Der Dirigent und Lautenist Konrad Junghändel ist durch seine Zusammenarbeit mit mit Ensembles wie Les Arts Florissants, La Petite Bande, Musica Antiqua Köln bekannt geworden. Die fortgesetzte Beschäftigung mit der vokalen Musik des Barock führte Junghänel 1987 zur Gründung des Vokalensembles Cantus Cölln, das sich innerhalb kürzester Zeit zu einem der führenden Ensembles entwickelte. Diese limitierte Edition umfasst 10 Alben mit herausragenden Aufnahmen Junghänels für das Label DHM, 6 davon als Lautenist, 4 mit Cantus Cölln.
Hille Perl is widely regarded as one of the leading viola da gambists in the world. Because of the prominence of her instrument in the Baroque era, her repertory is rich in works from that period, with the names, J.S. Bach, Telemann, Marin Marais, Sainte-Colombe, and other 17th and 18th century composers headlining her concert programs and recordings. Perl also plays the treble viol, the seven-string bass viol, Baroque guitar, Lirone, and Xarana.
The first ever collection of the complete works by Hildegard von Bingen recorded by Sequentia, in a specially designed Deluxe Edition in shape of a Graduale book. 9 CD-set including 152 page standalone book with complete texts and translations. The Sequentia recrdings of Hildegard s works are contained on 8 releases (more than eleven hours of music) for the DHM label and include all of Hildegard s 77 symphoniae as well as her music drama Ordo Virtutum (recorded twice, with an interval of 15 years between the two radically different productions).
A beautifully-packaged 50-disc box set, released to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, one of the most important and adventurous early music labels. The set contains 50 classic recordings of baroque and ancient music, chosen to represent the breadth of this huge and varied catalogue and each disc is slip-cased with artwork replicating the original CD or LP artwork.
La Petite Bande recorded its set during the late 1970s and these are performances which do considerable justice to the music. Brisker tempos, lighter bass string playing and an altogether more imaginative approach to continuo realization bring these concertos alive to an extent hardly realised by I Musici. Sigiswald Kuijken, the leader and director of La Petite Bande, includes a theorbo in his continuo group and this is invariably an effective addition. Both sets field a secure and lively concertino group of two violins, cello and continuo but listeners may well find that the warmer sound and greater degree of finesse provided by the concertino of I Musici is more to their liking than the thinner, wirier textures of the other. Having said that, I should add that in matters of baroque style, as in its more highly developed spirit of fantasy, La Petite Bande offers far and away the more satisfying performances.
10 CDs mit Passionen, Messen und Motetten passend zur Osterzeit . Neben den beiden berühmten Passionen von Bach - der Johannes- und Matthäuspassion - sind weitere hörenswerte Aufnahmen enthalten. Die Passio Domini Nostri Jesu Christi von de Rore oder den Lamentationes Jeremiae Prophetae von Zelenka sind hervorragende und selten aufgenommene Werke, interpretiert von herausragenden Künstlern.
The Camerata Köln is a Cologne-based chamber ensemble devoted largely to early music, with a special focus on woodwind compositions. The group's repertory includes concertos, quartets, quintets, sonatas, and other works mainly from the post-Renaissance era and reaching into the Classical period. The group concertizes regularly in Germany and most parts of Europe and has made numerous tours of the Americas and other parts of the globe. By 2006, it had made well over 50 recordings.
New light on Pergolesi! This CD sheds light on a lesser-known aspect of the great Italian composer, offering two masterpieces in their first modern edition and first recording: the Mass in D major and the mottettone Dignas Laudes. Both editions are the outcome of recent musicological research carried out by the Centro Studi Pergolesi in Milan, and show a facet of Pergolesi – his energetic and solemn character – that complements and amplifies the dramatic and introspective moods of his most renowned sacred works.