Queen of Baroque

Baroque Masterpieces - collection of Baroque music in the best performance in the company Sony BMG DHM Artenova. One of the best collections of Baroque music! The greatest works - the legendary performance! Baroque music is a style of European classical music in the period from about 1600 to 1750. The Baroque era follows the Renaissance and the Classical period precedes. The main in this music was an expression of emotions. Baroque music - this violence and ecstasy, in contrast to the confidence and independence of the Renaissance.

Known for her idiosyncratic performances of baroque repertoire and eccentric personal style, the German coloratura soprano Simone Kermes trained in her native Leipzig, with early successes including the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition. Bach has not, however, figured prominently in her career since then – Kermes gravitated towards Vivaldi, Handel and the Neapolitan composers who wrote for the great castrati, such as Riccardo Broschi, Alessandro Scarlatti and Porpora. (She has recorded several solo albums of such repertoire for Sony, including Dramma, and Colori d’Amore – reviewing the latter, BBC Music Magazine described her as ‘a remarkable artist, charming, fascinating and boldly risk-taking by turns’).

The recorder played a huge part in 18th-century European music, so it’s strange that this beautiful instrument doesn’t command the attention it deserves today. Enter Dutch player Lucie Horsch with a Baroque feast of thrilling arrangements and wonderful, original works for recorder. Dive into the magical, virtuosic worlds of Castello, Naudot, and Sammartini—whose Concerto in F Majoris a sparkling discovery—and relive famous pieces that shine anew. The voice flute used for “Erbarme dich” from Bach’s St. Matthew Passion has a breathtaking vocal quality, while Horsch joins fellow recorder player Charlotte Barbour-Condini for a joyful, energizing performance of Handel’s “The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba.” Utterly inspiring.

Martin Stadtfeld's new double album "Baroque Colours" presents a colorful sound panorama of the Baroque - with original works from Bach to Rameau as well as his own arrangements of well-known Baroque hits and unknown musical gems.

Caroline of Ansbach, [actually Wilhelmina Charlotte Caroline von Brandenburg-Ansbach] wife of King George II, remarkably beautiful patron of the arts and sciences, considered Handel an esteemed confidant. It was in Hanover that Caroline first encountered Handel, actively encouraging his appointment as Kapellmeister there in 1710, and it was apparently at her behest that he composed five of his Italian chamber duets. With the accession of the elector as George I in 1714, Caroline became Princess of Wales and on his death, in 1727, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, consort of King George II.

Erin Helyard has been acclaimed as an inspiring conductor, a virtuosic and expressive performer of the harpsichord and fortepiano, and as a lucid scholar who is passionate about promoting discourse between musicology and performance. Erin graduated in harpsichord performance from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with first-class honours and the University Medal. He completed his Masters in fortepiano performance and a PhD in musicology with Tom Beghin at the Schulich School of Music, McGill University, Montreal. He was named the Westfield Concert Scholar (Cornell University) on fortepiano for 2009–10 and from 2003 to 2012 was a central member of Montreal’s award-winning Ensemble Caprice.