This is a selection of outstanding examples of Buxtehude’s vocal and instrumental music. Settings of Latin biblical texts and ariosa-style works based on German hymns, alternate with instrumental sonatas. The recording has been given a special “North German” colouring through the use of a wide range of historical wind instruments such as the Baroque trombone and dulcian.

The five cantatas presented on this disc share several elements. They are all for solo bass and orchestra, and Der am Ölberg zagende Jesus deals with Christ’s agonies in the garden of Gethsemane, with three recitatives setting the scene surrounding two arias for Jesus, ending with an aria by the narrator inviting all to contemplate Christ’s sacrifice. Jesus liegt in letzten Zügen is a meditation on the moment of Christ’s death. Ich will den Kreuzweg gerne gehen expresses the narrator’s desire to follow the way of the cross in Christ’s footsteps. The other two cantatas are more tangentially connected to the events of the passion, although they mention the passion as motivation for the sinner to prepare for eventual union with his Savior.

The brothers Marcello, Alessandro and the more famous Benedetto, were born into an illustrious patrician family in Venice in 1684 and 1686 respectively. The eldest, with his eclectic talent, proved to be attracted to both the arts and the sciences from an early age; the youngest, better known as the “prince of sacred music”, was about to study the violin very young. According to legend, still children, Alessandro mocked him for his lack of talent in front of the princess of Brunswick, which made him swear to devote himself to musical studies in a zealous manner.

Münchinger uses WF Bach's alterations to Einfeste Burg (the addition of trumpets and kettledrums to the two largest movements), which - with the fresh, even raw, singing from soloists and chorus alike — makes this a dramatic almost triumphalist account; Wochet aufis similarly spacious and joyful. The sound is excellent; die chorus particularly vivid.

Born in Palermo in 1660, Alessandro Scarlatti led a very itinerant life. His activity as a musician, officially begun in 1679, and took him to the most important Italian cultural centres, including Rome, Naples, Florence and Venice. Traditionally the beginnings of his musical training dates back to the roman meeting of a twelve-year-old Scarlatti with Giacomo Carissimi, the undisputed father of the cantata genre, and from whom it acquired its final form, given by the alternation of the recitativo and arioso styles, the latter resulting in the Aria.

This disc brings together two composers from Naples, albeit from different generations. They are also different in that Scarlatti was an important contributor to the genre of opera, whereas Durante never composed anything for the theatre. They have also something in common: both were considered rather conservative - Scarlatti in particular towards the end of his career - and in the oeuvre of both the traditional counterpoint plays an important role.

Denmark-born Nicolaus Bruhns (1665-1697) studied under Buxtehude, and eventually became his favorite and most-skilled student. After his studies, Bruhns became composer at the Danish Royal Court. Unfortunately, after his early death ended a blossoming career, many of Bruhns’ works have been lost. J. S. Bach held a deep admiration for Bruhns’ vocal works, and their influence is evident in Bach’s earliest works. This release includes Bruhns’ complete cantatas. Their “Stylus Phantasticus” shows freedom of form and expression. The four vocal soloists featured on this release are fantastic, and are joined by Harmonices Mundi and conductor Claudio Astronio, who has already released several recordings for Brilliant Classics to critical acclaim.

Only some twenty works out of what was originally a far greater number of secular cantatas have survived in performable condition. They nevertheless offer a welcome complement to our image of Bach the church musician, and reveal a composer who approached secular music with the same artistic integrity and demand for quality that we find in his sacred music.

Donna, che in ciel di tanta luce splendi is a full-length cantata and the masterpiece in this recital. The introductory Sinfonia captures attention imperatively with its grandeur and turbulence. Then the succession of recitatives and arias, unfailingly alive with dramatic imagination, provides superb opportunities for the singer, all of which are taken here with well-grounded eagerness.

Georg Friedrich Händel wrote musical history with his operas. In his chosen domicile, London, he had to fight off italian competition, but having already studied their style in Rome he was well-equipped to mount the most important of the world's stages.

The booklet for this fine disc from Montreal includes a wonderful characterization of Alessandro Scarlatti's music, especially of the cantatas recorded here. "His music's eloquence," wrote French pedagogue Ennemond Trillat, "does not implore; it stems from that spiritual intoxication which is the very essence of the Baroque. And this music sings without phraseology. It is free of all extrinsic intent, and its lyricism produces perfect forms. Its fluid grace is essentially melodic, but without a trace of exuberance."

Bourgeois was born in Hainault, which today is a province of Belgium. Between 1700 and 1705 he was active as a church musician in Toul and Strasbourg, then went to Paris to sing as an haute-contre in the Académie Royale de Musique. He also gave music lessons and published his first compositions: a book with chamber cantatas and two ballet operas. In 1721 he was in charge of the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels. He was forced to leave because of financial mismanagement, and went to The Hague, where he headed the French theatre.

The J.S. Bach Foundation has embarked on a remarkable undertaking: over a period of some 25 years, the Foundation will perform the complete vocal works by Johann Sebastian Bach (16851750). Each month, one of the over 200 Bach cantatas is performed in the idyllic town of Trogen in Appenzell, Switzerland. With a rhythm of 12 cantatas per year, the project is estimated to conclude in the year 2030. All introductory workshops, concerts and reflection lectures on the cantata texts are recorded; the texts of the lectures are published in a continually expanding Bach Anthology. The main aim of the J.S. Bach Foundation's ambitious project is to provide a living Bach experience for today's listeners and to deepen our understanding of the great composer's works. The artistic director of the foundation is Rudolf Lutz, who rehearses and conducts all performances with the choir, orchestra and solo vocalists.

Thomas-Louis Bourgeois (1676–1751) is one of the masters of the French chamber cantata at the time of the Régence, when – at last – it was permissible to introduce Italian influences openly in France. His imaginative music, as elegant as it is compositionally skillful, forms a welcome complement to the works of contemporaries such as Campra or Rameau who are infinitely better known today. Carolyn Sampson and Le Concert Lorrain revive for us the charming insouciance of the Régence.

Often described as ‘music for amateurs’, sometimes used (or misused) towards purely commercial ends, Orff’s Carmina Burana was clearly ready for a new approach, a sort of revivifying, thorough rethinking. This has now been done, thanks to Jos van Immerseel and the absolutely exceptional musical team that he assembled.