The market is loaded with recordings of Pergolesi's beautiful, graceful "Stabat Mater" and there are also plenty of versions of both "Salve Regina" selections to choose from. The young Pergolesi, who died at age 26, had a flair for the theater and the "Stabat Mater" was often accused of being too operatic. Fabio Biondi presents it (and the other two pieces) without much sentimentality and he uses a vastly reduced orchestra–a mere three violins, viola, cello, double bass, and theorbo (and organ)–which brings the stark religiosity to the forefront. That is not to say that these pieces aren't sensual as well; soprano Dorothea Röschmann's mesmerizing, warm tone and David Daniel's flawless, forwardly placed countertenor are lush enough to create drama of their own.

Like its two predecessors, the eighth volume of our complete recording of Bach's cantatas is devoted to the first annual cyle of Leipzig cantatas of 1723/24. In planning and implementing this cycle, Bach took upon himself a burden of work far in excess of anything he had earlier assumed — to say nothing of the creative and artistic challenges involved. Whereas his Weimar cantatas of 1714-16 had been written at regular monthly intervals, he now had four times as much work on his hands. In the circumstances, it is entirely understandable that, whenever possible, he fell back on existing works, especially those written in Weimar, although pieces composed were no less liable to be pillaged. These self-borrowings notwithstanding, the main emphasis none the less lay on the composition of new works, and the first cycle of cantatas that Bach wrote for Leipzig is notable for the number of new pieces that it contains.

George Frideric Handel and Hamburg town councillor and poet Barthold Heinrich Brockes were students at the same time in Halle, and it's probable that they knew each other and were perhaps even friends. Brockes wrote a nine-volume anthology, from the first volume of which Handel, between 1724 and 1727, set his Nine German Arias. In translation, the Brockes work is titled "Earthly Delight in God, Consisting of Physical and Moral Poems," the texts reflecting pleasure in the glory of God's natural creation. Handel had been writing opera in England since 1710; the reason behind the composition of these arias, his last works in German, and which were unpublished in his lifetime, remains unknown.

Mozart greatly admired the music of Jommelli. Here is the latter’s marvellous version of the Dido and Aeneas story. Dorothea Röschmann is flexible and firm in the title role, and Martina Borst as Aeneas has a warm tone. The orchestra is robust and vivid, especially in the astonishing final scene which was famous in its day. We can only hope for more from this enterprising Stuttgart group.

TDK presents a truly new way of looking at La clemenza di Tito with this famous and star-studded production from the Salzburg Festival 2003. Here Nikolaus Harnoncourt, renowned for his analytical approach to the search for the core of the music, interprets Mozart’s last opera. Martin Kušej, who is acclaimed for his theatre productions directs the production. Nikolaus Harnoncourt identifies with Mozart’s score as both an extremely knowledgeable musician and a conductor who invariably plays an active part in helping to shape the drama. Together with the Vienna Philharmonic, he savours the miracles of Mozart’s late work, bringing out its instrumental colours and effects and at the same time stimulating his singers while proving a solicitous accompanist.

Außerordent- lich lebendige, dramatisch gespannte Wieder- gabe durch ein kleines, stimmlich tüchtiges Ensemble. Gute Solisten sowohl im vokalen wie instrumentalen Bereich.

Giustino is the Baroque version of a ‘ripping yarn’. The eponymous hero rises from ploughboy to emperor via an action-packed curriculum vitae that has him seeing visions, routing traitors, fighting bears and even slaying a sea-monster! Written in the autumn of 1736, shortly after Handel had suffered a period of ill-health, Giustino is not among his greatest operas, but it is thoroughly entertaining and offers much fine music. Particularly felicitous are Giustino’s bucolic aria ‘Può ben nascere tra li boschi’ and Anastasio’s lovely ‘O fiero e rio sospetto’. The headlong pace leaves Handel little time to develop the more sensual, amorous side of his music. One exception – and the opera’s most entrancing interlude – is the ravishing love duet in Act II, superbly sung here by Dorothea Röschmann (Arianna) and Dawn Kotoski (Anastasio).

This memorable recording from the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin was Arthaus Musik’s first official release in 2000. It features one of the most popular Mozart operas, „Le Nozze di Figaro“, a witty satire on the authority of the reigning noble class and infidelity in love relationships. Starring a great cast of singers with Dorothea Röschmann, René Pape, Emily Magee and Peter Schreier – to name but a few – this performance is conducted by Daniel Barenboim, chief conductor of the Berlin State Orchestra since 1992 named conductor for life by the orchestra in 2000.

Fux was a prolific composer of vocal and instrumental music. His works include 19 operas, of which Costanza e fortezza (1723) is notable; 29 partitas, including the Concentus musico-instrumentalis (1701); 10 oratorios; and about 80 masses, of which the Missa canonica, (1708), written in canon. His book Gradus ad Parnassum" (1725; Steps to Parnassus) attempted to systematize contrapuntal practices. It was long the standard textbook on counterpoint and was studied by Wolfgang A. Mozart, Joseph Haydn, and other 18th-century composers.

Haydn's Paukenmesse, Hob.XXII:9 from 1796, was the first work he composed to honour the name day (8th September) of the Princess Maria Hermenegild. The name of Paukenmesse’ (Kettledrum Mass) stems from the employment of timpani in the Agnus Dei; evocative of hearing the advance of the enemy. At the time of composition the French armies had occupied the state of Styria in southeast Austria.

This new, excitingly original production of Mozart's most popular opera was the sensation of the 2006 Salzburg Festival. "What young director Claus Guth has made of Figaro - with Harnoncourt's active collaboration - is genius … The stellar cast performed with power and precision …" (Le Monde). "…a fully rounded musical performance…By and large the opera could hardly be more strongly cast. Anna Netrebko is a dreamy, vulnerable and beautifully sung Susanna, and Ildebrando D'Arcangelo's smouldering Figaro is a really macho rival to the Count.” (Gramophone)

The recording of Bach's Christmas Oratorio, conducted by René Jacobs, was one of the discographic highlights of the year at its 1997 release. Critics around the world praised the "sophisticated interpretation", the "splendid cast", the "expressiveness of the evangelist" as well as the "compelling acting performance of the singers".

Such uplifting lively performances. Musica Antiqua Köln plays brilliantly to brings these Secular Cantatas to life.

The slaying of Abel by his brother Cain was one of the favourite subjects of the 18th century Italians, at the time when the oratorio was having a phenomenal success in Rome and Venice. It was most probably in one of the palaces of the “Serenissima”, and not a church, that Scarlatti first performed this astonishing “sacred entertainment”, worthy of a “verismo” opera, in 1707… God and Lucifer confront each other in the very soul of Cain, his brother’s voice is heard from heaven, and the “spatial” treatment of the tonal levels all contribute to the effectiveness of what is almost expressionistic music – there is nothing left out of this incredible Baroque Biblical “thriller”!

This is the first authoritative recording of Alessandro Scarlatti's Griselda, rendered with exquisite beauty by René Jacobs, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, and an outstanding cast led by Dorothea Röschmann in the title role. Warming to the story of Griselda (originally by Boccaccio) – the low-born woman who endures a string of indignities as the king, Gualtiero, tests her suitability to be the mother of his heir – is not easy. But the added humanity of Apostolo Zeno's libretto, which invests Griselda with more backbone, and Gualtiero with more sympathy, than they had in Boccaccio's original, and the emotional immediacy of the performances, Röschmann's in particular, make this recording go down smoothly. It is also an abundantly melodic and beautifully orchestrated score, representing Scarlatti at the height of his powers.