Le Concert de la Loge and Julien Chauvin continue the Haydn adventure with the Paris symphonies no.84 and no.86. The conductor and his period instruments orchestra complete the programme with the beautiful Stabat Mater, one of Haydn’s most performed ones during his lifetime. Composed in 1767 during the Sturm and Drang period, the Stabat Mater’s strikingly sober and plain expression (« Fac me vere tecum flere ») doesn’t exclude some outstanding passages, as in the « Sancta Mater, istud agas ».

One of the greatest pieces of sacred music in history, in one of its legendary versions, in a brand-new high-resolution remastering restoring it to its original glory: what more could you ask for? Carlo Maria Giulini’s 1978 rendition of Mozart’s Requiem is a milestone of the discography, all at once solemn and grandiose, thanks to a Philharmonia Chorus at the peak of its powers. It features one of the most iconic quartets of vocal soloists with Helen Donath, Christa Ludwig, Robert Tear and Robert Lloyd!

At last, the start of summer holidays! Dive headfirst in this collection of music inspired by the sea, celebrating its beauty, its strange power of fascination, the myths and legends that surround it, the pleasure of nautical activities, the rich culture of seafarers… Come aboard for a seven-hour long musical cruise, but beware the tempests and the wrecks! All the major composers are represented in this collection featuring such artists as Aldo Ciccolini, Natalie Dessay, Bertrand Chamayou, Simon Rattle or Elisabeth Leonskaja.

Mozart's most famous masterpieces include the Requiem in D minor, "Lacrimosa" from the Requiem, "Queen of the Night" aria from The Magic Flute, and "Sull'aria" from The Marriage of Figaro. Other notable works include Symphony No. 40, Piano Sonata No. 16, and several piano concertos, including No. 21 and No. 23.

Mozart's "Great Sacred Choruses" encompasses a collection of his most notable sacred choral works, including his Requiem in D Minor (K. 626), the Great Mass in C Minor (K. 427), and other pieces like Ave verum corpus (K. 618) and Vesperae solennes de confessore (K. 339). These works are considered some of the most important and influential sacred compositions ever written.

Mozart's operas are renowned for their beautiful and dramatic arias. Some of his most famous include "Der Hölle Rache" (The Queen of the Night's aria) from The Magic Flute, "Madamina, il catalogo è questo" (Leporello's catalogue aria) from Don Giovanni, and "Voi che sapete" from The Marriage of Figaro. These arias showcase Mozart's mastery of vocal writing and his ability to convey complex emotions through music.

Très jeune, Giovanni Paisiello connut un grand succès, aussi bien en Italie qu'à l'étranger. Il est surtout réputé pour son Barbier de Séville (1782) d'après Beaumarchais, déjà, qui influença bien évidemment Rossini et aussi Mozart pour ses Noces de Figaro. Ludwig van Beethoven lui-même utilisera une aria La Molinara "Nel cor piu non mi sento" pour composer une de ses oeuvres. Un autre opéra, créé en 1789, connut un renouveau récent grâce à la superbe interprétation du rôle-titre par Cecilia Bartoli : Nina, ossia la Pazza per Amore.

As one of the most respected Czech composers of his time, Jan Anton Kozeluch (1738-1814) composed around 45 masses and Italian operas, among other things, but was overshadowed by his cousin Leopold Antonín Kozeluch (1747-1818), with whom he is still often confused today. Kozeluch also wrote two bassoon concertos. The Bassoon Concerto in C major was one of the most frequently performed masterpieces for bassoon in the 18th century, and with it the Italian bassoonist Sergio Azzolini is now opening the Kozeluch album with the Camerata Rousseau under the direction of Leonardo Muzii.

Beloved worldwide, Chloe Chua returns to PENTATONE with Mozart’s complete violin concertos – a project that began when she was just 15 years old.

The "Esterhazy Music Collection" is a series dedicated to presenting musical treasures largely forgotten over the centuries. It pays tribute to one of the most important Hungarian noble families, the imperial princes of Esterhazy. From the 17th to the 19th century, the Princes of Esterhazy were as generous patrons of the arts as the most influential rulers of France, England and Austria. Although the titles 'Le Matin', 'Le Midi' and 'Le Soir' have favoured the popularity of the three works in our time, they served Haydn merely as an inspiring impulse to compose. Haydn's symphonies 6 -8 (the 'Times of Day' symphonies) are programmatic music only to a limited extent.

The year after J. C. Bach arrived in London he published three sets of works, among them this set of "Favourite Overtures". All but one of them had been heard in the King's Theatre, where he served as resident composer. Only one, the first on this disc, prefaced an opera of his own, Orione; Nos. 2, 4, 5 and 6 were written for pasticcios produced at that theatre between summer 1762 and early 1763, while No. 3, as far as we know, was not known in London, making the title "favourite" seem a little optimistic (it had been written for an opera heard in Turin in 1761). Being opera overtures, and essentially products of his Italian period, they are rather lighter in content and manner than most of J. C. Bach's music.

Composed in 1771 to a libretto by Metastasio tracing the well-known biblical story of Judith and Holofernes, La Betulia liberata was Mozart’s first oratorio. Often described as a stroke of genius, this recording by Les Talens Lyriques and Christophe Rousset, with Sandrine Piau, Amanda Forsythe and Teresa Iervolino, shows the dramatic intensity of which he was already capable at the age of just fifteen and the influence of his early experiences with opera.

The recent Kozeluch revival, featuring recordings of his solo, chamber and orchestral music, has demonstrated his status as one of the most important figures in the whole of Viennese Classicism. This double album dedicated to Kozeluch’s works for fortepiano four-hands provides further confirmation of his compositional mastery, on a level bearing comparison with his contemporaries.

Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre present a new recording of Mozarts Mass in C Minor, the iconic opening Kyrie of which is among the most cherished religious music ever written. Mozart performed parts of the Mass in 1783, but the score remained unfinished, making the use of a scholarly edition necessary for a complete performance. Despite its unfinished state, Mozarts Mass in C Minor has gained popularity and now enjoys a place in the choral core repertory. For this recording, made in connection to live performances, Minkowski has chosen Helmut Eders 1985 edition for the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe.

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.