Mezzo-soprano Bernarda Fink is a remarkably versatile singer, but she has devoted the bulk of her career to the music of the Baroque. Her impeccable technique, fluent coloratura, and warm, pure tone make this an ideal repertoire for her. She tends to convey a sense of dignity that can come across as reserve. When called upon, as in more emotionally charged repertoire, she can generate the necessary passion, but her naturally dignified musical demeanor ideally suits these Bach cantatas.

Bernarda Fink's voice is well suited to the nineteenth century lied; it's warm, full, and intensely focused, with a radiant luminosity over its whole range. She projects a sense of regal composure and a maturity that's not so much chronological as spiritual; you just have the sense that this is a very centered individual. Those qualities, along with her interpretive sensitivity, make this a truly memorable version of Frauenliebe und -leben.

“During this visit, these young ladies were so obliging as to sing me a Salve regina, lately set by their father, in duo. It is an exquisite composition, full of grace, taste and propriety.” What more could one ask of an antiphon than that which Charles Burney found in an impromptu performance by Hasse’s daughters during a visit to their father in Vienna in 1772? Hasse composed several settings of the Salve regina of which Reinhard Goebel has chosen two for his interesting programme of vocal and instrumental pieces by the composer.

Haydn’s songs, German and English, have never quite had the standing they deserve: two of the English canzonettas and one of the German songs here are not even in the current catalogue. Most often they are sung by sopranos, but there is no reason why a tenor shouldn’t be used; Haydn, a tenor, is known to have sung them himself. The performances here, by all three singers and Roger Vignoles’ alert and thoughtful accompanying perhaps plays a key role take them seriously and show them as the substantial music they are.

Christine Schäfer models the notes in a sovereign and refreshingly light manner: Werner Güra not only convinces as an evangelist, but also proves his class in the arias." The two bassists intone a hearty-bawdy, sometimes very soft and gentle tone There is nothing wrong with Harnoncourt's portrayal of the opening movement of the Third Cantata, where the music explodes in a way that has not been heard before.

Nurtured by Sunday radio broadcasts of cantatas in his youth, Michel Corboz very soon developed a deep admiration for Bach, whose music was the guiding thread of his career. He approached every major sacred work, some more than once, always questioning the score and exploring new interpretive options. This album is a selection of the best moments from the passions, masses and oratorios, featuring beautiful vocal soloists such as José van Dam, Sandrine Piau and more. It also includes some instrumental tracks with keyboard concertos by Maria João Pires.

In 1789, a performance of "Messiah" that was to have a radical effect on the course of the oratorio's performance history was given in Vienna. Baron Gottfried Van Swieten, who later translated and edited the text for Haydn's "Creation", had, as a diplomat in London during the late 1760s, become an ardent Handelian. Among other Handel scores, he took back to Austria a copy of the first edition of the full score of "Messiah", published by Randall and Abell in 1767. Beginning with "Judas Maccabaeus" in 1779, he introduced works by Handel into the annual oratorio series given for the benefit of the Tonkunstler Society, a Viennese musical charity. In 1789, he presented "Messiah" and, for this Viennese premiere, commissioned Mozart to fill out the accompaniments, largely dispensing with keyboard continuo and replacing the tromba parts practically unplayable for late 18th century trumpeters.

Nikolaus Harnoncourt The Complete Sony Recordings brings together for the first time Harnoncourt s complete recordings from 2002-2015 with his Concentus Musicus Wien, the Wiener Philharmonike, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the Symphonieorchester des Bayrischen Rundfunks. The Sony Classical edition features his famous symphony recordings of Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven and Bruckner, alongside his celebrated performances of great choral works such as the Verdi, Brahms and Mozart Requiems and Haydn's Die Schöpfung, as well as Mozart's opera Zaide, Haydn's Orlando paladino and Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. Also included are previously authorized but unreleased recordings of J. S. Bach s Cantatas Nos. 26 & 36, Beethoven's Christus am Ölberge and Dvorák's Stabat Mater.

Few ensembles can come to Bach's St John Passion with quite the degree of performance-based insight that Gardiner and his musicians have done. Written for Good Friday in 1724, the passion was the centrepiece of Bach's year-long cycle of liturgical cantatas. Gardiner and the Monteverdi Choir spent 2000 performing and recording these surrounding cantatas, before recording this disc in 2003. The result is a little slice of musical heaven. In sound, it's a masterpiece of technical precision and musical beauty. In tone, it perfectly balances the theatrical with the devotional. The English Baroque Soloists and the Monteverdi Choir expertly build and release tension, their phrases shaped to sound natural, instinctive, and emotionally complete. The work's many dramatic contrasts are also brilliantly done.

Nikolaus Harnoncourt war der vielleicht wichtigste Pionier einer Musikauffassung, die hinter der spätromantischen Sichtweise auf die Passionen Johann Sebastian Bachs das originale Klangbild suchte. Dabei ging es ihm keineswegs um Authentizität als Selbstzweck, sondern vielmehr um ein Ausloten der Bach'schen Klangfarben und Ausdrucksmittel, die im Brahms- und Bruckner-Sound der großen Oratorienchöre und Symphonieorchester verloren gegangen waren. Inzwischen ist diese Auffassung etabliert und Harnoncourt weit ins romantische Repertoire eingedrungen. Die Zeit reinen Bach- und Mozart-Spezialistentums scheint vorbei. Mit der Neueinspielung der Matthäus-Passion begibt sich der Dirigent daher wieder zurück zu seinen Wurzeln.