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Presto Recordings of the Year, Handel (composer)
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Special offer. Handel: Theodora
RecommendedLisette Oropesa (Theodora), Joyce DiDonato (Irene), Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian (Didymus), Michael Spyres (Septimius), John Chest (Valens), Il Pomo d'Oro, Maxim Emelyanychev
This is now the benchmark Theodora; it is optimally cast, dramatically intense and luminously beautiful. Its world-class principals use their fine vocal qualities to deepen their characters.... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 28th October 2022
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2022
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BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2022, Recording of the Month
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Sunday Times, 10 Best Classical Albums of 2022
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2023, Winner - Choral
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2023, Nominated - Female Singer of the Year (Oropesa & DiDonato)
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2023, Nominated - Male Singer of the Year (Spyres)
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2023, Nominated - Conductor of the Year
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The ensemble is a coterie of some of the finest early musicians on the scene today – friends who evidently relish the art of musical conversation, the guiding ethos of the English consort tradition. —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, June 2024, Editor's Choice
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Presto Recording of the Week, 24th May 2024
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BBC Music Magazine, July 2024, Chamber Choice
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalists 2024
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International Classical Music Awards, 2025, Nominated - Baroque Instrumental
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Special offer. Handel: Agrippina
RecommendedJoyce DiDonato (Agrippina), Elsa Benoit (Poppea), Luca Pisaroni (Claudio), Franco Fagioli (Nerone), Jakub Józef Orliński (Ottone), Andrea Mastroni (Pallante), Carlo Vistoli (Narciso), Biagio Pizzuti (Lesbo), Marie-Nicole Lemieux (Giunone)
Il Pomo d'Oro, Maxim Emelyanychev
This Agrippina jostles for top place among the opera’s complete recordings. Joyce DiDonato is matchless in the title role, most other cast members likewise outstrip their rivals and their vocal... —
Awards:
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Record Review, 11th January 2020, Record of the Week
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Presto Recording of the Week, 31st January 2020
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Gramophone Magazine, March 2020, Editor's Choice
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BBC Music Magazine, April 2020, Opera Choice
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2020, Nominee - Female Singer of the Year (DiDonato)
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2020, Nominee - Conductor of the Year
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Gramophone Awards, 2020, Winner - Opera
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2020
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2021, Shortlisted - Opera
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Grammy Awards, 63rd Awards (2021), Nominee - Best Opera Recording
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Handel: Messiah
RecommendedErin Wall (soprano), Elizabeth DeShong (mezzo-soprano), Andrew Staples (tenor), John Relyea (bass-baritone)
Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Sir Andrew Davis
Astonishingly well controlled…the solo voices are rich and weighty…[the] flute provides a charming obbligato to ‘How beautiful are the feet’, while the tenor’s ‘Thy rebuke…’ is intensely moving…a... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 2nd December 2016
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BBC Music Magazine, January 2017, Choral & Song Choice
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2016
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Grammy Awards, 60th Awards (2017), Nominee - Choral Performance
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a maddening, fascinating and often bewitching disc —
Awards:
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2016
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Gramophone Awards, 2017, Finalist - Recital
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International Classical Music Awards, 2017, Winner - Baroque Vocal
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Handel: Samson
RecommendedJoshua Ellicott (tenor), Sophie Bevan(soprano), Fflur Wyn (soprano), Mary Bevan (soprano), Jess Dandy (contralto), Hugo Hymas (tenor), Matthew Brook (bass), Vitali Rozynko (bass-baritone)
Dunedin Consort, John Butt
Butt has created the best Samson ever...These choral forces make for a vibrancy unique among Samson recordings…Butt’s deep grasp of both Handel’s rhetoric and of large-scale structure turns... —
Awards:
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2019
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International Classical Music Awards, 2019, Nominee - Baroque Vocal
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Gramophone Magazine, December 2019, Editor's Choice
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Gramophone Magazine, December 2019, Critics' Choice
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Gramophone Awards, 2020, Finalist - Choral
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2021, Shortlisted - Choral
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An English Coronation, 1902-1953
RecommendedEdward VII, George V, George VI, Elizabeth II
Gabrieli, Paul McCreesh
Some may find the extensive spoken liturgy excessive but such is Simon Russell Beale’s compelling delivery that the sheer beauty of the words offers a musical diversion of a different kind.... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, June 2019, Editor's Choice
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Presto Editor's Choice, May 2019
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Diapason d’Or, September 2019, Nouveauté
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2019
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Winner 2019
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Limelight Magazine Recordings of the Year, 2019, Nominated - Vocal
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International Classical Music Awards, 2019, Nominee - Choral
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Gramophone Magazine, December 2019, Critics' Choice
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Gramophone Awards, 2020, Finalist - Choral
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Special offer. Handel: Italian cantatas
RecommendedSabine Devieilhe (soprano), Léa Desandre (mezzo)
Le Concert d'Astrée, Emmanuelle Haïm (harpsichord, organ and conductor)
This production is a delight throughout…Haïm retains control by preparing both the scores and the sopranos’ ornaments, her vision giving this carefully wrought performance a fiery intensity,... —
Awards:
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2018
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Presto Editor's Choice, November 2018
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Gramophone Magazine, December 2018, Recording of the Month
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BBC Music Magazine, February 2019, Choral & Song Choice
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2020, Finalist - Vocal
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A thoughtful assembly of music depicting affliction and repentance on the one hand and joy and desire on the other. The recording finds Sabine Devieilhe on sparkling form. Bach and Handel do... —
Awards:
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2021
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Gramophone Magazine, December 2021, Recording of the Month
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Presto Editor's Choice, November 2021
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BBC Music Magazine, January 2022, Choral & Song Choice
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International Classical Music Awards, 2023, Nominated - Baroque Vocal
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Special offer. Anima Aeterna
RecommendedJakub Józef Orliński (countertenor), Il Pomo d’Oro, Francesco Corti
Be prepared for some dazzling displays…in Zelenka’s psalm setting ‘Laetatus sum’, Orlinski is partnered by the assured, pliant and blended singing of Fatma Said…[Nucci's] aria ‘Un giusto furore’... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2021, Editor's Choice
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Presto Recording of the Week, 22nd October 2021
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Building A Library, November 2021, Also Recommended
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2021
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International Classical Music Awards, 2022, Winner - Baroque Vocal
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