Renaissance Pesciolini: Il Terzo Libro di Madrigali (1581) A real discovery: musicology at its freshest, music ofthe highest standard in superb performances
Purcell Purcell Birthday Odes for Queen Mary More superb Pucell from The King's Consort and its fabulous line-up of soloists
Choral Repost: Bruckner Latin Motets from Latvia Experience the brevity and the utter devotion of Bruckner's choral music
Choral Discover Dussek: his Messe solemnelle from the Academy of Ancient Music and Richard Egarr When superior musical execution meets highest musical scholarship, angels cry with joy
Choral Magnificat 2: The Choir of St John's, Cambridge triumphs again A beautiful continuation of what one hopes will be a many-volumed series
Mahler Mahler's Song of Lamentation: Das Klagende Lied A valuable addition to Gielen's Mahler, and a valuable addiiton to to Das Klagende Lied's discography
Choral The Dead in the Square: Allan Pettersson's Twelfth Symphony If you like Stravinsky Symphony of Psalms, Orff Carmina Burana, the Nordic symphonists in general or Shostakovich's Thirteenth Symphony, 'Babi Yar,' and perhaps even Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky, you'll most likely love this
Choral Celebrating Josquin's 500th A celebration of the Mother Mary, Decca's The Golden Renaissance offers a simply gorgeous - and vocally flawless - experience
Choral Vox Clara: Late Medieval Chant Although in one sense a Christmas disc (many of the texts sing about related subjects), it would be churlish to exclude this lovely disc on the basis we're now in January. Imagining the sounds of medieval Riga, and dispelling any sense of stuffy, voice-bound-to-text performance practice, this is
Choral Parry's Songs of Farewell from Westminster As we say goodbye to 2020, it seems only right to bring in the Songs of Farewell by Hubert Parry in this wonderful release from the Choir of Westminster Abbey and James O'Donnell. I well remember attending the recording sessions for this disc, held at All Hallows, Gospel
Christmas Puer natus est ... The Choir of Buckfast Abbey One of the most beautifully produced of Christmas discs to have come Classical Explorer's way this year, this is a disc full of surprises. Buckfast Abbey founded their own record label, Ad Fontes: memorable previous releases have included Messe da Pacem (music by Pierre Villette, Yves Castagnet and
Christmas A Winter's Night: Christmas music for Choir and Organ Released back in August 2020, when snow and the suchlike were the last things on anyone's mind, this Signum release brings together the time-honoured combo of choir, brass and organ. And what brass! Onyx Brass is a motley selection of principal brass players from major orchestras that positively
Christmas Yulefest! Christmas from King's, Cambridge Five years since its release, Yulefest! remains one of the finest Christmas discs out there
Baroque Revelatory Legrenzi: 'Compiete,' Op. 7 This is one of the most significant Baroque releases I have come across this year
Baroque An Oratorio for Christmas: Bach's Weihnachts-Oratorium The Christmas Oratorio is a piece like no other
Handel Der Messias: Handel's Messiah in Mozart's version, staged ... the adventurous need not hesitate
Christmas Be All Merry: Christmas Music from Dublin 'Tis the season ... and, despite the live music ravages of CoVID, there is a Christmas feast of music in 2020, both on disc and online. For the latter, the VOCES8 Live from London - Christmas Festival [https://voces8.foundation/events1/2020/12/1/live-from-london-christmas] is surely without rival: we
Christmas Christmas in Puebla A panoramic exploration of Mexico forms the basis of this fascinating disc from the group Siglo de Oro under Patrick Allies. The title refers to a place in Mexico, Puebla de los Ángeles, and the music celebrates the music of one Juan Gutierrez de Padilla (1590-1664), whose music makes up
Christmas Britten's Christmas Music: St Nicolas and A Ceremony of Carols A celebration of Britten's choral mastery at Christmas
Choral Music of Duarte Lobo with Los Cupertinos Beauty is beauty is beauty; and this is full 70 minutes of it
