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René Jacobs, Freiburger Barockorchester, RIAS Kammerchor - Joseph Haydn: Die Jahreszeiten / The Seasons (2008)

Posted By: ArlegZ
René Jacobs, Freiburger Barockorchester, RIAS Kammerchor - Joseph Haydn: Die Jahreszeiten / The Seasons (2008)

René Jacobs, Freiburger Barockorchester, RIAS Kammerchor - Joseph Haydn: Die Jahreszeiten / The Seasons (2008)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 563 Mb | Total time: 2 h 05 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Harmonia Mundi | # HMX 2961829.30 | Recorded: 2003

When Nature took on new meaning. The transition from Winckelmann to Rousseau marked one of the biggest upheavals of thought in the Enlightenment - and it is perfectly illustrated in these four Seasons with their decidedly Romantic 'descriptivism'! In this music, even though lambs frisk, fish teem and thunder booms, it is the question of Man within Nature that is the central issue. By going back to the very first version of The Seasons (with the orchestral introductions played in their entirety), René Jacobs enables us to relive that day in April 1801 that saw the triumph of old 'Papa' Haydn.

Ludwig Güttler, Virtuosi Saxoniae - Zelenka: Missa Dei Patris; Psalms; Capriccios

Posted By: ArlegZ
Ludwig Güttler, Virtuosi Saxoniae - Zelenka: Missa Dei Patris; Psalms; Capriccios

Ludwig Güttler, Virtuosi Saxoniae - Zelenka: Missa Dei Patris; Psalms; Capriccios (2013)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 602 Mb | Total time: 69:59+66:50 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Brilliant | # 94691 | Recorded: 1986-1994

Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679–1745) is one of the most enigmatic figures in the history of Baroque music. Very little is known of his early years, where he studied and who taught him. Born in a village to the south of Prague, he later travelled to Dresden where he joined the court of the Elector of Saxony, Friedrich August I. His position at the court was a lowly one, but he nonetheless composed many works there and his output of church music was particularly prolific.

Rene Jacobs, Freibruger Baroqueorchester - George Frideric Handel: Rinaldo (2003)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Rene Jacobs, Freibruger Baroqueorchester - George Frideric Handel: Rinaldo (2003)

René Jacobs, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra - George Frideric Handel: Rinaldo (2003)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 865 Mb | Total time: 67:20+74:54+50:34 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Harmonia Mundi | # HMC 901796.98 | Recorded: 2002

Rinaldo, Handel's first Italian opera, is still arguably his best Italian opera. Or, to put it another way, Handel found what worked – hair-raising arias, affecting harmonies, colorful orchestrations, wild special effects, and a story that his English audiences would accept as a compliment to their own magnificence – and he stuck with it until the English were sick of Italian operas. Handel's Rinaldo works wonderfully well in this recording directed by Rene Jacobs. Jacobs makes the drama work, making one believe in the unlikely coincidences that constitute its plot. He makes the theatrical effects work, making one believe in Handel's monumental thunder that precedes the arrival of the evil queen.

René Jacobs, Schola Cantorum Basiliensis - Christoph Willibald Gluck: Le Cinese (1990)

Posted By: ArlegZ
René Jacobs, Schola Cantorum Basiliensis - Christoph Willibald Gluck: Le Cinese (1990)

René Jacobs, Schola Cantorum Basiliensis - Christoph Willibald Gluck: Le Cinese (1990)
EAC | FLAC | Tracks (Cue & Log) ~ 282 Mb | Total time: 56:33 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Deutsche Harmonia Mundi | # 77174-2-RG | Recorded: 1986

Le cinesi (''The Chinese ladies'') is one of numerous pieces of the kind—generally called azione teatrale or something similar—composed during the eighteenth century for court entertainments.

