The award-winning Early Opera Company under the direction of founder Christian Curnyn celebrates the 300th anniversary of the premiere of one of Handel’s most sublime creations: Acis and Galatea. This unique interpretation is performed as Handel himself specified in the manuscript: supported by fourteen period instruments, the outstanding cast of singers takes on the solo parts as well as the magnificent choruses. This is Handel writing at his highest levels of intimacy and intensity; the music superbly supports the libretto's evocative portrayal of the story, simultaneously restrained, economical, and deeply moving.

Nominated for a South Bank Show newcomers' award, the sprightly early music group La Nuova Musica stake their unique claim: Handel's Il pastor fido has never been recorded before in this 1712 version, though some of the fine music pops up in later incarnations. Its pastoral colours make a strong contrast with the extrovert Rinaldo, Handel's first opera for London; the sensual orchestration is beautifully realised here, but heavy vibrato is in evidence in several of the resonantly recorded voices, which often overwhelm the continuo. Lucy Crowe's magnificent soprano is allowed full rein, and I enjoyed both Anna Dennis and Clint van der Linde, an outstanding countertenor. An auspicious debut.

This "Paris" is special because it shows Eccles trying to shunt musical theater in an all-English direction, and move it out of the shadow of the dominant Italian and French traditions. As Lindsay Kemp points out in verbose but thorough liner notes, the word settings, or underlay is for English speech rhythms and the score focuses more on line and melody that decoration and ornamentation. This is a Maske, so it feels much more like music from a play than an opera. The score is a theatrical and musical treat, lived up to in this vibrant and energized performance, conducted by Christian Curnyn and sung by the Early Opera Company. The soloists are well cast, lucid and each of them really grasp the difference between this and opera. The Three Mad Songs that end the program are just that, set pieces from various English plays where the heroin loses it, usually because a man has done her wrong.

Vivaldi's Dixit Dominus, RV 807, was added to the Vivaldi canon only in 2005; it was long attributed to Baldassare Galuppi. That shows you how minor composers don't get their due; it's a marvelous work, but it's only getting recordings now that Vivaldi's name is attached to it. At any rate, it's well worth hearing in this excellent performance by the rising British group La Nuova Musica, which has both vocal and instrumental components. They move like a well-oiled machine, making possible the clear communication of such vivid details as the musical depiction of a stream in the strings in the countertenor aria De torrente in via bibet (track 8) and the unusually elaborate fugue that concludes the work.

After their acclaimed recording of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, La Nuova Musica and David Bates expand their PENTATONE discography with Handel’s Unsung Heroes, in which the instrumentalists of Handel’s operas are put centre stage. Traditionally restricted to an “invisible” existence in the orchestra pit, La Nuova Musica’s obbligato instrumentalists – violinist Thomas Gould, oboist Leo Duarte and bassoonist Joe Qiu – are now in the limelight. They will stand as equal partners alongside a world-class line up of soloists – soprano Lucy Crowe, mezzo-soprano Christine Rice and countertenor Iestyn Davies – showing how Handel wrote music as virtuosic and lyrical for his unsung heroes as for their singing counterparts.

Bringing his acclaimed Mendelssohn cycle to a rousing conclusion, Sir John Eliot Gardiner presents the composer s symphony-cantata, Lobgesang. Mendelssohn wrote that the piece lies very near my heart , and with its stately grandeur and religiosity, plus its sheer magnitude double the length of any of his other symphonies it stands amongst his most impressive works. Posthumously categorised by editors as the composer s second symphony, it is also known as a song of praise and three talented soloists join the LSO and the world-class Monteverdi Choir for this recording. While Gardiner is well-versed in the German s output, this release documents his first performance of the work. In an interview for The Arts Desk, he said: It s a piece I ve been looking at for years, and I ve never conducted it.

