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Philippe Herreweghe, Collegium Vocale, Ghent, Barbara Schlick - Johann Sebastian Bach: Mass in B minor (2009)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Philippe Herreweghe, Collegium Vocale, Ghent, Barbara Schlick - Johann Sebastian Bach: Mass in B minor (2009)

Philippe Herreweghe, Collegium Vocale, Ghent, Barbara Schlick - Johann Sebastian Bach: Mass in B minor (2009)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 482 Mb | Total time: 54:30+52:09 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Virgin Veritas | # 6 93197 2 | Recorded: 1988

Originally recorded in 1988, this was one of the recordings that made historical performance practice the mainstream when it came to Bach's major choral works. Every moment of the mass was thought through anew, every bit of conventional piety purged. Major B minor mass recordings in the following years have developed one aspect or another further than conductor Philippe Herreweghe does here; Masaaki Suzuki's Bach Collegium Japan chisels out the counterpoint in greater detail, and for grand reverential warmth there's always John Eliot Gardiner. But for a constant sense of wonder that makes even the larger harmonic structure of the mass seem surprising as it unfolds – for a real sense of a group responding not only to a conductor's control but to his artistic vision – this reading by Herreweghe and his Collegium Vocale Ghent remains unexcelled.

Ton Koopman - A Baroque Master [10CDs] (2019)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Ton Koopman - A Baroque Master [10CDs] (2019)

Ton Koopman - A Baroque Master [10CDs] (2019)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 3,76 Gb | Total time: 12:34:27 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Erato | # 9029539417 | Recorded: 1977-1997

A transformative force in historically informed performance, Ton Koopman is renowned as a conductor, harpsichordist and organist. In 1979, aged 35, he founded the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra in the city where he had studied with the great Dutch harpsichordist Gustav Leonhardt. Drawing on an international pool of players, the ensemble soon gained a reputation for flexibility, colour and expressivity as it explored the music of such composers as the Bach family, Handel, Telemann and Buxtehude.

Barbara Schlick, Kai Wessel - Francesco Antonio Pistocchi: Kantaten und Duette (2001)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Barbara Schlick, Kai Wessel - Francesco Antonio Pistocchi: Kantaten und Duette (2001)

Barbara Schlick, Kai Wessel - Francesco Antonio Pistocchi: Kantaten und Duette (2001)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 325 Mb | Total time: 72:18 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Cavalli Records | # CCD 312 | Recorded: 2001

A disc of duets and solo-voice cantatas by an obscure late-17th/early-18th century Italian singer/composer may not sound very enticing, but Francesco Antonio Pistocchi actually had a few good tunes in him and produced some works that at least will interest fans of vocal music of this period. It also offers a useful perspective for comparison with Pistocchi’s more esteemed contemporaries. As with many now-forgotten composers, there is documented evidence of his high regard during his lifetime, in this case by the Margrave and Electress of Brandenburg, for whom he worked as Kapellmeister at the Ansbach court.

Philippe Herreweghe, Collegium Vocale Gent - Johann Sebastian Bach: Famous Cantatas Vol. 1 (2010)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Philippe Herreweghe, Collegium Vocale Gent - Johann Sebastian Bach: Famous Cantatas Vol. 1 (2010)

Philippe Herreweghe, Collegium Vocale Gent - Johann Sebastian Bach: Famous Cantatas Vol. 1 (2010)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 855 Mb | Total time: 3h16'12 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Harmonia Mundi | # HML 5908357.59 | Recorded: 1990, 2005, 2008

One of Bach's more magnificent extended choruses graces the cantata BWV 12, and another less substantial but no less impressive one dominates BWV 38. These works represent some of Bach's most profoundly affecting and musically sophisticated textual and emotional representations, the former an ideal evocation of "weeping and wailing" with its unmistakably vivid chromatic descending bass-line, lurching rhythm, and agonized melody (which Bach later re-used in his B minor Mass). The pungent, reedy sound of the oboe adds perfect color and character to the whole cantata, and of course, Bach's ingenious writing, especially the obbligato parts, lifts all three of these cantatas beyond the functional to the highest artistic and spiritual level.

