It may seem surprising to find an album devoted to dance music from 1300 to 1500 on classical best-seller lists in the spring of 2023. This is a niche slice of the market at best, but after one hears the music of the new ensemble Into the Winds, it will be understandable. Part of the innovation here is just the breadth of repertory represented. Instrumental dances are generally interspersed among vocal pieces, and few performers in performances or on recordings have addressed them as a genre of their own. Into the Winds offers music ranging from simple medieval pieces to transcriptions of vocal polyphony, including a mass by Heinrich Isaac. Beyond this is the crack playing and the intelligent sequencing. All of the players except for percussionist Laurent Sauron trade off among instruments, and there are unusual sonorities at every turn here from such instruments as medieval bassoons with well-thought-out arrangements of several pieces. Many of the composers are anonymous, but others have names and are known, and a recording like this begins to make possible an evaluation of their music. This is a pioneering recording and one that is entertaining for anybody.© James Manheim /TiVo

Both the music and especially the central figure on this release by British soprano Carolyn Sampson will be largely unfamiliar to most listeners, for the vocal music of the French Baroque has received many fewer contextual studies on recordings than its English and Italian counterparts. Marie Fel was the star singer of mid-18th century Paris, a Bordeaux native who was discovered by an agent of the Paris Opera when she was 20. Roughly as Senesino was to Handel, she was an inspiration to Rameau, and many other composers wrote for her as well. Sampson tries to penetrate Fel's musicality, and the album is not just a compilation of works associated with her. She sings a sacred aria (Joseph Hector Fiocco's Laudate pueri, track 12) with the ornamentation Fel herself wrote out, and she even ventures into the Occitan language, which Fel spoke natively, for the extremely unusual Gasouillats auzeléts by Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville (track 11). Speakers of Occitan are invited to judge her pronunciation (an English translation is included), but even those with no particular interest in the history of singing will be struck by the variety of Fel's repertoire, which ranged from the older Lully style of French opera to the bright simplicity of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Salve regina of 1752 (not a common item either). Sampson's voice is not absolutely comfortable when forced to do acrobatics at the top of its range, but for the most part she lives up to d'Aquin's description of Fel's instrument as "always lovely, always seductive." Her range is matched by that of the instrumental group Ex Cathedra under Jeffrey Skidmore, which is called upon to deliver a variety of theatrical effects. Highly recommended.© TiVo

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It is becoming increasingly clear that great benefits accrue when works of the Second Viennese School milieu are performed along with those of Schoenberg, Webern, and Berg. The music of these composers did not represent stepping-stones on the road to atonality but rather responded to a rich constellation of cultural forces. Consider this release by the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective, with rising soprano Francesca Chiejina (whose voice may be sufficient reason to seek out the album all by itself, and excitement over it likely put the album on classical best-seller lists in the autumn of 2023). Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4, in its original string sextet version, concludes the program, and leading up to it are entirely relevant works. Consider the little-known Maiblumen blühten überall ("May Flowers Bloomed Everywhere") by Alexander Zemlinsky, which was not only written for the same sextet medium as Schoenberg's work, plus a soprano but also features a text by Richard Dehmel, another of whose poems furnished the program for Schoenberg's work. The latter all of a sudden seems more enthusiastic, less murky. In between are a piano quintet movement by Webern and four songs by Alma Mahler, here arranged for the sextet medium by Tom Poster. One can question this; the recital-like program would not have been disturbed by playing these songs in their original form, but as with everything else by Alma Mahler that has been turning up lately, they are wonderful, with much of the same way of treating vernacular material that would be heard in the music of her husband. Chandos' sound is generally good, even if it puts Chiejina a bit too far back in the mix. A fine recording of music from Vienna that dispenses with the myth-making and offers a better-rounded examination of the tradition. © James Manheim /TiVo

The starting point for Barbara Hannigan’s third recording for Alpha is a work by Gérard Grisey (1946-98) that is particularly close to her heart. Grisey wrote: ‘I conceived the Quatre Chants pour franchir le seuil (Four songs for crossing the threshold) as a musical meditation on death in four parts: the death of the angel, the death of civilisation, the death of the voice and the death of humanity... The texts chosen belong to four civilisations (Christian, Egyptian, Greek, Mesopotamian) and have in common a fragmentary discourse on the inevitability of death’. Luigi Nono (1924-90) was a politically engaged composer. His stunning monody Djamila Boupacha, a heart-rending cry for solo soprano, pays tribute to a freedom fighter tortured by French paratroopers during the Algerian war; Picasso also portrayed her in charcoal. Once again Barbara Hannigan both sings and directs this pair of twentieth-century works with her friends of the Ludwig Orchestra. She has chosen to couple them with a Classical symphony by the master of the genre, Joseph Haydn, which also deals with the theme of the Passion. Her interpretation is extremely intense and highly personal. © Alpha Classics

