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Handel: Silete Venti, Gloria, Salve Regina – Vivaldi: Nulla in Mundo Pax Sincera

Grace Davidson

Classical - Released June 29, 2018 | Signum Records

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English soprano Grace Davidson is a member of The Sixteen who has also appeared on film soundtrack recordings. Here she makes her solo orchestral debut with a logical program bound together by the fact that all the music is extremely virtuosic, and on top of that little-known. Particularly interesting is the Gloria, HWV deest, of Handel; the only reason this counterpart to Vivaldi's famed Gloria, RV 589, is not better known is that it was rediscovered only in 2001. Start your sampling with its opening movement to hear both the recording's strengths and its more questionable aspects. In the former column is the engineering, getting a nice, bright clarity from the All Hallows Church, Gospel Oak, London. And likewise the music, so redolent of the competitive vocal atmosphere in which both Handel and Vivaldi worked. The venerable Academy of Ancient Music under Joseph Crouch is a good fit for Davidson here with its light, restrained affect. And it is easy to imagine Davidson in the small chapels for which several of these works were probably composed. Which brings you to the issue you'll have to evaluate for yourself: Davidson is a chamber-sized soprano, and it's easy to imagine these works sung with more power. In the Handel Gloria, note how she takes the runs precisely, blooming into vibrato only on longer notes. It's a chamber cantata sound in music that's a bit operatic, although sacred, and it may or may not ring your bell. In either case, the album is worth your time and money for bringing these neglected vocal works out of the shadows.© TiVo
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Michel Corboz Conducts Vivaldi

Michel Corboz

Classical - Released November 11, 2022 | Warner Classics

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Vivaldi: Gloria & Magnificat (Alpha Collection)

Le Concert Spirituel

Classical - Released November 1, 2015 | Alpha Classics

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Vivaldi: Ostro Picta & Gloria - Bach: Magnificat

Collegium Musicum

Choral Music (Choirs) - Released March 1, 1991 | Chandos

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Vivaldi: Magnificat & Gloria

Riccardo Muti

Classical - Released January 1, 1977 | Warner Classics

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Vivaldi: Gloria & Magnificat

Riccardo Muti

Classical - Released January 1, 1977 | Warner Classics

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Vivaldi : Gloria & Magnificat

Hervé Niquet

Sacred Vocal Music - Released November 1, 2015 | Alpha Classics

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Vivaldi: Gloria; Stabat Mater

Judith Nelson

Classical - Released January 1, 2012 | Decca Music Group Ltd.

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Vivaldi : Gloria & Pergolesi : Stabat Mater

Nikolaus Harnoncourt

Classical - Released January 1, 1994 | Warner Classics International

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Vivaldi: Gloria in D Major, RV 589 / Bach: Magnificat in D Major, BWV 243

The Sixteen

Classical - Released November 14, 2006 | Coro

The small British chorus called the Sixteen and director Harry Christophers have delivered consistently popular recordings of Renaissance and Baroque music, maintaining very high standards of performance. Here they couple two of the most popular Baroque works of all, Vivaldi's Gloria in D major, RV 589, and Bach's Magnificat in D major, BWV 243, and the results are handsome indeed. The tenor of the performances flows from the conceptions of each work that Christophers expresses in one of the little personal essays that appears at the beginning of each booklet in this series: Vivaldi, he said, is "effective," and even operates in places here "at his simplest," while Bach is "complex." Some would use other words first, for each composer -- daring or kinetic for Vivaldi, devotional or a dozen other words for Bach. There are recordings that give Vivaldi in general and the Gloria in particular more of an edge; there are recordings of Bach that seem warmer, or more rooted in the sacred texts. But here, as usual, Christophers, the Sixteen, and the Symphony of Harmony & Invention Baroque orchestra play it straight up the middle and create accessible, appealing recordings using historical instruments. The Magnificat is really superior in the choral sections, with superb articulation of Bach's difficult interlocking runs of sixteenth notes; the building energy of the final three choruses is marvelously rendered, and the opening "Magnificat" is expansive and rich. The Vivaldi is sunny rather than triumphal, with the choir a bit reined in and rounded in tone in the famous opening "Gloria," but all the solos are top-notch, with the "Laudamus te" soprano duet of Lynda Russell and Gillian Fisher an especially lilting standout. The listener has many choices when it comes to recordings of these works, but it's hard to imagine these, the Bach especially, being substantially outdone.© TiVo
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Daser: Missa Pater noster & Other Works

Cinquecento

Classical - Released October 6, 2023 | Hyperion

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This recording showed up on classical best-seller charts in the autumn of 2023, and it may have been a surprise to see it there. The music is by Ludwig Daser, an almost unknown German Renaissance composer, and while Cinquecento is an esteemed vocal group specializing in the music of the period, it is not commonly a chart resident. Several factors may have drawn listeners to the recording, not least the terrific cover art featuring a painting of a Munich court jester with a lion (there is also a beautiful illustration with one of the original choirbooks). There is also the fact that Daser, the predecessor of Orlande de Lassus at the Bavarian court in Munich, is all but unknown; listeners will be glad to discover him. He did not have the wide-ranging genius of Lassus, but his music, like that of Tallis and Byrd, reflected the shifts of the age between Catholicism and Protestantism. The program here presents a good overview, with an imposing, rather conservative but ingenious Missa Pater noster (it is based on one chant, but another one is worked into the all-important Credo). There are also small, intimate motets in German and an alternatim hymn setting. The small Cinquecento group (mostly two voices per part) works quite well in these but seems underpowered in the mass; sources of the day specify at least a dozen singers, more likely 16, and up to 24 at the Sistine Chapel, which would have furnished a sound ideal. Nevertheless, the singing is clear and brings out the polyphonic details in a complex piece like Fracta diuturnis. A release of great interest to lovers of the eventful 16th century.© James Manheim /TiVo
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Bach: Mass in B Minor, BWV 232 (Remastered)