Philippe Herreweghe, Collegium Vocale Gent - Bach: Magnificat BWV 243 & 243a & Cantatas BWV 8, 63, 80, 125, 138 (2010)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Philippe Herreweghe, Collegium Vocale Gent - Bach: Magnificat BWV 243 & 243a & Cantatas BWV 8, 63, 80, 125, 138 (2010)

Philippe Herreweghe, Collegium Vocale Gent - Johann Sebastian Bach: Magnificat BWV 243 & 243a & Cantatas BWV 8, 63, 80, 125, 138 (2010)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 780 Mb | Total time: 61:49+53:06+58:40 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Harmonia Mundi | # HML 5908360.62 | Recorded: 1990, 1997, 2002

It is…a fine pairing of two of Bach’s more extroverted works, in which Herreweghe delves beneath the masculine surface of the Magnificat to find its more tender interior and boldly explores Bach’s expansion of Luther’s great Reformation hymn, Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott. For whatever reason, Cantata 80 seems to have lost a degree of popularity lately, and it’s good to hear it again, complete with W. F. Bach’s interpolated trumpets.

Philippe Herreweghe, Collegium Vocale Gent - Johann Sebastian Bach: Oster-Oratorium, Himmelfahrts-Oratorium, Cantatas (2010)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Philippe Herreweghe, Collegium Vocale Gent - Johann Sebastian Bach: Oster-Oratorium, Himmelfahrts-Oratorium, Cantatas (2010)

Philippe Herreweghe, Collegium Vocale Gent - Johann Sebastian Bach: Oster-Oratorium, Himmelfahrts-Oratorium, Cantatas BWV 2, 20, 43, 44, 66, 176 (2010)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 824 Mb | Total time: 72:34+67:15+53:20 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Harmonia Mundi | # HML 5908354.56 | Recorded: 1993, 1994, 2002

Another entry in Harmonia Mundi's ongoing Bach Edition, this recording from 1993 exemplifies both the consistently high standard of performance we've come to expect from Philippe Herreweghe and his Collegium Vocale and the astonishing musical variety and emotional/spiritual depth of Bach's vocal works. As usual in this series, the program reflects a theme, in this case the feast of Ascension, for which Bach wrote what proved to be his final oratorio (improperly catalogued as a cantata in the original edition of Bach's works) and at least three cantatas. The oratorio contains both original music and, as has recently been shown, several movements taken from cantatas no longer extant. It's a compelling and inexplicably underperformed work, far shorter than Bach's other oratorios, complete with some terrific orchestral music, two wonderful festive choruses, a tenor Evangelist narrator, a charming little duet for tenor and bass, and arias for soprano and alto.

Philippe Herreweghe, Collegium Vocale, Ghent - Johann Sebastian Bach: Weihnachts-Oratorium (1996)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Philippe Herreweghe, Collegium Vocale, Ghent - Johann Sebastian Bach: Weihnachts-Oratorium (1996)

Philippe Herreweghe, Collegium Vocale, Ghent - Johann Sebastian Bach: Weihnachts-Oratorium (1996)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 680 Mb | Total time: 78:07+71:32 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Virgin Veritas | # 7 59530 2 | Recorded: 1989

As you might expect, Herreweghe's account of the Christmas Oratorio is as authoritative as any. His orchestra and choir are lively but always precise and his soloists all excel. Most impressively, Herreweghe is able to marshal his impressive forces to create a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. The Christmas Oratorio isn't the most coherent of Bach's works, but Herreweghe brings it all together, not so much by imposing architecture as by maintaining the flow of the music and not letting any single movement stand out too much from its surroundings.