Alan Curtis - Alessandro Stradella: La Susanna (2000)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Alan Curtis - Alessandro Stradella: La Susanna (2000)

Alan Curtis - Alessandro Stradella: La Susanna (2000)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 461 Gb | Total time: 51:52+44:38 | Scans included
Classical | Label: EMI Classics | # 8 26539 2 | Recorded: 1978

La Susanna, a late oratorio composed in Genoa in 1681, the year before the composer’s death. La Susanna belongs to a popular 17th-century sub-genre termed oratorio erotico because it employed biblical stories concerned with love or the sensual aspect of women. It is typical of the kind of plot that might be used to attract an audience drawn to the prayer halls to be given Bible “instruction” in easily accessible form. The concept was a mark of counter-Reformation propaganda and stories such as those of Judith or Susanna were popular not only in music, but also literature and painting. Indeed, the cover of the present set is illustrated by a fine painting by Artemisia Gentileschi depicting the beautiful naked Susanna recoiling from the gaze of the two leering elders.

Rene Jacobs, Ensemble 415, Chiara Banchini - J.S. Bach: Cantates pour alto BWV 35, 53 & 82 (2003)

Posted By: tirexiss
Rene Jacobs, Ensemble 415, Chiara Banchini - J.S. Bach: Cantates pour alto BWV 35, 53 & 82 (2003)

Rene Jacobs, Ensemble 415, Chiara Banchini - J.S. Bach: Cantates pour alto BWV 35, 53 & 82 (2003)
EAC | FLAC (image+.cue, log) | Covers Included | 58:58 | 319 MB
Genre: Classical, Vocal | Label: Harmonia Mundi | Catalog: HMA 1951273

René Jacobs began his career as a countertenor and quickly earned the reputation as one of the finest of his time. But he gradually turned to conducting and since the turn of the new century has rarely sung in concert. As a countertenor Jacobs championed a string of forgotten Baroque composers on his recordings: Antonio Cesti, Sigismondo d'India, Luca Marenzio, Pierre Guédron, Michel Lambert, and others.

Sigiswald Kuijken, La Petite Bande - Johann Sebastian Bach: Johannes-Passion (1990)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Sigiswald Kuijken, La Petite Bande - Johann Sebastian Bach: Johannes-Passion (1990)

Sigiswald Kuijken, La Petite Bande - Johann Sebastian Bach: Johannes-Passion (1990)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 522 Mb | Total time: 59:30+62:49 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Deutsche Harmonia Mundi | # GD77041 | Recorded: 1987

Founded in 1972 at the suggestion of Deutsche Harmonia Mundi and led since its inception by Dutch violinist turned conductor Sigiswald Kuijken, La Petite Bande is surely among the finest of early music orchestras with a discography ranging from Lully through Mozart. Among the group's most successful projects, however, have been recordings of Bach's sacred works, particularly the 1985 Mass in B minor and this 1987 St. John Passion. Both are superbly performed with excellent solo and choral singing and outstanding orchestral playing, but both are distinctly dissimilar in tone and effect. The conductor makes the difference.

René Jacobs, Freiburger Barockorchester - Ludwig van Beethoven: Leonore (2019)

Posted By: ArlegZ
René Jacobs, Freiburger Barockorchester - Ludwig van Beethoven: Leonore (2019)

René Jacobs, Freiburger Barockorchester - Ludwig van Beethoven: Leonore (2019)
EAC | FLAC | Tracks (Cue & Log) ~ 631 Mb | Total time: 2 h 20 min | Scans included
Classical | Label: Harmonia Mundi | # HMM 93241415 | Recorded: 2017

The original 1805 version of Beethoven's only opera is a high-adrenaline experience in the hands of the Belgian conductor and his period-instrument band, with Marlis Petersen in the title-role and Maximilian Schmitt as her imprisoned husband. From Leonore (1805) to Fidelio (1814) there were three successive versions of Beethoven’s opera, only the last of which has been in the repertory since the 19th Century. Going against tradition, René Jacobs has chosen to revive the earliest version, reworking the librettos and the spoken dialogue: a genuine tour de force, this still unknown Leonore forms an incomparable musical and dramatic structure requiring exemplary mastery on the part of both orchestra and singers. This landmark recording proves its case in every respect.

