D. C. Giancoli, Fisica 2 (ii o Iii Edizione), Casa Editrice Ambrosiana Contiene Ampia Raccolta di Esercizi C. Mencuccini, V. Silvestrini, Fisica II (iv Edizione), Casa Editrice Ambrosiana Contie

Queen Christina of Sweden was a lavish patron of music in her own kingdom - initially she mainly extended her patronage to French musicians but from 1652 it was largely Italian musicians whom she brought to her court in Stockholm. Having secretly converted to Catholicism, Christina abdicated in June of 1654 and almost immediately left Sweden - most of her valuable library had been smuggled out earlier - and made her way to Rome, her journey there seeming at times to be effectively a series of triumphal processions; there’s a fine account of all these events in Veronica Buckley’s Christina. Once established in Rome - where her arrival was greeted by special musical performances in the Palazzo Barberini, the Palazzo Pamphili and elsewhere - she soon became one of the city’s most active patrons of literature and music.

A powerful performance by Pappano, who is highly acclaimed for his wonderful performance expression even in religious music works. Rossini: Gloria Mass, Stabat Mater, Small Solemn Mass, Verdi: Requiem, four chants, etc., Britten: War Requiem, etc. 85 tracks / 7 hours recording. Recorded 2000-2021.

Volume 2 of Discovering the Classical String Trio is a continuation of The Vivaldi Project's exploration of the 18th-century string trio, of its relationship to the earlier Baroque trio sonata (as exemplified by Vivaldi and contemporaries) and of its role as an important genre in its own right, side-by-side with the emerging string quartet. The string trio, although largely overlooked during the past century, was manifestly popular in its day at its compositional peak (c. 1760-1770) out-publishing the string quartet by a ratio of more than five to one! These forgotten works, some 2000 string trios by more than 200 composers, reveal not only a wonderful amalgam of instrumental techniques and styles, but also a significant, untold part of chamber music history.

The Cologne-based historical-performance group Compagnia di Punto has mostly specialized in Baroque and Classical-period music, but here, perhaps due to the fact that the ill-fated year of 2020 marks Beethoven's 250th birthday, they offer arrangements of Beethoven's first three symphonies for a small orchestra. The group includes 13 players: four violinists, one each of viola, cello, and bass, two flutes, bassoon, and three horns. By now, most listeners realize that 19th century listeners, unable to just download the latest Beethoven symphony, relied on arrangements of this kind to hear new music, but the idea needs repetition and new recordings like this one.

Itzhak Perlman: The Complete Warner Recordings embraces every aspect of Perlman's art. It contains concertos (the ‘essential' concertos, of course, but also more rarely-heard works, including Perlman's own commissions from living composers); other pieces for violin and orchestra; chamber music; recital and crossover repertoire (including jazz, ragtime and klezmer), and even a disc that focuses on Perlman as narrator and (briefly) opera singer. The recordings document his collaborations with the world's greatest orchestras and an array of superlative fellow-soloists and conductors, including Martha Argerich, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Daniel Barenboim, Plácido Domingo, Carlo Maria Giulini, Bernard Haitink, Lynn Harrell, Yo Yo Ma, Zubin Mehta, Seiji Ozawa, André Previn and Pinchas Zukerman.

The Philadelphia-based baroque orchestra Tempesta di Mare here reveals an unparalleled musical legacy, presenting long forgotten works by the German baroque composer Johann Gottlieb Janitsch, confined for centuries to unexamined archives.

This double album offers a portrait of the violinist Amandine Beyer drawn from the recordings she has made for ZZT. The first CD selects highlights from her chamber repertoire, including works by Jean-Féry Rebel, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Nicola Matteis, and Robert de Visée. The second is devoted to the concerto, with compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach, Antonio Vivaldi, and Arcangelo Corelli. This programme is an ideal introduction to the multiple facets of Amandine Beyer’s talent and to the grace and joie de vivre of her music-making. It also provides an opportunity to discover one of Corelli’s Concerti Grossi op.6, a preview of the complete set to be released on ZZT in the autumn of 2013.

Cleverly paired with two symphonies by C.P.E. Bach – written in 1755/56 and 1775/76 respectively – Beethoven’s first two contributions to the symphonic genre reveal the bubbling creativity of a thirty-year-old composer determined to go even further in the renewal of the genre than another, very recent reference, Mozart’s ‘Jupiter’. So much is clear from the very first chord of his Symphony no.1! Relive this decisive moment in the company of the musicians of the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, under the guidance of their Konzertmeister Bernhard Forck.