HMGold series

Despres: Missa Pange Lingua

IMPORTANT NOTICE
This item is currently in preparation for re-issue and will not be available until September 2008. We wouldn't normally list it so far in advance but because of the Building a Library Award in April 2008 we decided to do so.
You can pre-order it now but please be aware of this delay in supply.

Arias for Farinelli

Thanks to the cinema, Farinelli is now popularly seen as the archetype of Baroque vocal art. His timbre and technique were an inspiration to the composers of his time, and many opera arias bearing the mark of Farinelli have come down to us. A selection of these, many of them never recorded before, is performed here by the American mezzo-soprano Vivica Genaux, one of the few singers capable of doing justice to this demanding repertory. Long acquainted with these virtuoso arias and the vocal technique they require, René Jacobs has provided specially written decorations for each of them.

Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem, Op. 45

Purcell - Songs

Charpentier - Te Deum & Missa Assumpta est Maria

Kantate - German Baroque Cantatas

The pieces on this recording demonstrate the consummate art with which the German composers reconciled the new ideas imported from Italy at the very beginning of the 17th century (the principle of the basso continuo, accompanied monody, the concertato technique) with local traditions, thereby giving birth to works of a subtle beauty and an almost inexhaustible richness. This stylistic revolution paved the way to the flourishing of great forms like the vocal solo, the spiritual concert, the cantata, etc. cultivated by composers as different as Schütz, Buxtehude, Tunder and Erlebach: in the very heart of Baroque Europe the Germans were taking their place.

Schumann - Frauenliebe und Leben

Canta la Maddalena

The theme of the deploration represents one of the keystones of the Italian baroque revolution in the first half of the 17th century. These lamenti constituted the ideal framework for putting into practice the latest discoveries in expressive solo singing. Freed from the subtleties of counterpoint, it was now able to communicate the emotion expressed in the words directly to the listener. In this respect sacred music was not far behind and it is easy to understand why the plaints of Mary Magdalene at the foot of the Cross were so abundant, especially in Rome where religious music had always occupied a more important position than elsewhere. The solo motets of Rossi, Agneletti, Mazzocchi and Frescobaldi bear dazzling witness to this specifically Roman musical activity.

Mozart - Chamber Sonatas

The sonatas composed in chamber style for several instruments seem to have been imposed on the Church by Salzburg custom of the time. Following in his father's footsteps, W.A. Mozart composed 17 such sonatas between 1772 and 1780. Their structure, with a single usually rapid movement stems from the purest Baroque style, yet they belong amongst the founding works of Classical style and the concertante aspect of some of them is really stunning!

Vivaldi - Sonate a tre 'La Follia'