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Alan Curtis - Alessandro Stradella: La Susanna (2000)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Alan Curtis - Alessandro Stradella: La Susanna (2000)

Alan Curtis - Alessandro Stradella: La Susanna (2000)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 461 Gb | Total time: 51:52+44:38 | Scans included
Classical | Label: EMI Classics | # 8 26539 2 | Recorded: 1978

La Susanna, a late oratorio composed in Genoa in 1681, the year before the composer’s death. La Susanna belongs to a popular 17th-century sub-genre termed oratorio erotico because it employed biblical stories concerned with love or the sensual aspect of women. It is typical of the kind of plot that might be used to attract an audience drawn to the prayer halls to be given Bible “instruction” in easily accessible form. The concept was a mark of counter-Reformation propaganda and stories such as those of Judith or Susanna were popular not only in music, but also literature and painting. Indeed, the cover of the present set is illustrated by a fine painting by Artemisia Gentileschi depicting the beautiful naked Susanna recoiling from the gaze of the two leering elders.

Nicholas McGegan, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra - George Frideric Handel: Apollo e Dafne (1985)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Nicholas McGegan, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra - George Frideric Handel: Apollo e Dafne (1985)

Nicholas McGegan, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra - George Frideric Handel: Apollo e Dafne (1985)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 250 Mb | Total time: 51:56 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Harmonia Mundi | # HMC 905157 | Recorded: 1985

Apollo and Dafne tells the story of the nymph that gets turned into a laurel tree as a means of expiating her grief over the death of her lover. Strauss set the story as one of his late operas, and here you get the same deal in a third of the time. Nicholas McGegan's direction of this charming cantata keeps the story hopping along, the two protagonists sing well, and the music is delightful.

Andrew Parrott, Taverner Players - Henry Purcell: Dido and Aeneas (1983)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Andrew Parrott, Taverner Players - Henry Purcell: Dido and Aeneas (1983)

Andrew Parrott, Taverner Players - Henry Purcell: Dido and Aeneas (1983)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 228 Mb | Total time: 56:07 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Chandos | # CHAN 8306 | Recorded: 1981

In this first period-instrument recording of Dido, Andrew Parrott tries to re-create the first known performance of the work–at Josiah Priest's School for Young Gentlewomen in London. Here (as there) the cast includes only one male–David Thomas, whose brawny Aeneas could overwhelm Dido physically as well as emotionally. Judith Nelson is a warm, sweet-toned Belinda; the Sorceress gets a vivid, raucous, love-it-or-hate-it performance by the legendary medieval-cum-folk-singer Jantina Noorman. Emma Kirkby, early in her career, sounds eloquent but extremely youthful as Dido–barely past her teens. This makes for a different, perhaps more credible, tragedy: a new, slightly immature queen, servant rather than mistress of her emotions, angrily refuses to take back the lover who abandoned her–only to die heartbroken after banishing him.

Judith Nelson, René Jacobs, Concerto Vocale - George Frideric Handel: Duetti e Cantate da Camera (1989)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Judith Nelson, René Jacobs, Concerto Vocale - George Frideric Handel: Duetti e Cantate da Camera (1989)

Judith Nelson, René Jacobs, Concerto Vocale - George Frideric Handel: Duetti e Cantate da Camera (1989)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 239 Mb | Total time: 46:45 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Harmonia Mundi | # HMC 1901004 | Recorded: 1978

There could hardly be any contrast more striking than that of "Messiah" with these delicate miniatures composed by Handel during his stay in Italy before he settled in London. They are vocal chamber music of the highest quality. They give no inkling that the graceful young composer might later produce anything like the "Hallelujah" chorus, though there is a clear pre-echo of "For unto us a child is born."

Lumieres - La musique du XVIIIeme siecle (29 CD), Part 07 [2011]

Posted By: Vilboa
Lumieres - La musique du XVIIIeme siecle (29 CD), Part 07 [2011]

Lumières - La musique du XVIIIème siècle (29 CD), Part 07: Vivaldi, Telemann, J.S.Bach, C.P.E.Bach, J.C.F.Bach, Schobert, Kuhnau, Mondonville, Mozart, Haydn. Beethoven [2011]
EAC (flac, image, cue, log) | TT: 80.55+80.39+72.14 | Scans | 1.09 Gb
Classical | Harmonia Mundi | 2908601.30 | Rec: 1980-2006

The eighteenth century is probably the most extraordinary period of transformation Europe has known since antiquity. Political upheavals kept pace with the innumerable inventions and discoveries of the age; every sector of the arts and of intellectual and material life was turned upside down. Between the end of the reign of Louis XIV and the revolution of 1789, music in its turn underwent a radical mutation that struck at the very heart of a well-established musical language. In this domain too, we are all children of the Age of Enlightenment: our conception of music and the way we ‘consume’ it still follows in many respects the agenda set by the eighteenth century. And it is not entirely by chance that harmonia mundi has chosen to offer you in 2011 a survey of this musical revolution which, without claiming to be exhaustive, will enable you to grasp the principal outlines of musical creation between the twilight of the Baroque and the dawn of Romanticism.

