Mozart places melody at the very heart of his concertos. Introverted and sometimes uncertain at the start of K453, it is subsequently transmuted into birdsong - foreshadowing Papageno - and leads to a finale worthy of an Opera buffa. Imbued with majesty in K482 (contemporary with Le nozze di Figaro), it takes on a tinge of bitterness in the work's slow movement, before returning to more joyful melodic motifs, one of which will recur in Cosi fan tutte. Never have opera and concerto been so close. Partnering with the Freiburger Barockorchester, acclaimed forte pianist Kristian Bezuidenhout brings out all of the singing lines and sparkling bravura of these two great concertos.

In their own way Beethoven’s five piano concertos relate a part of their composer’s life. In the previous volume of this complete recording, Kristian Bezuidenhout, Pablo Heras-Casado and the musicians of the Freiburger Barockorchester explored the beginning (Concerto no.2, a springboard to Viennese fame) and the end (the ‘Emperor’) of the story. They now turn to the most personal of all the Beethoven concertos, the Fourth which, at a time when the spectre of total deafness threatened his career, shattered the conventions of the genre - as did such orchestral works as Coriolan and the Overture to The Creatures of Prometheus.

Written between 1818 and 1823, Beethoven's Missa solemnis was the result of intensive theological and musical research in the library of it's dedicatee, Archduke Rudolph of Austria. It is, in Beethoven's own view, his most ambitious composition. On this recording, René Jacobs shows us that it is also his loftiest. This is the work of a composer with deeply held religious sentiments and profound tenderness for humanity, so confident in his artistry that he could create that which goes beyond liturgical form and expresses in musical terms the universality of divine transcendence.

Das Freiburger Barockorchester zählt zu den wichtigsten Kammerorchestern weltweit. Zahlreiche nationale und internationale Auszeichnungen, darunter der Grammy Award, Echo Klassik oder der Deutsche Schallplattenpreis sind Zeugnisse ihres einzigartigen Schaffens.

Since it's founding in Freiburg in 1958, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi has been one of the most important and ambitious labels for period performances. Over decades, globally-acclaimed recordings were created with outstanding musicians. The limited edition "Deutsche Harmonia Mundi: 100 Great Recordings" contains 100 outstanding DHM recordings with some of the most important and best artists in their field: Nuria Rial, Dorothee Mields, Al Ayre Espanol, Hille Perl, Concentus Musicus Wien, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, the Freiburger Barockorchester, Skip Sempé, Capriccio Stravagante, La Petite Bande, Gustav Leonhardt, Andrew Lawrence-King, Frieder Bernius, the Balthasar-Neumann-Chor, Thomas Hengelbrock and many others.

Since it's founding in Freiburg in 1958, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi has been one of the most important and ambitious labels for period performances. Over decades, globally-acclaimed recordings were created with outstanding musicians. The limited edition "Deutsche Harmonia Mundi: 100 Great Recordings" contains 100 outstanding DHM recordings with some of the most important and best artists in their field: Nuria Rial, Dorothee Mields, Al Ayre Espanol, Hille Perl, Concentus Musicus Wien, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, the Freiburger Barockorchester, Skip Sempé, Capriccio Stravagante, La Petite Bande, Gustav Leonhardt, Andrew Lawrence-King, Frieder Bernius, the Balthasar-Neumann-Chor, Thomas Hengelbrock and many others.

The Mass in B Minor, Bach's last completed vocal work as well as the climax of his creativity, reveals the overwhelming wealth of his compositional skills. In the history of music it ranks highly, as the "Montblanc of church music" (Franz Liszt) composed during Bach's time as cantor at the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. Performed in this important composer's domain, the Mass in B Minor casted a spell over its listeners as the crowning glory of the Leipzig Bach Festival in 2013: Under the direction of Bach's successor Georg Christoph Biller, the St. Thomas Boys Choir and an outstanding soloist quintet perform with the prestigious Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, playing on authentic period instruments.

A beautifully-packaged 50-disc box set, released to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, one of the most important and adventurous early music labels. The set contains 50 classic recordings of baroque and ancient music, chosen to represent the breadth of this huge and varied catalogue and each disc is slip-cased with artwork replicating the original CD or LP artwork.

Masters of Classical Music is an informative and captivating guide to twenty of the most important works in music history. Outtakes from the original scores within the documentaries, assist the viewer by making it easier to follow the music and to overall comprehend the structure of the works. The viewer will travel back in time to experience the birth places of these compositions and will thereby gain insight into the lives of the composers whilst receiving a thorough introduction to the works.

The Freiburger Barockorchester, directed from Gottfried von der Goltz’s violin, released a brand new recording of Telemann’s rare Passion, entitled Seliges Erwägen (Contemplative Meditations). More than just setting to music the story of the passion of Christ, such as Bach did, we hear in this score a succession of meditations. If we know little about its genesis, it is acknowledged that the success of this work was considerable, even more than that of his Passion after Brockes or his oratorio The Death of Jesus. The clear diction and the transparency of the voices in the chorals perfectly convey the dramatic expression, typical of these sacred works.

Fireworks, virtuosity and bravura pieces are essential ingredients of Vivaldi’s concerto oeuvre. Discover or rediscover Vivaldi’s concertos played by the most prestigious artists.

Die Messe in h-Moll von Johann Sebastian Bach ist eine der zentralen geistlichen Vokalkompositionen der Musikgeschichte. Hans-Christoph Rademann widmet nun seine erste CD als Leiter der Internationalen Bachakademie Stuttgart diesem herausragenden Werk und setzt zusammen mit der Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart und dem Freiburger Barockorchester sowie renommierten Solisten auf dem Gebiet der historisch informierten Aufführungspraxis in künstlerischer Hinsicht Maßstäbe.

Vivaldi’s music enjoyed a cult following in Dresden after its introduction by the composer’s pupil Johann Pisendel, and listening to these works it is not hard to hear why. The two G minor concertos are scored for violin, two recorders, two oboes and strings (with an extra solo oboe in RV576), while the F majors both deploy a line-up of violin, two oboes, two horns and strings – rich stuff, reflecting the sumptuous sound-world of the Electoral orchestra.