Franco-Flemish composer Giaches de Wert wrote a considerable amount of sacred music during the late Renaissance, but little of it was published during his lifetime. Only three books of motets were released in 1566 and 1581. Stile Antico's new album introduces us to another side of this composer who, though Flemish-born, spent most of his life in Italy, primarily in Mantua, where he was to remain for the rest of his life, though not without maintaining connections (both musical and, during the mid-late 1580s, romantic) with the court at Ferrara, where the lively musical life must have been a welcome distraction from his not-always-happy existence at the Mantuan court. The unique and dramatic style of these remarkable motets cannot fail to ravish explorers of this 'divine theatre'.

Deus Passus is one quarter of the Passion Project 2000, which celebrated not only the turning of the millennium but also commemorated the 250th anniversary of Bach’s death. German conductor Helmuth Rilling honored this occasion by commissioning Passions from four disparate composers: Wolfgang Rihm, Tan Dun, Sofia Gubaidulina, and Osvaldo Golijov. Deus Passus is a setting of the Passion according to St. Luke, and it is a marvel of a piece for many reasons. For a full hour and a half, with music that is mostly slow and largely atonal (in the sense that Berg’s music is atonal), the twisting, aching, unpredictable harmonies are totally captivating. Rihm chooses a straightforward setting, a simple, dramatic telling of the story, and it is in his capacity for restraint that the true brilliance of the piece lies. He uses the chorus sparingly, mostly for dramatic purposes, having it portray the angry rabble bent on crucifying Jesus (as it often does in Bach’s passions).

Be transported throughout ancient history to all regions of the world with this beautiful and unique presentation of Requiem from The Fraternity. With the exceptional art form of Gregorian chant, this recording has a mystical quality. With an ethos reflecting a time of sadness, representing that period of mourning inherent in the Requiem, this recording also simultaneously inspires a certain hope, a calmness and prayer, striking a glorious balance through the gift of poetic song. This unique recording contains twenty different tracks of sublime treasures, mostly Gregorian chant, and the album concludes with polyphonic motets striking just the right ending accent.

György Ligeti's "Requiem" for soprano, mezzo-soprano, two mixed choirs and orchestra is one of his most impressive compositions - especially, when directed by Michael Gielen - and at the same time "the" requiem of the 20th century: Sound which is chromatically layered moves gradually from the lower registers to the higher, thus changing from mourning sounds into the promise of the eternal light. In the Kyrie the polyphonic net which was previously static begins to move gently. It was a part of this composition that Stanley Kubrick used to accompany the discovery of the monolith in "2001: A Space Odyssey". Also on this WERGO disc are two other essential works, "Aventures" and "Nouvelles Aventures", highly theatrical and justly celebrated choral works.

This new Warner Classics album of motets by Polish composer Paweł Łukaszewski, which includes seven world premiere recordings, not only soothes the senses, but also provokes a deeper spiritual reflection and provides repose from the never-ending race of our daily lives. The leading Polish composer of his generation presents an album of intense, immersive beauty with these performances of his original works by the excellent Polish Chamber Choir under the baton of Jan Łukaszewski.

Isfrid Kayser (1712–1771) spent almost his entire life in the Premonstratensian Abbey Marchtal, where he soon gained a reputation as an especially versatile musician. Numerous spiritual organizations commissioned church music or sacred music dramas. As a play of words on his surname (Kaiser = emperor), his confreres soon called him the “Caesar of Music.” His Magnificat and the Missa VI are presented here in a recording together with several smaller works; they document Kayser’s extraordinary accomplishments. These majestically sacred works is interpreted by the Orpheus Vokalensemble and Ars Antiqua Austria under the direction of Jürgen Essl.

The brief opening piece for chorus on this new release, "Da Pacem Domine," is based on a 9th century Gregorian work and has the usual, familiar–and very beautiful–Pärt-ian characteristics: a soft, endless stream of easy tritones and harmonies that make this plea for peace immensely moving. The major work, Lamentate, is scored for large orchestra and solo piano–a very unusual combination for Pärt. Even his fans will be surprised. In ten brief sections, it begins with a quiet drum roll, immediately followed by horn calls. There are forte explosions for full orchestra and piano, with heavy percussion. At times the only thing we hear is a hushed piano part with strings supporting very quietly. The effect is dark yet alluring. It ends peacefully. This is another stunning CD of Pärt's music for his fans–old and new.

The Ensalada (musical salad) is a poetical work which combines lines in different languages, as well as instrumental sonatas. It is rooted in the medieval practice of singing different texts simultaneously, and incorporates well-known romances and madrigalist elements. Generally based on stories from Christ birth, ensaladas a big portrait, a la Janequin, occupying a midway position between art and folk music.

Modestia Aparte es un grupo de pop español liderado por el cantante Fernando López, surgido a fines de los ochenta en Madrid. El conjunto alcanzó rápidamente el éxito, en particular entre el público adolescente, gracias a sus canciones pegadizas y discos como Por amor al arte (1988) o Cosas de la edad (1990), aunque con el paso de los años fue perdiendo a varios de sus integrantes originales.

Die Tradition der Stundengebete was released on 2017-06-02. Album's primary genre is Classical, it is one of the gorgeous album of Maulbronner Kammerchor & Jurgen Budday and contains 15 with a soft, smooth, and pleasant sound.

During the final years of his life, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) created the monumental body of music that can be considered his “Testament”, comprising the Musical Offering, the Art of Fugue and the B minor Mass. This latter work is a perfect synthesis of all his skill and flair in the art of composition (and essentially in that of counterpoint), as well as his gift for invention and his extraordinary sense of form, structure and number.

Ten English composers set the Latin text of the Lamentations of Jeremiah in the mid-16th century, in the reigns both of the Catholic Queen Mary and the Protestant Elizabeth I. Precise details are hard to establish of when works were performed, as Andrew Carwood explains in an illuminating note to this disc, but there seems little doubt that Tallis, though a Catholic, wrote his masterpiece for Elizabeth. The repeated final lines, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, turn to the Lord your God”, unforgettable once heard, have a dark resonance here, thanks to the sonorous basses of the Cardinall’s Musick (Robert Macdonald, Simon Whiteley). The rest of this fine recording draws on music from across Tallis’s career, with English and Latin settings (Sancte Deus, Te Deum, Come, Holy Ghost and more). The singers reach the highest standards.

The Norwegian six-member a cappella group, Nordic Voices here presents the extraordinary polyphonic music of Tomas Luis de Victoria, a Spanish composer whose music has continued to move people for more than 400 years, crossing geographical, cultural, and even religious barriers. This surround-sound recording comes ten years after a "warm, consistent and moving" (BBC Music) album of Lamentations, which featured pieces by sixteenth-century composers, including Four Lessons by Victoria.

This isn't so much a new album by long-running Spanish pop/rock act La Oreja de Van Gogh as it is a demonstration of their confidence in new vocalist Leire Martínez, who joined in 2008. She had big shoes to fill, replacing original singer Amaia Montero, who'd been the face and voice of their first four albums. So after discovering Martínez on the Spanish reality show Factor X, the group released its fifth album, A las Cinco en el Astoria, with her.

Several masses scored for large forces attest to the outstanding compositional skills of the Salzburg master Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber (1644-1704). For Salzburg Cathedral, Biber prepared polychoric pieces modelled on the grand performance practice in Venice. The 'Missa Alleluja' was probably composed after 1690 and certainly before 1698: the original score from Salzburg is lost but excellent copies have been preserved at the Upper Austrian abbey at Kremsmünster, which serve as a basis for the present recording.