Jonathan Kent's spectacular production of Purcell's huge semi-opera is joyous, imaginative and witty Glyndebourne, with its intimate auditorium, provides the perfect setting for a drama which is partly spoken and partly sung. Based on an adaptation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, the story is lavished with a brilliance that justifies this production's acclaim. Paul Brown's inventive designs, Kim Brandstrup's exquisite choreography, an excellent cast of actors and singers and outstanding playing by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under William Christie combine to make a seamless theatrical experience, here recorded in High Definition and true surround sound.

Chandos’ featured release is a new recording of the first English operatic masterpiece, Purcell’s tragedy Dido and Aeneas. Starring Sarah Connolly, Gerald Finley, with the Orchestra and Choir of the Age of Enlightenment, it is released to commemorate the 350th anniversary of Purcell’s birth.

In the year of Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee, Alison Balsom celebrates the heroic era of the Baroque trumpet in works by George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) and Henry Purcell (1658 or 1659-1695), whose anthems, odes, sinfonias and operas have provided the music for numerous royal celebrations from their own day to the present.

Melodious and charming, The Cunning Little Vixen is a work rooted in Czech history and folk music; a sentimental journey through the cycles of life. For Sir Simon Rattle, it's a deeply personal and emotional work. "It's the piece that made me want to become an opera conductor… and still one of the pieces that reduces me to tears more easily than any other," says the LSO's Music Director. Recorded with an outstanding cast during semi-staged performances, this recording is the second in an LSO Live series showcasing acclaimed collaborations between Rattle and the celebrated stage director Peter Sellars. Towering fanfares open Janácek's Sinfonietta, an ode to the composer's hometown of Brno in the now Czech Republic. It's a portrait composed for a national celebration of Slavic culture, with Janácek's love of musical tradition evident in dancing strings and celebratory brass.

Handels Queens features some of the most exquisite pieces of music written by G.F. Handel and his contemporaries for the two finest singers of the eighteenth century, Faustina Bordoni and Francesca Cuzzoni. Often wrongfully framed as rivals, these dazzling new recordings with Mary Bevan and Lucy Crowe reveal the distinctive yet versatile talent of the Italian vocalists. Led by London Early Opera Director, Bridget Cunningham, Handels Queens serves an example of the groups dedication to imaginative programming and outstanding period performance, placing them at the forefront of baroque research.

Glyndebournes Saul stole the summer and had critics raving. The Guardian (****) applauded virtuoso stagecraft from director Barrie Kosky in his debut production there, calling the show a theatrical and musical feast of energetic choruses, surreal choreography and gorgeous singing. For The Independent, which ranked it amongst five top classical and opera performances of 2015, there was no praise too high for the cast. The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under Ivor Bolton sparkles from the pit with period panache, and designer Katrin Lea Tags exuberant costumes (The Times ****) set the Old Testament story in Handels time, with a witty twinge of the contemporary.

Handel’s musical exploits in Italy earned him the sobriquet ‘Il caro Sassone’ and brought him his first major triumphs in a number of genres. Th is recital explores Handel’s youthful brilliance in various secular and sacred contexts, allowing soprano Lucy Crowe to display her thrilling versatility. The disc includes two complete cantatas(Armida abbandonata and Alpestre monte) and a Salve Regina, as well as individual arias from other cantatas and oratorios. Plus there are three instrumental movements executed with elegant panache by The English Concert. Crowe is the outstanding performer, however, her bright, mercurial tone as affecting and effective in the Angel’s blazing, stratospheric ‘Disserratevi, o porte d’Averno’ from La Resurrezione as in Pleasure’s cajoling ‘Lascia la spina’ from Il trionfo or the suicidal desolation of ‘Almen dopo’ from Alpestre monte.

Hyperion’s Record of the Month sees the long overdue return to the studio of The King’s Consort, under the baton of the group’s newly appointed Artistic Director Matthew Halls. Here the ensemble presents the premiere recording of Handel’s Parnasso in Festa: a unique example in Handel’s enormous creative career of a fully-fledged celebratory serenata (or Festa teatrale). This form was rare in England but had developed in parallel with opera in Italy, where it was popular for commemorating special occasions of international significance. Parnasso in Festa was written for Princess Anne’s marriage to Prince William of Orange.