St John’s Passion is a newly discovered masterpiece of the Italian baroque. The autograph manuscript is in the Biblioteca dei Filippini in Naples. The Evangelist is a countertenor and Jesus and Pilate are tenors. The choir is the crowd and the accompaniment is a string quartet. An Italian harpsichord and an organo di legno have been used for the basso continuo and they are joined by a harp.

Norwegian composer SVEIN HUNDSNES has written a considerable number of works ranging from concertos to pieces for young musicians. His piano music is stylistically wide-ranging and occupies a significant place in his oeuvre. Piano Sonata No. 2 exemplifies his practice of working from tiny core motifs as he makes a series of connections between each vivid movement. Syncopated rhythms animate Vinterdanser (Winter Dances) a sequence of round dances; whereas torches swirling in the air, a cradle song and clouds of illuminated water particles are magically evoked in Nuances de Lumière (Shades of Light). Finnish pianist Laura Mikkola, continues her critically acclaimed discovery, in this second volume of Hundsnes piano works.

Charles Mackerras’ marvelous recordings of Brahms’ four symphonies with these same forces for Telarc find a logical successor in this delightful release of the two early serenades. These are special works in Brahms’ output: carefree, breezy, and charming. The unusual freshness and clarity of their orchestration (the Second Serenade scored without violins) shows that the density of his symphonic sound clearly was a matter of intention rather than accident, or worse, lack of skill. Hearing these loosely constructed, generously tuneful pieces, we can only wonder at the effort Brahms must have made to curb his purely lyrical impulses and discipline his musical thought in such a way as to demonstrate his worthiness as symphonic heir to Beethoven.

Beginning with his expansive concerto for recorders and large orchestra, Territorial Songs (2008-09), Rasmussen sought to expand the instrument's persona and possibilities, freeing it from its historic associations with the music of the Renaissance and Baroque, pushing it into new territories. In this mission, the composer has been exceptionally fortunate to have as muse and musical partner one of the greatest recorder players ever, Michala Petri. The current project represents an overview of works composed from 2009 to 2020. All are scores featuring the recorder: as concerto soloist with a symphony orchestra, (Territorial Songs), a string ensemble (Winter Echoes), an obbligato in a complex choral setting ('I' ), chamber music (Flow), and unaccompanied (Sorrow and Joy Fantasy), each work a milestone in Rasmussen's musical development .

The graceful, expressive and witty Duo for Violin and Cello by Hanns Eisler, written when the composer was 26 years old, is a multifaceted work showcasing the composer’s brilliant intellect. Best-known for his long artistic association with playwright Bertolt Brecht, Eisler always took care to make a deep connection with his audience.

Giovanni went on to become a big star in London writing Italian operas but he and his younger brother came from Bologna, known for its famous cellist-composers Vitali, Jacchini and Domenico Gabrieli. These mostly early pieces for cello or gamba demonstrate their aptitude for these instruments while the aria Impar was one of the standard audition pieces of every aspiring soprano during the early 1700s.

Domenico Cimarosa was the most famous and popular Italian composer of the second half of the eighteenth century. In the course of a brilliantly successful career he composed more than 65 operas, as well as a significant body of instrumental music and works for the church. His operas were performed all over Europe, both in Italian and in translation. A number of Cimarosa’s operas continued to enjoy occasional stagings during the nineteenth century, and his most famous work, Il matrimonio segreto, is one of only a handful of operas of the period never to have left the repertory. Cimarosa’s overtures are remarkable for their melodic invention, assured handling of the orchestra and sheer vitality.

American pianist and composer Kit Armstrong steps back in time to revive the spirit of Elizabethan England. For his first album on Deutsche Grammophon, Kit Armstrong presents works by two composers who elevated instrumental music to new heights of refinement in the Golden Age of Elizabeth I and her successor James I.

