Jüdische Krankenhaus Berlin

Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin returns to Pentatone together with soprano Christina Landshamer, presenting La Passione, a collection of dazzling concert arias on love, longing and loss by Mozart, Beethoven and Haydn, paired with the latter’s “La Passione” Symphony. Ranging from pastoral simplicity to exuberant outrage, the programme offers some of the finest vocal writing around 1800, including some of Beethoven’s rare and little-known excursions to Italian bravura opera, as well as one of the most dramatic and expressive symphonies of the eighteenth-century.

This, the first ever release on CD of the 1980 cult futurist / synth-pop album ‘Berlin Blondes’, collects together all of the electronic band Berlin Blondes’ commercially released studio output. The band only ever made one, albeit landmark, album. Notably, it was produced by the legendary Mike Thorne as a de facto career bridge between his celebrated work with post-punk band Wire on their first three albums and his subsequent career defining synth- pop productions, shortly thereafter, with pioneering electronic pop acts Soft Cell, Bronski Beat and B-Movie.

In 1727, having just become a naturalised British subject, Handel was commissioned to write a set of anthems for the coronation of George II. Since he could hardly have expected ever to see a more majestic occasion, the composer took full advantage of it to put on a musical firework display of unprecedented splendour. The RIAS Kammerchor and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin give thrilling accounts of these flamboyant works – some of which are still used today at each new coronation!