Christophe Coin, Ensemble Baroque de Limoges, Choeur de Chambre Accentus - Bach: Cantates BWV 41, 6, 68 (1996)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Christophe Coin, Ensemble Baroque de Limoges, Choeur de Chambre Accentus - Bach: Cantates BWV 41, 6, 68 (1996)

Christophe Coin, Ensemble Baroque de Limoges, Choeur de Chambre Accentus - Bach: Cantates BWV 41, 6, 68 (1996)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 271 Mb | Total time: 62:20 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Astrée | # E 8555 | Recorded: 1995

On Astrée E 8855 there are three sacred cantatas. The first is Jesu, nun sei gepreiset (Jesus, now be praised), BWV 41. Bach wrote the six movement score in 1725 to celebrate New Year's Day (Circumcision of Christ, Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus). The composer wrote parts for all four soloists and a four-part chorus. There is a rich and varied instrumentation: a piccolo cello in a concerted part, three trumpets, three oboes, strings, basso continuo with the addition of timpani. Of the two chorales the uplifting and sparkling first chorus with its trumpet fanfare lasts over eight minutes.

Christophe Coin, Ensemble Baroque de Limoges, Concerto Vocale de Leipzig - Bach: Cantates BWV 85, 183, 199, 175 (1995)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Christophe Coin, Ensemble Baroque de Limoges, Concerto Vocale de Leipzig - Bach: Cantates BWV 85, 183, 199, 175 (1995)

Christophe Coin, Ensemble Baroque de Limoges, Concerto Vocale de Leipzig - Bach: Cantates BWV 85, 183, 199, 175 (1995)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 269 Mb | Total time: 65:38 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Astrée | # E 8544 | Recorded: 1994

The disc Astrée E 8544 accommodates four sacred cantatas none of which commence with the customary choral movement. Cantata Ich bin ein guter Hirt (I am the Good Shepherd), BWV 85 is in six movements and is intended for Misericordias Domini (the second Sunday after Easter). It was first heard in 1725. All four soloists are deployed with a four-part chorus that appears in the very short last movement chorale. Bach chose to use a pair of oboes and a piccolo cello in addition to the strings and basso continuo.

Christophe Coin, Ensemble Baroque de Limoges, Concerto Vocale de Leipzig - Bach: Cantates BWV 180, 49, 115 (2011)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Christophe Coin, Ensemble Baroque de Limoges, Concerto Vocale de Leipzig - Bach: Cantates BWV 180, 49, 115 (2011)

Christophe Coin, Ensemble Baroque de Limoges, Concerto Vocale de Leipzig - Bach: Cantates BWV 180, 49, 115 (2011)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 330 Mb | Total time: 70:53 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Astrée/Naïve | # E 8897 | Recorded: 1993

This recording is something of a classic of the historical-performance movement. It combines awesome soloists just hitting their peak years, a distinctive overall approach from conductor Christophe Coin and the Ensemble Baroque de Limoges, and an illustration of what's possible when Bach's music is played on the instruments he had in mind when he wrote it. The illustration is especially vivid in this case, for all three of these cantatas feature an unusual instrument: a violoncello piccolo, which is a small five-stringed cello with a higher (the extra string is at the top) and less assertive sound than a full-size cello. There is also a second disc of these with the same forces and the same virtues. Coin plays several of these instruments himself and forges an instrumental sound to match its light, ethereal quality.

Michael Schneider, La Stagione - Johann Adolf Hasse: Piramo e Tisbe (1994)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Michael Schneider, La Stagione - Johann Adolf Hasse: Piramo e Tisbe (1994)

Michael Schneider, La Stagione - Johann Adolf Hasse: Piramo e Tisbe (1994)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 602 Mb | Total time: 123:39 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Capriccio | # 60 043-2 | Recorded: 1993

Charles Burney described Johann Adolf Hasse, his contemporary, as ‘the most natural, elegant and judicious composer of vocal music, as well as the most voluminous now alive…’ His output includes 63 operas, but only two are currently recorded, yet inexplicably this is the second Piramo, albeit markedly livelier and with the bonus of its two ballet suites. Schneider’s perceptive booklet note comments that too readily we find such composers immature – ‘almost like Mozart’, rather than excitingly expressive and individual. Here even the subtitle Intermezzo tragico is novel, implying a fusion of two traditions, comic and serious. The music is equally unconventional. Recitatives slip seamlessly into and out of arias, creating a strong sense of dramatic continuity.