World premiere recordings of the Magnificat as well as the festive music Die Himmel erzahlen die Ehre Gottes by C. P. E. Bach. A rousing and convincing interpretation by the Basel Madrigalists, L'arpa festante and renowned soloists under the direction of Fritz Naf. Throughout his life, C. P. E. Bach esteemed his Magnificat as one of his most important works. Here it is presented in the rarely heard early Leipzig version from 1749, with which the son wanted to recommend himself as a potential successor to his father in the office of Kantor at St. Thomas's Church. It fulfils all the criteria that the aesthetics of the time demanded of a large-scale sacred composition: grandeur, dignity, polyphonic and concertante choral movements, sensitive and pathetic arias, and a grand concluding double fugue.

After a widely acclaimed St John Passion in 2020 (Gramophone Editor's Choice, BBC Music Magazine Choice, Trophée Radio Classique), Philippe Herreweghe and his Collegium Vocale Gent continue their in-depth exploration of the works of the composer who has earned them worldwide fame. Of the two cantatas recorded here, Es ist dir gesagt, Mensch, was gut ist BWV 45, written in 1726, is built around a very virtuosic, almost operatic bass solo setting scriptural words of Christ. Laß, Fürstin, laß noch einen Strahl, BWV 198, which dates from the following year, was composed for the funeral of Christiane Eberhardine, Electress of Saxony and titular Queen of Poland, the daughter of the Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth and an ardent Lutheran, whose death had deeply affected the people of Leipzig.

Jonas Kaufmann returns to the Italian verismo tradition to sing arias that define opera's most passionate and vulnerable leading men. Kaufmann's international reputation is soaring as, going from strength to strength, he delivers consistently thrilling performances. The onyx-dark beauty of his tone and the refinement and unexpected insights of his delivery mark Jonas Kaufmann a poet of tenors. Timed to coincide with his role debut as Maurizio in Adriana Lecouvreur at Covent Garden opposite Angela Gheorghiu, this disc includes excerpts from the Cilea work that helped put Caruso on the map. This album also entices with rarities from Zandonai's dramatic Giulietta e Romeo and Puccini's Le Villi. Supporting Jonas Kaufmann is Italy's leading symphonic orchestra, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, under its dynamic music director Antonio Pappano. Both maestro and orchestra are utterly at home in this repertoire.

Fredrik Pacius (1809–1891), Robert Kajanus (1856–1933) and Jean Sibelius (1865–1957) remain three of the most influential figures in Finnish classical music history. Pacius laid the foundation and set Finland on a path towards a developed musical culture. Kajanus founded the orchestra which today is known as the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and was a leading figure of Finland’s musical scene for fifty years. Sibelius took Finnish music to new heights and has been widely regarded as Finland's greatest composer.

The works of Cipriano de Rore (1515/16 – 1565) remained extremely popular until well after his death. Several of his madrigals later appeared in dozens of ornamented versions and continued to do so until the beginning of the 17th century; this was an extraordinary success for the time.

Le Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles, qui publie régulièrement des joyaux inédits de la musique française, nous a permis cette dévouverte des oeuvres religieuses de Pierre Bouteiller. Le présent enregistrement propose en plus de la Missa pro defunctis à 5 voix et basse continue, des Motets pour voix, deux basses de viole et basse continue qui confirment que les violes étaient bel et bien mariées aux voix de la façon la plus heureuse dans le répertoire français.

What if Vivaldi’s famous Quattro Stagioni, performed in Paris in 1728, had been preceded by those of Guido, the star violinist of the Parisian orchestras of Louis XIV’s maturity ? Here, at last, are these two works reunited: to the well-known virtuosity of Vivaldi’s work, of extraordinary impact, Guido’s Seasons oppose a mixture of Italian features and a thousand facets worthy of the French Court, with an infectious ardour! A mysterious Neapolitan who arrived in Paris around 1702 as Music Master to Philippe d’Orléans, Guido was close to the financier Crozat, who in 1716 commissioned Watteau to produce four paintings on the theme of the Seasons: he set them to music around 1717 with his Scherzi armonici sopra le Quattro Stagioni dell’anno.