Mozart: Exsultate, jubilate, K165 - Alleluia

For a half-century he had the reputation of the trumpet soloist: Maurice André, who died in 2012. The best examples of his radiant tone are the recordings he made with different organists – a brilliant stroll through the golden world of Baroque music.

Everyone attaches particular importance to the music for their wedding ceremony. It is, after all, the key ingredient essential for intensifying the emotional level of a very special day which is to be shared not only by the happy couple but also with all their guests. Choosing the music for one’s wedding is an intimate thing, a second declaration of love between bride and groom. But it is also a bid to express and convey to the young couple’s nearest and dearest, who will be present with them at the wedding, all those feelings of joy and love which cannot be expressed by a mere exchange of "I do’s" and of rings.

And so, whatever your musical tastes and temperament and no matter how you choose to say "I love you" or "I do", you’ll find music to suit you on this double album: from favourite classics to rare gems of the repertoire, from music for festive occasions to more intimate, soulful and reflective melodies, this compilation brings together the most beautiful masterpieces to help you make your wedding an occasion of pure emotion and shared happiness and ensure that you never forget the most beautiful day of your life.

This will be of great interest to Mario Lanza collectors and the concert contains a very varied repertoire; arias from La Traviata, Madame Butterfly, La Bohème and Der Freischutz, as well as The Blue Danube and Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor and others.

Recorded on 27th August 1947

Harry Mortimer’s name is synonymous with the brass band movement and he was hugely responsible for bringing its music to a larger audience. He achieved this, in particular, through the many concerts and tours he made with his massed bands. Tragically, there are very few Mortimer CDs available today and this Heritage release, featuring three of his ensembles, attempts to redress the balance.

Nuit Sacrée documents a televised concert that was broadcast on Christmas Day 2009 on France 2, one of the main French TV Channels, from St Thomas’s Church in Strasbourg. It features some of the finest sacred pieces linked to the festive season, and an impressive array of some of the best musicians of our time. Perhaps the major attraction is the multi-award winning chamber choir Accentus under its acclaimed conductor Laurence Equilbey. They are joined by the equally celebrated baroque specialist ensemble Concerto Köln and several outstanding vocal and instrumental soloists, among them soprano Sandrine Piau, contralto Nathalie Stutzmann, bass-baritone Johannes Weisser and cellist Sonia Wieder-Atherton.

Founded by its current director Laurence Equilbey, Accentus is a professional chamber choir which appears in the leading concert halls and international festivals. The group collaborates regularly with prestigious conductors and orchestras (Pierre Boulez, Christoph Eschenbach, Orchestre de Paris, Ensemble intercontemporain, Orchestre de l’Opéra de Rouen Haute Normandie, Concerto Köln, Akademie für Alte Musik). The group’s recordings have received numerous prizes from the musical press, notably ‘Transcription”, Haydn’s Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross, Fauré’s Requiem with members of the Orchestre National de France, and ‘Strauss a cappella’ with the Latvian Radio Choir. Accentus records exclusively for Naïve.