Philippe Herreweghe, La Chapelle Royale, Collegium Vocale Gent - Johann Sebastian Bach: Matthäus-Passion (1985)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Philippe Herreweghe, La Chapelle Royale, Collegium Vocale Gent - Johann Sebastian Bach: Matthäus-Passion (1985)

Philippe Herreweghe, La Chapelle Royale, Collegium Vocale Gent - Johann Sebastian Bach: Matthäus Passion (1985)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 730 Mb | Total time: 54:10+55:21+61:21 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Harmonia Mundi | # HMY 2921155.57 | Recorded: 1984

It was in 1985 that Philippe Herreweghe made his first recording of the St. Matthew Passion, following a public performance that created a deep impression. Thirty years later, this trailblazing interpretation is still among the top recommendations.

Wolfgang Brunner, Salzburger Hofmusik - Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber: Arminio (1995)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Wolfgang Brunner, Salzburger Hofmusik - Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber: Arminio (1995)

Wolfgang Brunner, Salzburger Hofmusik - Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber: Arminio (1995)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 964 Mb | Total time: 62:23+73:58+61:16 | Scans included
Classical | Label: CPO | # 999 258-2 | Recorded: 1994

Biber’s sole extant opera, Arminio, was composed c1692 and first performed in Salzburg. Probably intended as a chamber work, its intimate settings are matched by music of subtle delights, with lovelorn laments, comic scenes and splashes of colour. Barbara Schlick leads a fine team of singers and the period-instrument Salzburger Hofmusik provides spirited support. A real Baroque treat.
–Graham Lock

Hermann Max, Rheinische Kantorei, Das Kleine Konzer - Wilhelm Friedemann Bach: Cantatas (2011)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Hermann Max, Rheinische Kantorei, Das Kleine Konzer - Wilhelm Friedemann Bach: Cantatas (2011)

Hermann Max, Rheinische Kantorei, Das Kleine Konzer - Wilhelm Friedemann Bach: Cantatas (2011)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 464 Mb | Total time: 53:56+59:40 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Brilliant Classics | 94256 | Recorded: 1991

This set is a rerelease of recordings made in 1991, not previously reviewed in Read more . In the order listed in the header, these four cantatas were composed for the following festal days in the liturgical church calendar: the Third Sunday in Advent, the Feast of St. John the Baptist, Pentecost, and Easter Sunday. All stem from the time of the younger Bach’s increasingly fractious and unhappy years as director of music in Halle, which spanned 1747 to 1764. The first of these is definitely known to have been written in 1749; the dates for the others are less certain, but stem from the mid to late 1750s.

Peter Neumann, Kolner Kammerchor, Collegium Cartusianum - Mozart: Masses [5CDs] (2000)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Peter Neumann, Kolner Kammerchor, Collegium Cartusianum - Mozart: Masses [5CDs] (2000)

Peter Neumann, Kölner Kammerchor, Collegium Cartusianum - Mozart: Masses [5CDs] (2000)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 1.48 Gb | Total time: 5:43:44 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Virgin Classics | # 5 61769 2 | Recorded: 1988, 1990

As for the Masses, Mozart kept to the traditional plan in six sections (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei), even when the inpression is that the sections are more numerous (as many as 21 in the "Orphanage" Mass), it is actually a matter of sub-sections, of varying number according to the requirements of the particular work, including famous and impressive settings of the 'Laudamus te' and 'Et incarnatus est'.