René Jacobs, Concerto Köln, RIAS Kammerchor - George Frideric Handel: Saul (2005)

Posted By: ArlegZ
René Jacobs, Concerto Köln, RIAS Kammerchor - George Frideric Handel: Saul (2005)

René Jacobs, Concerto Köln, RIAS Kammerchor - George Frideric Handel: Saul (2005)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 749 Mb | Total time: 79:06+70:57 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Harmonia Mundi | # HMC 901877.78 | Recorded: 2004

Saul is one of Handel's most action-filled, fast-moving oratorios; an opera in everything but name only. It has been lucky on disc–both Paul McCreesh (Archiv) and John Eliot Gardiner (Philips) have led superb readings, and Joachim Carlos Martini leads a good performance on Naxos, which is a bargain. Now René Jacobs and his remarkable Concerto Köln come along and offer a truly majestic reading, filled with real drama and beautiful, precise singing and playing. Tenor Jeremy Ovenden sings Jonathan with nobility and faces down Saul in Act II with style and power. David is sung by countertenor Lawrence Zazzo, and he's as good as the best-recorded competition (Andreas Scholl, Derek Lee Ragin). Emma Bell is ravishing as Merab; Rosemary Joshua makes a fine Joshua.

Bejun Mehta, René Jacobs, Freiburger Barockorchester - George Frideric Handel: Opera Arias 'Ombra Cara' (2010)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Bejun Mehta, René Jacobs, Freiburger Barockorchester - George Frideric Handel: Opera Arias 'Ombra Cara' (2010)

Bejun Mehta, René Jacobs, Freiburger Barockorchester - George Frideric Handel: Opera Arias 'Ombra Cara' (2010)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 365 Mb | Total time: 71:46 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Harmonia Mundi | # HMC902077 | Recorded: 2010

Mehta differs from other countertenors insofar as his dynamic range is concerned. As René Jacobs points, Mehta can sing high softly–very rare for this voice type–and has a rich, full alto range. Furthermore, his phrasing is natural and musical; he can express feelings from rage to ecstasy to yearning by coloring his tone, leaning into a note or phrase. His coloratura is natural and unaspirated; his bottom register takes on a very dark hue without becoming baritonal or chesty. His embellishments are both tasteful and virtuosic–a rare combo–and he has real trills.

Bejun Mehta, René Jacobs, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin - Che Puro Ciel (2013)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Bejun Mehta, René Jacobs, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin - Che Puro Ciel (2013)

Bejun Mehta, René Jacobs, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin - Che Puro Ciel: Mozart, Gluck, Traetta, Hasse, J.C.Bach (2013)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 322 Mb | Total time: 69:50 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Harmonia Mundi | # HMC 902172 | Recorded: 2013

The contents of this album reflect the operatic music Mozart would have known as a teenager. One of the composers, Christoph Willibald Gluck, is known as a founder of the Classical style in opera; others, including Johann Adolf Hasse, Johann Christian Bach, and Tommaso Traetta, are known mostly to specialists, at least in the operatic field. Listeners who have heard the spectacular arias of the late Baroque popularized by Renée Fleming and others will find the pieces here less virtuosic but more dramatically satisfying, as if the composers and librettists had engaged themselves anew with the ancient Greek stories they were retelling. One might object that annotator Denis Morrier gives short shift to the most important of the librettists, Pietro Metastasio, whose writings remained popular up to Beethoven's time.

