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Schütz: Christmas Vespers / McCreesh, Gabrieli Consort and Players(more) »rank: 110368by: Gregorian Chant, Heinrich Schutz, Gabrieli Consort and Players, Paul McCreesh, Charles Daniels, Neal Davies, Andrew Carwood, Susan Hemington Jones, Charles Pott, Simon Grant, Robert Horn, James Johnstone, Kristian Olesen, Choir of Roskilde Cathedral
: :Heinrich Schütz's Christmas Story, besides being a historical milestone, has always been one of 17th-century music's crowd-pleasers--the former because it's the ancestor of Christmas oratorios by Bach, Charpentier, and even Berlioz; the latter because it presents engaging depictions of the characters in the Nativity story with a cornucopia of colorful instruments (piping recorders for the shepherds, a galumphing bassoon (representing the gait of the camels?) for the three wise men, regally blaring cornets for King Herod, and pompous trombones for his priests). As you might expect, there are a number of fine recordings of this proto-oratorio, from the graceful and somewhat delicate rendition ... |
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Christmas Mass in Rome(more) »rank: 31722from: Polygram Records
: :Heinrich Schütz's Christmas Story, besides being a historical milestone, has always been one of 17th-century music's crowd-pleasers--the former because it's the ancestor of Christmas oratorios by Bach, Charpentier, and even Berlioz; the latter because it presents engaging depictions of the characters in the Nativity story with a cornucopia of colorful instruments (piping recorders for the shepherds, a galumphing bassoon (representing the gait of the camels?) for the three wise men, regally blaring cornets for King Herod, and pompous trombones for his priests). As you might expect, there are a number of fine recordings of this proto-oratorio, from the graceful and somewhat delicate rendition ... |
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Venetian Vespers (Monteverdi * Rigatti * Grandi * Cavalli) /Gabrieli Consort & Players * McCreesh(more) »rank: 164820by: Research Composer, Giovanni Antonio Rigatti, Alessandro Grandi, Claudio Monteverdi, Adriano Banchieri, Giacomo Finetti, Pietro Francesco Cavalli, Anonymous, Gregorian Chant, Biagio Marini, Gabrieli Consort, Charles Daniels, Paul McCreesh, Alison Wray, Jonathan Best, Tessa Bonner, Angus Smith, Peter Harvey, Robert Horn, Paula Chateauneuf, Timothy Roberts, Susan Hemington Jones, Fred Jacobs, Celia Harper, Charles Pott, Florian Deuter, Gabrieli Players
: essential recording:Paul McCreesh's second major recording (and second Gramophone Award winner) reconstructs Vespers for the Feast of the Annunciation at San Marco circa 1643, using music by Monteverdi and contemporaries including Cavalli, Grandi, and Rigatti. The music is less dense and lavishly scored than on A Venetian Coronation, but more virtuosic and varied--ranging from Finetti's sweet, languid 'O Maria, quæ rapis' for two falsettists and Monteverdi's lively 'Laudate Dominum' for solo tenor, to Marini's sensuous sonata for three violins and Monteverdi's spectacular 'Lætatus sum' for six singers, two violins, two trombones, and bassoon over a repeated four-note bass. There is so much ... |
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Antoine Busnois: Missa O Crux lignum; Motets; Chansons(more) »rank: 83375by: Antoine Busnois, Orlando Consort
: :This all-Busnois disc is an early music fan's delight, especially as performed by the four accomplished singers of the Orlando Consort, who convey both the purity of Busnois' music and the many surprises lurking within it. The Mass is the 'big' work, almost half-an-hour in length. But interest never flags since the music is unfailingly inventive, the voices perfectly matched, the rhythms buoyant. The Mass is preceded and followed by selections of chansons, a hymn, and a pair of motets. In these too, the 15th-century master of polyphony constantly startles with unexpected twists and turns of the long musical lines. His typically adventurous ... |
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Britten: The Company of Heaven(more) »rank: 158197from: Angel Records
