Pandeiro Express Dive Into The Heartbeat Of Brazil's Music

Led by Christopher Hogwood, the Academy of Ancient Music has made many renowned recordings of Handel's music-particularly the oratorios. The beloved Messiah heads up this 8-CD set, followed by Esther; La Resurezzione , and, making its return to the international catalog after an absence of several years, the 1985 recording of Athalia -with none other than Joan Sutherland in the title role! Recorded in London, 1979-85.

Jan Ladislav Dussek was perhaps Europe's greatest pianist until Beethoven came along, and much of his music involves the piano. He wrote works in many genres, however, including some substantial choral music at the end of his life that, in places, looked forward to Schubert. Consider this Messe Solemnelle in G major, an hourlong work that receives not only its world premiere recording but possibly its first performance in any form; it was discovered by Academy of Ancient Music director Richard Egarr in a Florence library. Physical CD buyers will get a weighty scholarly apparatus, but even online listeners will find an enjoyable work that could easily find its way into the choral repertory.

Following his attractive performance of six of Vivaldi's cello sonatas, Christophe Coin has recorded six of the composer's 24 or so concertos for the instrument. Five of these, Michael Talbot tells us in an interesting accompanying note, probably belong to the 1720s while the sixth, the Concerto in G minor (RV416), is evidently a much earlier work. Coin has chosen, if I may use the expression somewhat out of its usual context, six of the best and plays them with virtuosity and an affecting awareness of their lyrical content. That quality, furthermore, is not confined to slow movements but occurs frequently in solo passages of faster ones, too. It would be difficult to single out any one work among the six for particular praise. My own favourite has long been the happily spirited Concerto in G major (RV413) with which Coin ends his programme. Strongly recommended. (Gramophone Magazine)

Jan Ladislav Dussek was perhaps Europe's greatest pianist until Beethoven came along, and much of his music involves the piano. He wrote works in many genres, however, including some substantial choral music at the end of his life that, in places, looked forward to Schubert. Consider this Messe Solemnelle in G major, an hourlong work that receives not only its world premiere recording but possibly its first performance in any form; it was discovered by Academy of Ancient Music director Richard Egarr in a Florence library. Physical CD buyers will get a weighty scholarly apparatus, but even online listeners will find an enjoyable work that could easily find its way into the choral repertory.

A surprising fact from the musicological realm is that Haydn wrote about the same number of operas as Mozart–though it's true that some of them were written for the marionette theater at Esterhaza, rather than the opera house. In other words, old "Gius[eppe] Haydn"–as the title page of this opera refers to him–was a master. Better known to some by its alternate title, L'anima del filosofo, Haydn's Orfeo ed Euridice was written in 1791 for the King's Theater, Haymarket, during the composer's first English sojourn, but went unperformed there or anywhere else until 1950. The libretto, by Carlo Francesco Badini, is based on Ovid's Metamorphoses, with its decidedly unhappy ending to the story (Euridice dies a second time, Orpheus is poisoned, and the Bacchantes perish in a storm).

According to Christopher Hogwood, in his marvelous biography of Handel, "In the winter of that year [1750], Handel received what was for him an unusual commission. Although closely associated with the London theatre, he wrote very little incidental music for plays. A request from John Rich to provide airs and dances for Smollett's 'Alceste' was undertaken, according to Hawkins, in repayment of a debt to Rich."

In addition to volumes and volumes of church and chamber music, the astonishingly prolific Georg Philipp Telemann wrote a great many concertos–the most engaging of which are those for two or more solo instruments, often in interesting combinations. It must be said that many of these concertos are a bit lightweight, but they are lively and diverting–and Christopher Hogwood and the baroque-instrument specialists of the Academy of Ancient Music give them accomplished, persuasive performances. Among the tasty confections here are a vigorous concerto for three trumpets; a double concerto for recorder and transverse flute–in the 18th-century context, the old-fashioned and the newfangled side by side; and the "Concerto polonois" for string orchestra without soloists, based on rustic dance music Telemann heard in Poland as a young man.

Happy the couples for whom Bach wrote wedding cantatas! BWV 202 and BWV 210 are two of his most attractive and charming works. BWV 202, the earlier and shorter of the pair, evokes the joys of both spring and true love in a succession of lively dance tunes, while BWV 210’s tongue-in-cheek account of music’s effect on lovers includes five exquisite arias, not least the teasing lullaby ‘Ruhet hie’. Emma Kirkby sings these cantatas – plus three songs from Anna Magdalena’s music-book – with a natural fluency and grace that is always engaging, despite a few uncomfortable moments in the highest registers.