On her portrait recording "earthing" the Berlin-based composer Clara Iannotta concentrates on the genre string quartet. Therefor she takes inspiration mostly from the idea of an underwater world and the small animals that let their luminous organs glow in the deep. The resulting music seems to be under the pressure of water masses but happens in an environment of expanded time.

No Handel opera is as enigmatic as Silla. His fourth London opera, it was composed in 1713 to a libretto by Giacomo Rossi, also the librettist of the composer s first great London triumph Rinaldo (1711). And that is just about the extent of any certainty on the subject. It might have been premiered in 1713 in London in a private concert at the Queen s Theatre, but even this remains unconfirmed. This is one of Handel s few historical operas, being concerned with Plutarch s account of the latter part of the life of Lucius Cornelius Sulla, who after taking Rome became a tyrannical despot who murders his opponents, before suddenly retiring to his country estate to enjoy his leisure.

Handel’s beautiful, intimate settings of liturgical texts written for the First Duke of Chandos are among his less well-known choral works—and are proved by this second volume from Trinity also to be among his loveliest. They are a perfect example of the composer’s English style heard in Acis & Galatea and oratorios such as Judas Maccabaeus.

Handel wrote ‘Arresta il passo’ (which Hyperion has renamed after its hero and heroine) for Rome’s Arcadian Academy in 1708. A suitably pastoral cantata for two voices, strings and continuo, it depicts the shepherd Aminta’s wooing of the initially reluctant nymph Fillide in a series of charming arias (some of which Handel reused in Agrippina and Rinaldo).

George Szell's Philips Concertgebouw legacy includes some distinguished recordings, with the scintillating Midsummer Night's Dream suite taking pride of place. Few if any rivals can match the ''Scherzo'' (not even Szell's later Cleveland recording is as buoyant or precise), while the Overture is extraordinarily well drilled and the ''Nocturne'', although cool, has a genuine sense of repose. The Schubert Rosamunde excerpts display all the drive and textural clarity that Szell habitually brought to, say, the Great C major Symphony…

Jordi Savall is painting Monteverdi in the colours of the Mediterranean. The Catalan maestro has entrusted the title role of this foundational work of Western music to a remarkable baritone: the magnificent Marc Mauillon embodies Orfeo, his resonant and ductile voice in perfect unison with the conductor's musical vision. Here, a warm performance and rich sound reign supreme!

Jose Antônio de Almeida Prado was one of the most admired Brazilian composers of his time. The two stylistically diverse works featured on this album exemplify different creative periods in the composer’s life. The prize-winning Pequenos funerais cantantes, which was Almeida Prado’s breakthrough as a composer, is a lament full of unique soundworlds forged from different combinations of choral and orchestral writing. The superbly orchestrated Sinfonia dos OrixAs takes as its subject the Orishas (deities in the Yoruba religion) – and is a personal tribute to the rich Afro-Brazilian religious traditions, a sumptuous melodic and rhythmic feast celebrating the forces of nature.

Orfa was Adolphe Adam’s penultimate ballet, with an intriguing scenario based on Nordic mythology. It shares analogies with Hesiod’s Theogony and Wagner’s Ring cycle in depicting the struggle between the older gods (Loki) and younger gods (Odin). Full of archetypal Romantic elements, Orfa was mounted with the lavish stage spectacle for which the Paris Opera was famous, and featured Fanny Cerrito in the title role. Adam’s writing shows increasingly vivid orchestral imagination, drama and tonal colour, with roles for several instrumental soloists. This world premiere recording uses a new edition copied from Adam’s original manuscript score held at the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

This album is the culmination of an extraordinarily fruitful artistic collaboration that took place at the 2022 Boulder Bach Festival in Boulder, Colorado. The recordings were made immediately after the public concerts concluded. They document four of the many memorable musical interpretations at the Festival, which occurred not just because of the many talented artists, but also thanks to the kindness and generosity of countless members of the community and region. Although many musicians converged on Boulder from all over the globe, the Festival also featured several remarkable local artists. The entire project took place against the backdrop of some of the most majestic natural scenery in the world.

The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JLCO), comprising 15 of the finest jazz soloists and ensemble players today, has been the Jazz at Lincoln Center resident orchestra since 1988 and spends over a third of the year on tour across the world. Featured in all aspects of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s programming, this remarkably versatile orchestra performs and leads educational events in New York, across the U.S. and around the globe; in concert halls; dance venues; jazz clubs; public parks; and with symphony orchestras; ballet troupes; local students; and an ever-expanding roster of guest artists.

La vida es sueño borrows the title of Calderón’s work for this musical and poetic journey through dreams, the night and the powerful symbolism that surrounds them, evoking a magical, mysterious, threatening and secret world. El Gran Teatro del Mundo, specialising in French music from the time of Louis XIV, revisits the operas of the Grand Siècle in this disc, offering an exclusively instrumental interpretation of scenes in which night and sleep are the best allies of love and death.

This set is what early music or baroque opera purists might call politically incorrect. The orchestra at Venice's La Fenice is too big, the playing is Romantic, with plenty of rubato and not crisp, and very few of the singers get through the music as Handel wrote it or embellish it the way he wished. But it does feature Joan Sutherland at her most amazing. Her huge voice, pure tone, impeccable technique, seamless legato, and glorious ease are the definition of bel canto. While this two-CD release is not ideal, it does present Alcina in much of its loveliness.

Alpha presents the reissue of Ensemble Pygmalions version of Dardanus, conducted by Raphaël Pichon and recorded in the majestic acoustics of the Opéra Royal at Versailles Palace. This set won multiple awards on its first release: Rameau, a flinty-hearted composer lacking in imagination? Rameau, a cold mathematician in his chord progressions and a severe draughtsman in his vocal lines? One need only listen, in Dardanus, to the melancholy laments of Princess Iphise, splendidly sung by the soprano Gaëlle Arquez, to realise the treasures of tenderness and invention that still remained in the youthful heart of the fifty-six-year-old composer! . . . This version, which fills an important gap in the discography, possesses all the assets needed to speak to us today, and to last.