Modern day recognition of the music of Benedetto Marcello (1686-1739) has been totally eclipsed by the music of Antonio Vivaldi (1675-1741). If one looks back at Marcello's popularity in the first half of the 18th century in Venetian Music, you will find that he was considered to be one of the musical glories of Italy on a par with Palestrina and Pergolesi, and was referred to as the 'Noble Venetian'. He was admired for his skillful counterpoint, his masterly attention to the words of the text he set and the noble simplicity of his melodies. All of these attributes are present in this lovely and entertaining Requiem.

This triptych of Inviolata settings marks the beginning of The Marian Consort’s new relationship with Linn, and serves as something of a mission statement: interrogating the music of the past; reviving important, unjustly forgotten works; and using both as inspiration for new compositions.

Part of a series of discs devoted to forgotten composers associated with the Bavarian capital of Munich, this release exemplifies the city's still-palpable conservatism. Franz Lachner, who grew up so poor that he and his five siblings had to study music by drumming their fingers on an imaginary keyboard, made his living as composers had for centuries before, but as few did in his own time: as an employee of court and church. The Germans have a word for the style exemplified here, which is not well known outside of a few atypical examples by : they call it the "Palestrina Renaissance." Heard here are a Mass in F major, Op. 130; a Stabat Mater, Op. 154; and a setting of Psalm 15.

Perti's music reveals a young and perceptive musical imagination, especially in the constellation of ever-changing solo-voice combinations and the rousing double fugue with which he brings the Mass to such a glorious conclusion. Lovers of Baroque polychorality will enjoy this.

To mark the 500th anniversary of the birth of Tallis, here are his biggest and best church compositions, performed in its customary high style by the Oxford Camerata under Jeremy Summerly (whose Fauré Requiem remains one of Naxos's all-time bestsellers). Tallis's youthful motet Salve intemerata is among the longest single-movement works of the 16th century, but it is Spem in alium, a work of Tallis's maturity, that overshadows any other English piece of the period, including those of his great contemporary, William Byrd. Scored for 40 independent voices, it is symphonic in proportion and resplendent in this surround-sound version.

The cantatas BWV 217-222 are all now regarded as either being of dubious provenance or, in some cases, are definitely identified as being by composers other than J.S. Bach. However, it's worth considering them here because it is still possible that one or two of them may actually be genuine and since there is also a good quality recording available of this set (conducted by Wolfgang Helbich on CPO 999 139-2), so that listeners can come to their own conclusions!

Petits Motets were generally sung in the Royal Chapel during the Mass between a Grand Motet and the Domine salvum fac Regem. The most extended piece here is a Miserere for solo voice by the King's surintendant de la musique, Lalande. In fact the nine solo verses are sung in alternation with plainchant which would have been intoned by nuns. William Christie, who directs this intimate sequence, divides the solo spoils of this expressive piece between three of his sopranos, Veronique Gens, Sandrine Piau and Arlette Steyer. It would be hard to assemble three more persuasive sopranos than these to execute the music. Their almost faultless intonation, fresh-sounding voices and careful expression are both musically delightful and contextually apposite. Comparisons between the three are, perhaps invidious but Steyer sounds the least assured, technically and stylistically, among them.

SOMM Recordings announces the exciting label debut of Voice with Hildegard Portraits, marking the tenth anniversary of the canonisation of the 12th-century spiritual leader, theologian, mystic, scientist and composer, St. Hildegard of Bingen.

In 1955 and at the peak of his postwar powers, Karl Böhm recorded Beethoven's Missa Solemnis with the Berlin Philharmonic with an all-star cast of soloists. It is a great and powerful performance: tightly argued, superbly played, fabulously sung, and very dramatic. Deutsche Grammophon's original mono recording was clear but a little distant, and the digital remastering keeps the clarity and brings the performers a little closer to the listener. In every way that matters, this is a great Missa Solemnis. The thing is, how many recordings of the Missa Solemnis does anyone want or need? There's Böhm's later 1974 with the Vienna Philharmonic, a deeper and more transcendent performance.

Alessandro Grandi - born in Venice in 1590 - was an extremely precocious talent. Appointed deputy of Monteverdi in 1627 in Saint Mark’s Basilica, he is regarded by scholars as “the greatest motet composer of his time”. After the highly praised Grandi’s motets album “Celesti fiori” (A464), Accademia d’Arcadia now presents Lætatus sum: a selection from the three extant Psalms collections. Grandi ventured in the field of Psalms with large-scale writing only at the end of his life, his collections of Psalms were undoubtedly intended for grand occasions: the relationship between soloists, tutti, and instruments is very modern, as successive portions of the text are set in sharply contrasting textures and styles. Recorded in the sumptuous Palladian church of San Francesco della Vigna in Venice, this recording features magnificent and compelling masterpieces by an author considered by his contemporaries as equal to Monteverdi in the field of sacred music.

This set, issued to mark the 75th anniversary of Fricsay's birth, dates from late 1960 when the conductor was already suffering from the disease that killed him. It was to prove to be his final performance of the piece. I don't think it's fanciful to feel in this intensely dramatic and immediate reading that the conductor fully realized his own mortality. At any rate it's an interpretation of tragic force and lyrical beauty that eclipses most of its rivals. Fricsay was here working with a choir and orchestra entirely devoted to him and, as in the Shaw performance on Telarc/Conifer such familiarity pays huge dividends in terms of unified thought. Then, the circumstances of a live occasion seem to infect everyone concerned with a feeling of urgency.