Judith Nelson, René Jacobs, Concerto Vocale - George Frideric Handel: Duetti e Cantate da Camera (1989)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Judith Nelson, René Jacobs, Concerto Vocale - George Frideric Handel: Duetti e Cantate da Camera (1989)

Judith Nelson, René Jacobs, Concerto Vocale - George Frideric Handel: Duetti e Cantate da Camera (1989)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 239 Mb | Total time: 46:45 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Harmonia Mundi | # HMC 1901004 | Recorded: 1978

There could hardly be any contrast more striking than that of "Messiah" with these delicate miniatures composed by Handel during his stay in Italy before he settled in London. They are vocal chamber music of the highest quality. They give no inkling that the graceful young composer might later produce anything like the "Hallelujah" chorus, though there is a clear pre-echo of "For unto us a child is born."

René Jacobs, Concerto Köln - Carl Heinrich Graun: Cleopatra e Cesare (1996)

Posted By: ArlegZ
René Jacobs, Concerto Köln - Carl Heinrich Graun: Cleopatra e Cesare (1996)

René Jacobs, Concerto Köln - Carl Heinrich Graun: Cleopatra e Cesare (1996)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 939 Mb | Total time: 79:01+57:12+62:14 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Harmonia Mundi | # 901561.63 | Recorded: 1995

Carl Heinrich Graun was court composer to Frederick the Great of Prussia, and this opera was chosen to open the new opera house in Berlin in 1742. It was a great success, but Handel's opera on the same subject had appeared less than two decades before, and had anyone been familiar with that one, Graun's might have come as a disappointment. Handel gets under his characters' skins–Cleopatra's eight arias tell us everything we have to know about her, for instance–while Graun (merely) offers some beautiful, well-orchestrated, at-times exciting music. Any composer would have been proud to compose Cesare's heart-stoppingly vengeful last-act aria "Voglio strage", and any Read more mezzo (or castrato or countertenor) would be happy to sing it. Here, Iris Vermillion is spectacular, and elsewhere in the opera she's as heroic, romantic, and colorful as our hero ought to be.

Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, Rene Jacobs - Kittel: Arias & Cantatas (2010)

Posted By: tirexiss
Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, Rene Jacobs - Kittel: Arias & Cantatas (2010)

Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, Rene Jacobs - Kittel: Arias & Cantatas (2010)
EAC | FLAC (image+.cue, log) | Covers Included | 72:01 | 376 MB
Genre: Classical, Vocal | Label: Harmonia Mundi | Catalog: HMG 505247

The glittering city of Dresden, whose painstaking reconstruction after it was reduced to rubble in World War II is one of the great success stories of architecture preservation, is a hot topic in the Baroque music field, and this 2000 recording, reissued in budget form in 2010, offers a taste of the excitement. As the seat of the Holy Roman Empire's Elector of Saxony, the city was musically significant even before the rise to power of the man who really made its cultural reputation, August the Strong.

Lumieres - La musique du XVIIIeme siecle (29 CD): Part 06 [2011]

Posted By: Vilboa
Lumieres - La musique du XVIIIeme siecle (29 CD): Part 06 [2011]

Lumières - La musique du XVIIIème siècle (29 CD), Part 06 - Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro [2011]
EAC (flac, image, cue, log) | TT: 45.16+57.05+69.48 | Scans | 718 Mb
Classical | Harmonia Mundi | 2908601.30 | Rec: 2003

The eighteenth century is probably the most extraordinary period of transformation Europe has known since antiquity. Political upheavals kept pace with the innumerable inventions and discoveries of the age; every sector of the arts and of intellectual and material life was turned upside down. Between the end of the reign of Louis XIV and the revolution of 1789, music in its turn underwent a radical mutation that struck at the very heart of a well-established musical language. In this domain too, we are all children of the Age of Enlightenment: our conception of music and the way we ‘consume’ it still follows in many respects the agenda set by the eighteenth century. And it is not entirely by chance that harmonia mundi has chosen to offer you in 2011 a survey of this musical revolution which, without claiming to be exhaustive, will enable you to grasp the principal outlines of musical creation between the twilight of the Baroque and the dawn of Romanticism.