This new recording in the Edition Vivaldi series – the first of two volumes dedicated to Vivaldi’s "cantate da camera" for soprano – displays the energetic vitality with which a new generation of artists in their thirties is encountering the baroque repertoire. This sixty-eighth album of the Edition highlights the expressively powerful voice of the soloist, soprano Arianna Vendittelli, already heard in the operas Il Tamerlano (2020) and Il Giustino (2018) conducted by Ottavio Dantone, as well as the artistic vision and high standards of the harpsichordist, organist and conductor Andrea Buccarella, who in 2018 carried off the first prize at the Bruges International Early Music Competition with his Abchordis Ensemble. In these six cantatas – of around thirty attributed to the Venetian master and composed between 1718 and the mid 1730s – these artists display their enhanced vocal and instrumental artistry, and a profound understanding of Vivaldi’s scores. No subtlety escapes these artists in their interpretation of this secular vocal genre, so fashionable during the 18th century, and still being rediscovered today, with its alternating arias and recitatives.

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Karel Ancerl dispatches Prokofiev's fearsome Alexander Nevsky Cantata with admirable speed and efficiency. While for some who admire the massive and monumental work, speed and efficiency might be the last thing one wants in a Nevsky, for those to whom the work has always seemed a little overblown, Ancerl's 1963 recording with the Czech Philharmonic will be just the thing. Because while no one could doubt the strength and energy of the performance, no one could accuse Ancerl of playing to the last row of the balcony.But as admirable as Ancerl's Nevsky is, his recording of Prokofiev's Symphony-Concerto is even better. Partnered with the superb and soulful André Navarra, Ancerl turns in a performance of nearly unmatched lyricism and power. Nearly unmatched because, of course, there is always the Rostropovich premiere recording that invariably must be regarded as all but definitive. But despite competition from the all but definitive, Navarra and Ancerl have a leaner and harder conception of the work and if their lyricism is not quite as expressive as Rostropovich's, their power is completely convincing. The remastered sound of Supraphon's stereo originals is warm and clear, but a bit distant.© TiVo

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Ah yes, glissandos galore! How we have missed them. While it sometimes seems as though every contemporary conductor, both young and old, feels obliged to bring their own ideas to Mahler’s work, Vladimir Jurowski, already a highly-distinguished conductor who has often explored the works of the “Czech” composer (Symphony No. 1, Symphony No. 2, Totenfeier), is not afraid of relying on expressive phrases that seem somewhat questionable today. It is strange, because such joy, performed with such style, is hard to resist... And what a Ruhevoll he delivers on this album! Jurowski continues his Mahlerian journey here with Symphony No. 4. He offers a completely original touch, mingling influences from Dvořák and Janáček with those of Bruckner and Strauss. Is this what Mahler would have wanted? In any case, he is modern precisely for that reason, and Jurowski knows it. It all seems like a game to him. Don’t bother looking for the ethereal (found in Abbado’s interpretation) or eternity (Haitink). Instead, the flutes gargle, the clarinets growl, the bassoons blush, the timpani roar, and above all this bohemian commotion, the violins sing with their “pricking” technique. The fluctuating poetics of Bedächtig have rarely sounded so alive, natural or radiant. The scordatura of the second movement conjures up an image of hell, acting as an appetiser for the Burleske from the Ninth. Finally, the horn continues resounding and, even in the middle of hell, lyricism triumphs. In the final lied (Sehr behaglich), Sofia Fomina, with her perfect voice, performs a light dance with a childish spirit that transcends the lyrics “No music on earth is comparable to ours” (Kein’ Musik ist ja nicht auf Erden die unsrer verglichen kann werden). It begs the question: were Seefried and Walter the inspiration for this enchanting interpretation by Jurowski? And when will Symphony No. 6 be released?! © Pierre-Yves Lascar/Qobuz

For his new album Soave e virtuoso, Alexis Kossenko went on the trail of rare scores from the baroque era. Partitions that remind us that the Italian repertory, if it gives pride of place to the the violin and the voice, nevertheless doesn’t forget wind instruments. At the head of his ensemble Les Ambassadeurs, the conductor and flutist Alexis Kossenko performs delightly concertos by Tartini, Vivaldi and Sammartini. Sometimes voluptuous, sometimes dreadfully acrobatic, these scores require technique and sensitivity from the soloist. With a jubilant virtuosity, at the service of expressiveness, Alexis Kossenko, multi-skilled musician as at ease with flute as with recorder, brings life in colors to the works of the three Italian composers. © Aparté

