Estèphe (Borilée), Tassis Christoyannis (Adamus/Apollon), Gwendoline Blondeel (Sémire/Nymphe/L'Amour/Polymnie); Orfeo Orchestra, Purcell Choir, György Vashegyi
Rameau's tale of gods and nymphs thwarted in love contains some of his most vivid orchestral colours; the Entrée de Polymnie has justly become a favourite excerpt in its own right.
Great for: Lovers of Baroque opera in all its splendour, authentically performed by world-leading musicians.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
A forerunner to Bach's Christmas Oratorio, Schütz's Weihnachtshistorie is perhaps the first template for large-scale musical celebrations of the Christmas season. Lionel Meunier and Vox Luminis are the finest interpreters of this repertoire one could ask for.
Great for: Getting into the Christmas spirit! Particularly for those who enjoy the style and grandeur of Schütz and his German contemporaries.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Recent DVD/Blu-ray releases
George Frideric Handel: Brockes Passion
Soloists and Chorus of Oper Halle, Händelfestspielorchester Halle, Walter Sutcliffe, Michael Hofstetter
Handel's powerful Brockes Passion in a new staged performance directed by Walter Sutcliffe, with an eye towards contemporary questions about sustainability and humanity's long-term prospects.
Great for: Anyone interested in experiencing this poetic Passion oratorio in a wholly new way.
Available Format: DVD Video
Soloists and Chorus of Oper Halle, Händelfestspielorchester Halle, Walter Sutcliffe, Michael Hofstetter
Available Format: Blu-ray
Mozart: Mitridate, re di Ponto
Pene Pati (Mitridate), Ana Maria Labin (Aspasia), Angela Brower (Sifare), Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian (Farnace), Sarah Aristidou (Ismene), Les Musiciens du Louvre, Satoshi Miyagi, Marc Minkowski
'Love, power and betrayal'. Of course! Mozart's early work about two competing sons shows that even aged fourteen, he was fast developing into one of the great musical minds of his time.
Great for: Lovers of visual splendour - director Satoshi Miyagi and his Japanese team create 'an atmosphere that is nothing short of magical', while Samoan tenor Pene Pati is stupendous in the title role.
Available Format: 2 DVD Videos
Pene Pati (Mitridate), Ana Maria Labin (Aspasia), Angela Brower (Sifare), Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian (Farnace), Sarah Aristidou (Ismene), Les Musiciens du Louvre, Satoshi Miyagi, Marc Minkowski
Available Format: Blu-ray
New Box Sets and Collections
If that Schütz Christmas Oratorio wasn't enough! The 2007-2021 recordings of Vox Luminis on Ricercar, Alpha Classics and Ramée, all in one glorious 21-CD box.
Great for: Anyone who wants a nice big box of some of the very best early music performances available (particularly German Baroque but extending well beyond that).
Available Format: 21 CDs
In the run-up to the inexhaustible William Christie's 80th birthday festivities, this box draws together his complete recordings for Erato with his ensemble Les Arts Florissants, who helped set the standard for the early music revival from the 1970s onward.
Great for: Anyone who appreciates the artistry and scholarship of William Christie, and his tireless advocacy for historically-informed performance over the decades. Oh, and the performances aren't too shabby, either!
Available Format: 61 CDs
Recordings that have been difficult or impossible to obtain since the mid-2000s, brought back to life. André Isoir performs the complete organ works of JS Bach.
Great for: Anyone who loves Bach, organ music, or both.
Available Format: 15 CDs
