VW Golf VI 10 08 10 12: So Wird’s Gemacht

Maria João Pires “shapes and colours every phrase, and with immaculate taste, and she makes sure the phrases end as eloquently as they begin,” wrote Gramophone in 1974. “She conveys not just the details but the relevance of every note to the whole … Best of all, she communicates everything she has discovered about the music, and it is worth having.” This Portuguese pupil of Wilhelm Kempff, Pires was one of the artists who defined the Erato label in the 1970s and 1980s. This 5-CD box gathers together the recordings she made over the period from 1976 to 1985 and it reflects the consistent focus of her repertoire, with its special emphasis on Austro-German composers of the Classical and early-Romantic periods. Embracing solo works, piano duets and concertos, it contains works by Mozart, Schumann, Beethoven, but also by Bach and Chopin.

Acclaimed soprano Carolyn Sampson, partnered by Robert King and The King's Consort,with whom she has been associated throughout her professional career, turns her talents to Handel's two most dramatic cantatas, linked by the theme of abandoned women.

A glorious collection of choral music by British composers, recorded live during services of Choral Evensong in King’s College Chapel. Popular anthems like Hubert Parry’s I was glad and Patrick Hadley’s My beloved spake are included alongside settings of the Magnificat and Nunc dimittis through the centuries. Included here are settings from Byrd’s Great Service and Weelkes’ Short Service, alongside Stanford’s setting in G and William Mathias’ Jesus College Service. Recorded between the summers of 2018 and 2019, this selection presents music from Stephen Cleobury’s last year as Director of Music at King’s College after 37 years in post.

Henri Hardouin (1727–1808) was a chorister in Rheims Cathedral, rising swiftly through the ranks to become maître de chapelle – until the French Revolution disbanded religious establishments. As a priest he was in potential danger and seems to have gone into hiding until, in 1794, the death of Robespierre allowed him to resume his duties. Hardouin’s six four-part masses, published in 1772, are unusual for their time in being a cappella, and they enjoyed wide circulation in pre-Revolutionary France. Since then they have been roundly neglected – an omission this first complete recording intends to rectify.