Ver Sacrum

At any rate, Stravinsky traveled to Venice many times, beginning in 1925 and continuing through visits for the first performances of his three commissions from the Biennale, Canticum sacrum ad honorem Sancti Marci nominis (Canticle to Honor the Name of Saint Mark) in 1956; in 1958, the grand late sacred work Threni; and, in 1960, Monumentum pro Gesualdo.

"Sacrum Profanum" represents a new beginning for Polish violinist Adam Bałdych – but also a look back into his past. He was once a sixteen-year-old firebrand who set out to conquer the jazz world. And when his ACT debut album "Imaginary Room" came out in 2011, he was hailed by the respected German broadsheet the FAZ as having "the finest technique among all living violinists in jazz". The audacity of Bałdych’s lines was so breathtaking, he could almost have been playing a wind instrument; his multi-voiced motifs were more like chord-playing by pianists, and over and above these aspects was the ever-present desire to experiment and to transcend genre boundaries.

"Sacrum Convivium" presents a vision of French music over two millennia: from Gregorian chant through Guillaume de Machaut’s extraordinary ‘Lai de Nostre Dame’ to the Twentieth Century of Maurice Duruflé, Francis Poulenc and Olivier Messiaen, all three of them influenced in some way by the spirituality and sensibility of Gregorian chant, which Messiaen himself described as “the greatest treasure we possess in western music.”

In 2006, Edward Higginbottom celebrated 30 years as Director of Music at New College Oxford. During his time there the New College Choir has achieved international recognition and produced over 70 recordings, many of them worldwide best sellers. This release is the first in a trio of CDs exploring 20th-century choral music, grouped thematically by country. The journey begins in France, where we find Poulenc exploring his religious side, not something often associated with the rebellious and often cheeky Parisian. But he did maintain a strong spiritual streak, remarking once that “he’s not as religious as he’d like to be.”

Franz Liszt achieved great fame throughout Europe at a young age, primarily through his virtuoso performance on the piano. Then, at a more mature age, he turned away more and more from the secular world and found deeper insight and inspiration in faith. Likewise, other keyboard instruments such as the organ and harmonium gained in importance for the composer.

In their debut album, early music ensemble Fount & Origin present a musical meditation on the Franco-Flemish painter Rogier van der Weyden’s altarpiece image of The Last Judgement at the End of time. This multi-panelled work survives as a monument of fifteenth-century art, relating in vivid detail and colour van der Weyden’s dynamic and terrifying account of the world’s final moments. The nine polyphonic settings recorded here were composed in Europe in the mid- to late-fifteenth century and include works by composers such as Johannes Ockeghem, Johannes Regis, Johannes Martini and Antoine Brumel, with each piece thematically tied to an element or figure in the painting.

This series of state-of-the-art recordings by the Sistine Chapel Choir for Deutsche Grammophon makes an authoritative and profoundly beautiful case for the continuing relevance of Humanist, Renaissance and Baroque masterpieces in the Papal Celebrations of the 21stCentury, and in the wider world. This album breathes new contemporary life into a precious tradition at the highest artistic level and transfers its listeners into a meditative, peaceful and conscious state.

Herbert von Karajan isn’t alone in celebrating his 100th birthday this year. Among composers whose 100th anniversary falls in 2008, Olivier Messiaen (10 December) is definitely the most important To whet your appetites for further releases in this anniversary year, here is a 1-CD midprice compilation of Messiaen’s ecstatic slow movements: a sequence of eight movements from major works that together make an unforgettable impression: supple in rhythm, subtle in melody and incredibly rich in harmony. Almost like variations on a theme (with plenty of F sharp major too!), the 70-minute disc is uniquely relaxing and moving at the same time – by no means the usual pot-pourri compilation.