Vivaldi 12 Sonate Op. 3

After Carlo Farina and the Vitalis, Clematis continues its exploration of the Italian Baroque instrumental repertoire with Giovanni Legrenzi. The Sonatas taken from the collections he published in Venice between 1655 and 1673 feature highly diverse forms ranging from the trio sonata up to larger forms for 4, 5, or 6 parts and even double choir. His final collection of instrumental music, Balletti e Correnti, published in 1691, offers us a very different view of instrumental music in which certain French influences cannot be denied. Here, Clematis gives us the first complete anthology of his instrumental works. The variety of forms and forces ensures this disc with a fine diversity of styles from sonatas still close in spirit to those of Biagio Marini up to those for four violins foreshadowing the generation of Vivaldi.

The box-set traces the history of Archiv from 1947, when the first recordings were made (Helmut Walcha playing Bach organ works), to a bonus CD featuring selections from the new 2013 albums mentioned above. A complete overview is appended. In between comes a sequence of albums several of which are new to CD from the great names of the label, from Walcha, Wenzinger and Safford Cape, through Karl Richter, Nikolas Harnoncourt and Sir Charles Mackerras…

Judicaël Perroy has become widely known as an extraordinary virtuoso classical guitarist and musician with several prizes to his credit. In 1997 he captured the prestigious first prize of the 15th Guitar Foundation of America International Competition and Convention awarding him tour of the United States and Canada with more than sixty concerts and master classes. In between his North American tour that year, he gave several concerts in France where his performances were broadcast live on France-Musique followed by extensive recital tours throughout the world.

Those crazy Red Priest guys have done it again, making a wonderfully fun and playful disc of thrash-baroque. This small group really tears up the score. I can imagine that Red Priest would be a riot to see live.
I haven't heard any of the pieces played by a 'straight' ensemble, so I can't comment, but I highly suspect these guys of taking some outrageous liberties. But you have to go with the flow here to get your reward from this romp.

A celebration of instrumental Baroque splendour! This set present an anthology of Italian Baroque composers, featuring their instrumental output. Obviously the famous composers have their fair share: Vivaldi, Albinoni, Locatelli, Corelli, but also lesser known composers are featured: Barsanti, Bassani, Veracini, Nardini, Stradella, Vitali, Mancini, Platti, Legrenze and many more, over 30 composers! Performances by leading ensembles specialized in the Historically Informed Performance Practice: L'Arte dell'Arco/Federico Guglielmo, Ensemble Cordia/Stefano Veggetti, Violini Capricciosi/Igor Ruhadze, MusicaAmphion/Pieter Jan Belder and many more. A treasure trove of solo concertos, concerti grossi, sinfonias, overtures, trio sonatas and solo sonatas from the Golden Era of the Italian Baroque, era of joy, passion and brilliance!

Limited edition 100 CD box set on the premiere classical label Deutsch Grammophon. Subtitled from Gregorian Chant to Gorecki. For some it will be the ultimate reference tool. For others a big place to start on something they always wanted to know about. Either way, the idea is to present a comprehensive history of Classical Music from its origins to the present day, covering all periods, including all major composers.