: :This all-Busnois disc is an early music fan's delight, especially as performed by the four accomplished singers of the Orlando Consort, who convey both the purity of Busnois' music and the many surprises lurking within it. The Mass is the 'big' work, almost half-an-hour in length. But interest never flags since the music is unfailingly inventive, the voices perfectly matched, the rhythms buoyant. The Mass is preceded and followed by selections of chansons, a hymn, and a pair of motets. In these too, the 15th-century master of polyphony constantly startles with unexpected twists and turns of the long musical lines. His typically adventurous ... |
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Cambridge Singers a Capella(more) »rank: 116207by: Cambridge Singers, Rutter
:Album Description:The music heard on this recording is selected from the great wealth of a cappella choral repertoire written in Germany, France and England in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The purity and beauty of the sound of unaccompanied choir was always recognized, but in the seventeenth and eighteenth century virtually no music was written for choir alone, since voices were almost invariable combined with instruments during this period. Under the influence of the Romantic movement, with its love of the past, interest in a cappella singing began to revive in the early nineteenth century, a revival which paralleled the slightly later pre-Raphaelite ... |
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Candide(more) »rank: 145542from: Jay Records
:Album Description:Additional lyrics by John LaTouche and Stephen Sondheim. |
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Handel: Saul(more) »rank: 68808from: Archiv Produktion
: :Saul is one of Handel's most dramatic and touching oratorios. Saul's insane jealousy and its tragic results are movingly told, with rich characterizations for the main characters and some of the composer's most colorful music. The addition of a carillon is exotic and flavorful; the trumpets and drums are exciting. McCreesh underlines the drama with his orchestra's crisp attacks and the chorus has real personality, whether in the songs of praise or the laments. Neil Davies' rich bass is remarkably expressive and fluid as Saul, while countertenor Andreas Scholl is triumphant as David; his tone is rich and full, capable of expressing anger, ... |
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Handel - Theodora / Gritton, Bickley, Blaze, Agnew, A. Smith, N. Davies, Gabrieli Consort and Players, McCreesh(more) »rank: 119975by: George Frideric Handel, Paul McCreesh, Susan Gritton, Susan Bickley, Gabrieli Consort and Players, Robin Blaze, Paul Agnew, Angus Smith, Neal Davies
: :'The Jews will not come to it, because it is a Christian story; and the Ladies will not, because it is a virtuous one.' Such was Handel's own assessment of the prospects for Theodora. This oratorio always has been highly esteemed by serious Handelians; in the composer's time, as in our own. Many listeners, however, could be forgiven for finding somewhat tiresome the musical account of the oh-so-chaste Princess Theodora of Antioch and her martyrdom at the hands of the Romans. Certainly many modern performances have tended to drone on--in a virtuously Protestant manner--about bidding farewell to worldly things and clinging to faith ... |
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Purcell: Harmonia Sacra / McCreesh, Gabrieli Consort and Players(more) »rank: 170086by: Henry Purcell, Johann Heinrich Schmelzer, Paul McCreesh, Gabrieli Consort and Players, Timothy Roberts, Paula Chateauneuf, Susan Hemington Jones, Katherine Philips, Fred Jacobs, Tessa Bonner, Peter Harvey, John Patrick, Christopher Purves, Francis Quarles, Simon Berridge
: essential recording:This is one of the finest Purcell discs around, but it isn't one of the most cheerful. It's an anthology of pieces for one to four voices with continuo on spiritual themes--pieces such as 'With sick and famish'd eyes,' 'The earth trembled,' 'In the black, dismal dungeon of despair,' and the famous 'O solitude.' It really is top-notch Purcell, with much better texts than he usually had to work with, and it's performed to Paul McCreesh's usual high standard, but Baroque-for-Brunch it is not. The highlights are the deeply comforting meditation 'Close thine eyes and sleep secure,' and the riveting 'In ... |