Christopher Hogwood, The Academy of Ancient Music - Haydn's Music for England (2011)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Christopher Hogwood, The Academy of Ancient Music - Haydn's Music for England (2011)

Christopher Hogwood, The Academy of Ancient Music - Haydn's Music For England (2011)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 496 Mb | Total time: 96:38 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Decca | # 480 0388 | Recorded: 1978

In September 1790, following the death of his princely employer, court composer Haydn and his entire orchestra were sacked. As he was considering this change in circumstances, Haydn received an unexpected visit from Johann Peter Salomon, a German impresario based in London, who made him a tempting offer: an opera, six symphonies and twenty other pieces to be written for the city, and a guaranteed income from a new concert series. So it was that, on 2 January 1791, Haydn arrived in England for the first of two visits that would leave an indelible mark both on the musical life of his host country and on the composer himself.

Judith Nelson, René Jacobs, Wieland Kuijken, Konrad Junghänel, William Christie - Pietro Antonio Cesti: "Pasticcio" (2006)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Judith Nelson, René Jacobs, Wieland Kuijken, Konrad Junghänel, William Christie - Pietro Antonio Cesti: "Pasticcio" (2006)

Judith Nelson, René Jacobs, Wieland Kuijken, Konrad Junghänel, William Christie - Pietro Antonio Cesti: "Pasticcio" (2006)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 578 Mb | Total time: 109:20 | Scans included
Classical | Label: ORF | # ORF - CD-451 | Recorded: 1980

The Italian opera of the 17th century is a part of music history which is still hardly explored. Of course, Claudio Monteverdi's operas are regularly performed and recorded, and some of the stage works by his pupil Francesco Cavalli, the main composer of operas in Venice after Monteverdi's death has been given attention to, but many other works written in Italy in the 17th century are still to be rediscovered. One of the composers of that time whose works are hardly explored is Pietro Antonio Cesti. From the tracklist one may conclude that he was a prolific composer of operas. René Jacobs has been an avid advocate of Cesti's oeuvre, and in 1982 he made a recording of L'Orontea, arias from which he also performed at the concert in 1980 recorded and only recently released by ORF. He also gave performances of L'Argia, but so far that hasn't been recorded on disc.

René Jacobs, Concerto Vocale - Pietro Antonio Cesti: Cantate (2004)

Posted By: ArlegZ
René Jacobs, Concerto Vocale - Pietro Antonio Cesti: Cantate (2004)

René Jacobs, Concerto Vocale - Pietro Antonio Cesti: Cantate (2004)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 260 Mb | Total time: 58:16 | Scans included
Classical | Harmonia Mundi | HMX 2901018 | Recorded: 1978, 1982

Pietro Antonio Cesti, byname Marc’ Antonio, (1623-1669) composer who, with Francesco Cavalli, was one of the leading Italian composers of the 17th century. Cesti studied in Rome and then moved to Venice, where his first known opera, Orontea, was produced in 1649. In 1652 he became chapelmaster to Archduke Ferdinand of Austria at Innsbruck, a post he combined for a time with membership in the papal choir. From 1666 to 1669 he was vice chapelmaster to the imperial court in Vienna.

Judith Nelson, William Christie, Stanley Ritchie - Mondonville: Pièces de clavecin avec voix ou violon (2019)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Judith Nelson, William Christie, Stanley Ritchie - Mondonville: Pièces de clavecin avec voix ou violon (2019)

Judith Nelson, William Christie, Stanley Ritchie - Mondonville: Pièces de clavecin avec voix ou violon (2019)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 333 Mb | Total time: 52:52 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Harmonia Mundi | HMM931045 | Recorded: 1980

The artistic director of the ‘Concert Spirituel’ from 1752 to 1762, Mondonville was one of the most fashionable composers in Paris due to his ‘grands motets’. However, it was in the field of chamber music that he was a real innovator. In creating the sonata for harpsichord with violin accompaniment, he paved the way for a form soon to be raised to sublime heights by Mozart and Beethoven. By giving the harpsichord accompaniment to the human voice Mondonville carried the experiments to its utmost limits.