German Baroque Cantatas

Since founding Bach Collegium Japan in 1990, Masaaki Suzuki has established himself as a leading authority on the works of Bach. He has remained their Music Director ever since, taking them regularly to major venues and festivals in Europe and the USA and building up an outstanding reputation for the expressive refinement and truth of his performances.

Since founding Bach Collegium Japan in 1990, Masaaki Suzuki has established himself as a leading authority on the works of Bach. He has remained their Music Director ever since, taking them regularly to major venues and festivals in Europe and the USA and building up an outstanding reputation for the expressive refinement and truth of his performances.

Since founding Bach Collegium Japan in 1990, Masaaki Suzuki has established himself as a leading authority on the works of Bach. He has remained their Music Director ever since, taking them regularly to major venues and festivals in Europe and the USA and building up an outstanding reputation for the expressive refinement and truth of his performances.

Philippe Herreweghe is widely considered to be one of the foremost Bach interpreters of our time. This four deluxe CD-Book collection is part of the Philippe herreweghe Bach Edition, and features key works from the Bach canon. Each set in the series is available at a very special low price and features packaging and liner-notes on a par with the best that harmonia mundi offers. These sets are a rare bargain and a must-have for collectors…

The glittering city of Dresden, whose painstaking reconstruction after it was reduced to rubble in World War II is one of the great success stories of architecture preservation, is a hot topic in the Baroque music field, and this 2000 recording, reissued in budget form in 2010, offers a taste of the excitement. As the seat of the Holy Roman Empire's Elector of Saxony, the city was musically significant even before the rise to power of the man who really made its cultural reputation, August the Strong.

"The Scholl/Herreweghe CD is distinguished by its marriage of beautiful sound and expressive intensity. The richly nuanced orchestral playing remains forceful throughout and Scholl imbues his beguiling voice with a fervent conviction…"

For some years now, the South African recorder player Stefan Temmingh and the German soprano and early music specialist Dorothee Mields have been forming a successful artistic team. Especially their second CD, entitled "Birds" from 2015, has attracted worldwide attention. Now the two exceptional artists are focusing on the composer Georg Philipp Telemann who was one of the most famous composers of his time and wrote an incredible number of works in a wide variety of styles and genres. His collection "Harmonischer Gottesdienst" contains enchanting sacred cantatas for soprano with obbligato recorder, three of which are presented on this CD. Stefan Temmingh combines the cantatas with three virtuoso recorder sonatas from Telemann's oeuvre.

This is a selection of outstanding examples of Buxtehude’s vocal and instrumental music. Settings of Latin biblical texts and ariosa-style works based on German hymns, alternate with instrumental sonatas. The recording has been given a special “North German” colouring through the use of a wide range of historical wind instruments such as the Baroque trombone and dulcian.