Crop Circle 2 is the fourth LP from British rapper Nines and follows 2020's U.K. number one album Crabs in a Bucket. Featuring production from Jacob Manson, Show N Prove, and Swifta to name but a few, Nines is also joined by Potter Payper, Clavish, Wretch 32, and M Huncho for an album of laid-back British hip-hop.© Rich Wilson /TiVo

Several years ago, Giovanni Antonini and the Alpha Classics label set an exciting objective: to create a complete collection of Haydn’s 104 symphonies, mirroring the works of composers from different eras so as to highlight their relevance today. This monumental edition should be completed in 2032, marking the tercentenary of the Austro-Hungarian composer’s birth.The project is gradually being enriched by other productions celebrating Haydn’s genius. The oratorio Die Schöpfung (The Creation) is a major part of his catalogue. Haydn was inspired after hearing an oratorio by Handel in London during a large commemorative concert. The event was significant because there were few early works being performed at the time, and the large orchestra and choir (nearly 1000 strong) made a great impression on Haydn, being unaccustomed to such large numbers.
The result was The Creation, a spirited oratorio that required a colossal amount of preparatory work and left him shaky. But it was worth the effort. The work was a huge success and has been performed ever since. Giovanni Antonini reveals a very lively chamber version with an excellent instrumental ensemble, a perfectly balanced vocal trio with soprano Anna Lucia Richter, tenor Maximilian Schmitt and baritone Florian Boesch, not forgetting the participation of the wonderful Bavarian Radio Choir.This new recording ranks among the highest of a long series of Haydn’s masterpiece. It’s thanks to the radiant performances, where the love of music blends with the simple contemplation of nature. A perfect recording. © François Hudry/Qobuz

The French-Cypriot soprano Sarah Aristidou joins Alpha and here presents her very first album. Twice named "Best Newcomer" by Opernwelt for two contemporary creations, she is a favourite interpreter of Jörg Widmann who has already written two works for her, and has sung under the direction of Daniel Barenboim, Sir Simon Rattle and François-Xavier Roth. Barenboim opened the doors of Berlin to her and the Orchester des Wandels, a group of musicians from several German orchestras, including the Staatskapelle Berlin, who have set themselves the objective of practising their art in a way that protects the planet: limiting the carbon footprint in all their activities, including this album. The packaging of the physical version is plastic-free and printed with organic ink. Alpha also supports the reforestation programme in Madagascar initiated by the orchestra. In addition to the encounter between the young singer and the unique orchestra, this project is also the result of Sarah’s passion for Iceland (the land of Aether par excellence?). Along with the director and photographer Weronika Izdebska, she has created a film exalting the natural world which will be shown in Berlin in November 2021 as part of an installation presenting the entire programme. © Alpha Classics

Highlights from the varied output of a prolific female 17th-century composer. Born into a noble family and baptized as Anna Isabella Leonardi on 6 Sept. 1620, she belonged to one of the most illustrious families of Novara. She studied at home before entering the Congregazione delle Vergini di S. Orsola at age 16. She took her vows three years later and remained in this convent until her death on February 25, 1704, at the age of 84. During her long life, Isabella served in all capacities: mater discreta et cancellaria, magistra musicae, superiora, and finally consigliera. She was clearly a woman of robust constitution and an iron will. She evidently showed musical promise from an early age, further nurtured within the convent, as the first of her published collections of music dates from as early as 1640, when she was just 20 years old. Another 15 such collections followed over the course of her long and industrious life: Masses, psalms, Magnificats, responsories, hymns, antiphons and litanies) as well as non-liturgical pieces. In her own time, Isabella’s music was prized by connoisseurs: according to one French collector, ‘All the works of this illustrious and incomparable Isabella Leonarda are so beautiful, so charming, so brilliant, and at the same time so knowledgeable and so wise ... that my great regret is not to have them all’. This recording provides a portrait of Isabella Leonarda’s vast and varied output, ranging from solo motets to a large-scale Psalm setting for voices, obbligato violins and basso continuo. O flammae is a highly expressive and sensual solo motet involving daring chromaticism and far-ranging tonalities. Numerous works exemplify her “concertato” writing in their alternation of meter, tempo and texture between florid soloistic passages and more homophonic choral treatment. The absence of male voices is solved by the transposition of lower voices or the use of instruments. Previous recordings of the brilliant Salve Regina, scored for tenor, violins and continuo, have employed a male voice, whereas the all-female Capella Artemisia takes the kind of imaginative approach to performance that Isabella would have devised for herself in the convent out of necessity, where lower vocal parts would have been either transposed up or played on instruments. The album opens and closes with a pair of her most splendid and exuberant concerted liturgical works, Gloriosa Mater Domini and Dixit Dominus. As a whole, the album should open many ears to an overlooked but major figure of 18th-century sacred music. It should invite the same warm critical reception given to the previous releases of Capella Artemisia on Brilliant Classics. © Brilliant Classics

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