Choral, Oratorios & Passions, Handel (composer)
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Special offer. 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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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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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. Handel: Messiah
Hilary Cronin (soprano), Helen Charlston (mezzo), Alexander Chance, Nathan Mercieca (countertenors), Guy Cutting (tenor), Frederick Long, Edward Grint (bass-baritones), Irish Baroque Orchestra & Choir, Peter Whelan
My spirits were uplifted almost throughout the recording. A current of gentle zephyrs refreshes every bar of the music...Complementing the instrumental vitality is the invigorating choral singing... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, April 2026, Editor's Choice
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BBC Music Magazine, May 2026, Choral Choice
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Special offer. Handel: La Resurrezione
RecommendedLucy Crowe (Angel), Sophie Bevan (Mary Magdalene), Iestyn Davies (Mary Cleophas), Hugo Hymas (John the Evangelist), Ashley Riches (Lucifer)
The English Concert, Harry Bicket
La Resurrezione is one of Handel’s greatest works, and Harry Bicket has gifted us its greatest recording...Bicket and his stellar cast embrace Handel’s radical approach, turning sacred figures... —
Awards:
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Record Review, 2nd April 2022, Record of the Week
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BBC Music Magazine, July 2022, Recording of the Month
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2022
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Handel: Semele
RecommendedLouise Alder (Semele), Hugo Hymas (Jupiter), Lucile Richardot (Juno/Ino), Carlo Vistoli (Athamas), Gianluca Buratto (Somnus/Cadmus), Emily Owen (Iris), Angela Hicks (Cupid), Peter Davoren (Apollo)
English Baroque Soloists, Monteverdi Choir, Sir John Eliot Gardiner
Alder is riveting in the title role as she mutates from soft seductress to vain brat to crushed victim, applying a range of styles to develop her character...Richardot’s intensity equals Alder’s,... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, September 2020, Editor's Choice
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Presto Recording of the Week, 2nd October 2020
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BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2020, Opera Choice
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The Times Records of the Year, 2020
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In this dazzling album, Sandrine Piau crowns her legacy as a Baroque prima donna...her informed additions subvert the original melodies and unleash a ferocious vocalism...Correas and the band... —
Awards:
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Presto Editor's Choice, January 2022
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BBC Music Magazine, March 2022, Opera Choice
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International Classical Music Awards, 2023, Nominated - Baroque Vocal
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2023, Nominated - Vocal
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The wealth of virtues in Coote's recital include her intuitive sense of apposite, well-proportioned ornamentation and a sure feeling for just tempo...Occasionally I found her vibrato and vocal... —
Awards:
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2014
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Opera, November 2014, Recording of the Month
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Aspromonte’s voluptuous, velvety soprano and vivid diction capture the emotional and rhetorical tensions of works that veer from grief to joy; my one caveat is that her colour palette and dynamic... —
Awards:
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Presto Editor's Choice, November 2021
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Gramophone Magazine, February 2022, Editor's Choice
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International Classical Music Awards, 2023, Nominated - Baroque Vocal
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Special offer. Handel: Saul
Christopher Purves (Saul), Sarah Connolly (David), Robert Murray (Jonathan), Elizabeth Atherton (Merab), Joélle Harvey (Michal), Mark Dobell (High Priest), Jeremy Budd (Witch of Endor) & Stuart Young (Ghost of Samuel)
The Sixteen, Harry Christophers
the choruses are always beautifully contoured, as is the incisive playing of The Sixteen's house band. Christopher Purves and Sarah Connolly all but steal the show: Purves's splenetic Saul is... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, October 2012, Disc of the Month
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Gramophone Awards, 2013, Finalist - Baroque Vocal
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