Otto Klemperer

Classical - Released February 1, 1990 | Warner Classics

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Guerrero: Missa Ecce sacerdos magnus, Magnificat & Motets

Stephen Rice

Classical - Released November 3, 2023 | Hyperion

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Bach: Mass in B Minor, BWV 232

René Jacobs

Masses, Passions, Requiems - Released May 13, 2022 | harmonia mundi

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Without even mentioning the playing styles or instruments, this new version of the Mass in B is clearly a far cry from the grandiose austerity that prevailed in the 1960s and 70s. In fact, it’s almost directly opposed to the mental representation people had of Bach at the time. From the moment the RIAS-Kammerchor enters at the beginning of Kyrie, we’re encapsulated by their angelic, almost naïve tone, which tenderly reaches out to the listener. Not to mention the sheer adaptability of their voices in face of the lengthy, skilful melismas in the vocal score.  The feeling of elation shines through in this performance, recorded near Berlin in August 2021 for Harmonia Mundi. This new recording by René Jacobs follows on from an already established version in 1992 (reissued in 2006), with the same ensembles but with different soloists. The Belgian conductor has made three stark changes. Firstly, with regards to the chamber choir, he has omitted the soloists from the more archaic pieces of this work. Secondly, he retains the chamber choir but reduces its number for the “modern” pieces which require “gentle, moderate and amiable singing” according to the composer and theorist Michael Praetorius (1571-1621). Thirdly, in terms of the “external” soloists, they aren’t part of the choir and are assigned the virtuoso arias and duets, which they sing sporadically during the large choral pieces.  According to René Jacobs, this cast creates a homogenous whole which represents “the choir of believers, the image of humanity in all of its diversity”. In terms of instrumentals, the musicians of the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin manage to avoid the pitfalls of a score which can be severely testing for soloists. A special mention goes to horn player Margherita Lulli—a name destined for baroque music! As a former countertenor, René Jacobs utilises a female voice (Dutch contralto Helena Rasker) in Agnus Dei, in line with historical practice. There are no trumpets or thundering timpani in these versions, which are entirely focused on worship and the joy of musical collaboration. © François Hudry/Qobuz
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Magalhães: Missa Veni Domine & Missa Vere Dominus est

Cupertinos

Classical - Released September 1, 2023 | Hyperion

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Schubert: Mass No. 6 in E-Flat Major

The Cleveland Orchestra

Masses, Passions, Requiems - Released September 1, 2023 | Cleveland Orchestra

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Allegri: Miserere - Palestrina: Missa Papae Marcelli - Mundy: Vox Patris caelestis

The Tallis Scholars

Choral Music (Choirs) - Released September 1, 1980 | Gimell Records

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Mozart: Mass in C Minor - C.P.E. Bach: Heilig ist Gott

Dunedin Consort

Classical - Released October 6, 2023 | Linn Records

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Several draws helped propel this recording by the Dunedin Consort onto classical best-seller lists in the autumn of 2023. One is that it is the first to use a new edition of the massive but incomplete Mozart Mass in C minor, K. 427, by Clemens Kemme, which fills in some holes but otherwise leaves the music as Mozart wrote it without inserting large-scale additions. Another is the pair of soprano soloists, Lucy Crowe and Anna Dennis, who effectively realize the showcase nature of the vocal writing (for Mozart's intended, Constanze Weber). Further, the Dunedin Consort under John Butt has honed an exceptionally attractive historical-instrument sound, and this work showcases his winds and brass nicely. They do, it is true, come out a bit over-prominent in comparison with the 18-voice choir, which is enthusiastic but underpowered; Leopold Mozart specified a choir of 44 singers in Salzburg in 1757, and choirs had only grown by the younger Mozart's time. Yet another attraction here is a motet by C.P.E. Bach (whom Mozart is known to have admired). This is a typically wild work from C.P.E., with harmonic experiments and a unique treatment of the double choir texture Mozart uses in the Sanctus of the Mass; he might easily have known the earlier work. The marketplace for versions of the Mass in C minor is crowded, with many approaches available and done well, but this one has abundant points of interest. © James Manheim /TiVo
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J.S. Bach : Mass in B Minor, BWV 232

John Eliot Gardiner

Masses, Passions, Requiems - Released November 6, 2015 | SDG

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions 5 de Diapason - 4 étoiles Classica
For his new recording of this monument to Bach, John Eliot Gardiner is limited to a light chamber orchestra (obviously the English Baroque Soloists, founded here 37 years ago by Gardiner!), a choir of reasonable size (the Monteverdi Choir, same remark...), and a meticulous - but above all, calm - conducting of the articulations, phrases and lines, almost like a kind of chamber opera. The tempos are rather upbeat, like baroque music back in its heyday - the perfect balance between respecting history and the quest for beauty of sound. Gardiner has nothing dogmatic - making this new recording a particularly welcome perspective among the ample discography(yet unsatisfactory) of this Mass en si. © SM / Qobuz