Here is the second set of Les Pleiades, ‘the intelligent collection of Ricercar re-releases’. Again devoted to the German Baroque religious repertoire, this appropriate release focuses on the Nativity repertoire, extending from the early 17th century to the generation of Johann Sebastian Bach who is represented here by a few very beautiful Christmas cantatas.

Alongside Schütz’s Christmas Oratorio and lovely Yuletide cantatas by Bach’s contemporary Christoph Graupner, we will find in this set the evocation of Nativity scenes, from the Annunciation up to the Presentation in the Temple, as well as the reconstruction of a Lutheran Christmas service.

The compositions by Praetorius, Selle, Tunder, Lübeck, Buxtehude, Scheidt, Hammerschmidt, Schütz and Bruhns will tell you the Christmas story with tenderness and joy.

Artists

Ricercar Consort (early music ensemble), Ensemble La Fenice (early music ensemble), Agnès Mellon (soprano), Capella Ricercar, Greta De Reyghere, Ian Honeyman, Bernard Foccroulle (organ), Capella Sancti Michaelis, Henri Ledroit, Guy De Mey, Max van Egmond (baritone), Victor Demaiffe, Guy Penson, Thibault Lenaerts, Denis Menier, Claire Lefilliâtre, Hans Jörg Mammel (tenor), Renaud Tripathi, Hervé Mignon, Philippe Froeliger, Jacques Dekoninck, Aldo Plateau, Thomas Van Essen, Jean-Marie Marchal, Etienne Debaisieux, Philippe Favette, Julie Vallée-Gendre, Florence Malgoire, Patrick Beuckels, Kaori Uemura, Sue Addison, Charles Toet, Jean-Jacques Herbin, Wim Becu, Elsa Franck, Jérémie Papasergio, Elisabeth Geiger, Eric Van Nevel, Les Agrémens (early music ensemble), Amaryllis Dieltiens, Elisabeth Scholl, Lothar Blum, Reinoud Van Mechelen (tenor), Stefan Geyer, Ex Tempore, Mannheimer Hofkapelle, Florian Heyerick, Chœur de Chambre de Namur, Collegium Vocale Gent, Dominique Visse, Jean Tubéry, Philippe Pierlot, Konrad Junghänel, Denis Raisin Dadre, Philippe Herreweghe