Engelbert Wimmer

This internationally renowned early music group specializes in the powerfully gripping music of the Sephardic romances passed on by an oral tradition, as well as the court and sacred music of the early sixteenth century (Juan del Encina, Juan de Anchieta, Antonio de Cabezón, etc.) and the more complex polyphony belonging to the later part of that same period. The Accentus Ensemble itself was founded in Vienna in 1988.

Arnold George Dorsey MBE (born 2 May 1936), known professionally as Engelbert Humperdinck, is a British pop singer. His singles "Release Me" and "The Last Waltz" both topped the UK Singles Chart in 1967, selling more than a million copies each. Humperdinck scored further major hits including "Am I That Easy to Forget" and "A Man Without Love"; three of his singles were among the best-selling of the 1960s in the United Kingdom…

As compilations go, Universal's two-CD Greatest Hits and More might be the best sampling of Engelbert Humperdinck's work that has yet appeared. All of his best-loved hits are here (including "Release Me," "Les Bicyclettes de Belsize," "Quando Quando Quando," and "There Goes My Everything"), but there are also a few extra tidbits that should keep even longtime fans happy with the program – most notably, four brand new songs.

The delicious voice of soprano María Luz Álvarez may in itself be enough reason to purchase this album for those who have encountered it before. It's a stunning instrument in small-group Baroque chamber music, with impressive control over both pitch and dynamics, all combined with a good deal of Spanish smoke. If that were not enough, Álvarez here takes up a repertoire that remains almost unknown outside of Iberia: the so-called tonada humana, which was the first generation of Spanish Baroque song to show Italian influence, departing from the strophic and semi-popular songs associated with the venerable zarzuela genre. The music here, by Sebastián Durón and a variety of still more obscure composers, is a gorgeous fusion of Spanish and Italian (although all of it is in the Spanish language).

Arnold George Dorsey MBE (born 2 May 1936), known professionally as Engelbert Humperdinck, is an English pop singer. Humperdinck has been described as "one of the finest middle-of-the-road balladeers around". His singles "Release Me" and "The Last Waltz" both topped the UK music charts in 1967, and sold more than a million copies each…