Lotti's Requiem Mass in F major is considered by Thomas Hengelbrock the most important Requiem before Mozart's. It's full of expressive contrast: Lotti has an affection for a quasi-Palestrina style on the one hand and the skill to deploy more up-to-date techniques on the other. This Requiem is essentially in the late Baroque idiom, occasionally recalling certain of Vivaldi's larger sacred vocal pieces.

The present recording spreads out before us the rich musical panorama covered by Pachelbel’s Magnificat compositions. We do not know what we should admire more about these works: the complexity of the contrapuntal and concerto textures or the naturalness and cantability of the part writing. In addition, we have Pachelbel’s great variation artistry, which constantly brings forth new formal designs, instrumental combinations, and focal points on the basis of one and the same text. Moreover, the natural flow of Pachelbel’s music includes a steady stream of musical rhetorical interpretations, and the richly pictorial Magnificat text offers plenty of opportunities for them. On this recording two sacred concertos and a Mass in three movements complement the four very different Magnificat settings and serve as contrasts to them.

Tallis Scholars are among the world's preeminent choral ensembles. Cultivating a distinctive vocal sound backed by impeccable scholarship, the group has helped raise the general level of interest in Renaissance choral music in Britain and beyond through a large catalog of recordings and numerous international tours.

Guillaume de Machaut (c. 1300 – April 1377) was a medieval French poet and composer. He is regarded by many musicologists as the greatest and most important composer of the 14th century. Machaut is one of the earliest composers on whom substantial biographical information is available, and Daniel Leech-Wilkinson called him "the last great poet who was also a composer".[This quote needs a citation] Well into the 15th century, Machaut's poetry was greatly admired and imitated by other poets, including Geoffrey Chaucer.

This resplendent CD introduces another outstanding 'early music' ensemble to Hyperion - Jeffrey Skidmore's Ex Cathedra, who will explore some of the lesser-known Baroque byways for us. They make their entrance with this programme of music by one of the four composers assigned to Louis XIV's Chapel in 1683. The disc gives us the opportunity to hear two of Lalande's 'grands motets' in full (substantial, sectional works in which episodes for vocal soloists are interspersed with passages for small ensembles and chorus, the orchestra providing both accompaniment and interludes), as well as a solo movement extracted from another one, and one of his instrumental pieces. This is music which was highly regarded both in the composer's own day and beyond, and performed throughout the eighteenth century.

He is certainly one of the composers who were much better known in their time than we think today: Johann Rosenmüller is even described on his epitaph in the Wolfenbüttel St. John’s Church as “Amphion of his century” and “crown of music”. At least in the music of the second half of the 17th century, he left deep marks on his main places of action, Leipzig and Venice.

The BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus under Oramo with an exceptional quartet of soloists give a vivid and heartfelt interpretation of Smyth’s earliest large-scale choral work. Dame Ethel Mary Smyth, DBE was an English composer and a member of the women's suffrage movement. Her compositions include songs, works for piano, chamber music, orchestral works, choral works and operas. Smyth tended to be marginalized as a ‘woman composer’, as though her work could not be accepted as mainstream, yet when she produced more delicate compositions, they were criticized for not measuring up to the standard of her male competitors.

The compositions of Hans Leo Hassler stand at the turn of style from late Renaissance polyphony to Venetian early Baroque sound development. Counterpoint scholarship is combined with highest grace and tenderness. With the Ensemble Currende under Erik van Nevel, a varied compilation of Hassler's sacred and secular works can be heard.

With his compositions Johannes Ockeghem (c. 1420-1497) had a major influence on the music of the fifteenth century. For example it may have been Ockegham, who founded the long tradition of the artistic compositions of the chanson L’homme arme. In addition to his famous mass for four voices, the German-Belgian ensemble Beauty Farm also interprets the Missa quinti toni for three voices. Beauty Farm specializes in the interpretation of works from the early Renaissance. Their recordings have been described as “extraordinarily sensitive.”

Vita Nova's one and only recording is a wonderful eclectic album full of high quality progressive tendencies and originality. The band was trio of Eddy Marron (vocals, bass and Turkish zaz), Sylvester Levay (keys, percussion) and Christian von Hoffmann (drums, percussion). Musically these guys were fantastic with some killer guitar, bass, keyboard and drum work. A great album and one of the true treasures of the 70's German underground. Originally this was released by "Life Records" but only 500 copies were made so this became a valuable collectors item. "Garden of Delights" re-released it in 1995 on CD with two bonus tracks.

Le Poème Harmonique, one of the most important early music ensembles in France, is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. For this occasion ALPHA CLASSICS has compiled twenty CDs from the catalogue in an attractively designed box. Award-winning recordings can be heard, some of them with an unusual repertoire from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. For loyal fans and those who want to become fans!

Louis XIII était passionné de musique ; A la fois mélomane et compositeur, il a donné une grande place à cet art durant tout son règne. Richelieu, son fidèle premier ministre, était quant à lui passionné de théâtre et fit construire dans son Palais Cardinal (qui deviendra plus tard le Palais Royal), vers 1635 la première salle à l'italienne en France. Ce théâtre fut inauguré avec notamment la représentation du Ballet de la Prospérité des armes de France que nous avons enregistré dans ce coffret. Remontez le temps en découvrant un répertoire peu fréquenté, trop ancien pour les ensembles baroques et trop tardif pour les ensembles renaissances : Boesset, Bouzignac, Chancy, Formé, Gantez…

This compilation of Handel performances by soprano Suzie LeBlanc, drawn from three previously released recordings made between 2001 and 2003, serves as an excellent introduction to this fine singer and stands on its own as a thoughtfully programmed recital. The opening "Lascia ch'io pianga" from Rinaldo shows her clear voice and (thankfully) unaffected style, the emotion captured just right, the phrasing eloquent, the control giving no hint of effort. And this holds true throughout every selection, whether in the six-movement, recently discovered Gloria in excelsis Deo (her impassioned "Qui tollis" is a highlight) or in the more virtuosic rapid runs, lightning-quick turns, and subtle ornaments of "Da Tempeste" from Giulio Cesare.

For the upcoming 500th anniversary of the death of the great Franco-Flemish composer Pierre de la Rue (around 1460-1518), the vocal ensemble The Sound and the Fury, which specializes in early music, has recorded a selection of the composer’s artistic masses for the label FRA BERNARDO, which impressively reflect the high standard at the court of the music-loving and music-savvy Margaret of Austria. The Pierre de la Rue masses on this recording have one thing in common: they are all based on monadic models, thus in keeping with the most traditional of cyclic mass composition models, the cantus firmus mass.

In the brilliant history of the Chamber Choir of the Moscow Conservatory a separate chapter is connected with the musical legacy of Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998). Both compositions are united by the subject of faith and contemplation of what Is spiritual and spiritless. Despite the fact that chronologically the Requiem (1975) Is an earlier work than the Cantata (1983), on the CD they are presented in reverse order: fol­lowing Alexander Solovyev's conception, the narrative of Faust’s tragic death, coming as retribution for his sinful earthly life, must be followed by a memorial prayer, the Requiem. The compact disc documented “live” performances: the Requiem was performed on September 17, 2013 at the Small Hall of the Conservatory, while the Cantata sounded out on September 29, 2014 at the Grand Hall of the Conservatory.