This is a beautiful anthology of sacred liturgical music. Chung coordinates his forces in larger choral pieces with power and vertical balance. Contributions by Cecilia Bartoli find the mezzo in top form, and Bryn Terfel brings charismatic presence to “Pie Jesu” from the Fauré Requiem. Also included are the interminable "Song for Athene" by John Taverner and a great performance by Andrea Bocelli in Eric Levi's hymn for the world, "I Believe".

A violinist in a class of his own, Renaud Capuçon shows why he is 'Le Violon Roi'; (The Violin King) in this 3-CD collection. As the leading French violinist of his generation, Capucon records exclusively for Virgin Classics and has a rich discography. The set brings together not only some of his best and most popular performances as a soloist but as a collaborator.

By today's standards, there's nothing particularly jarring or seemingly progressive about the mature works of Gabriel Fauré. In his own time, however, he was often criticized for his curious, almost experimental use of harmony in his chamber music, and for what some saw as his neglect of the individual qualities of the instruments for which he was composing. Some of these sentiments have endured and resulted in the infrequent performance of many of his chamber works, in this case the two sonatas for cello and piano. While the cello "miniatures," such as the Op. 24 Elegie and the Op. 7 Apre un Reve (transcribed by Casals), have enjoyed popularity particularly in high school and early college studios, they are not representative of Fauré's developed harmonic language.

For the fourth and penultimate volume of his Fauré series, Eric Le Sage has been joined by Alexandre Tharaud, Emmanuel Pahud, and François Salque, long-standing accomplices, in order to record these pieces for four hands. Recipient of numerous prizes both in France and abroad, this complete Fauré series is already asserting itself as a reference for the interpretation of Gabriel Fauré’s chamber music with piano.

The music in this collection, inspired by religious thought and liturgical text, has been selected in honor of Pope John Paul II's visit to Paris in August of 1997 to celebrate Mass as part of the Worldwide Days of Youth. Much of the music here is very familiar to even casual listeners to classical music. From J. S. Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring," to a rousing version of "Hallelujah" from Handel's 'Messiah,' this CD plays like a greatest hits of church music from the last 400 years.
There are also some less familiar offerings from composers more well-known for their secular music. Vivaldi is represented with two attractive movements from his 'Gloria in D Major,' and from Rossini (better-known for his operas) comes the lovely "Amen" from his 'Stabat Mater.' Representing the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries, the Franck, Fauré, and Messiaen selections are transcendental in their beauty. The stunningly rich-voiced mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli is spotlighted in three selections, and tenor Andrea Bocelli is featured in Bizet's "Agnus Dei."