Beethoven Messe

This 10 CD-Set offers a collection of the most popular Mass compositions from the Viennese Classics up to the romantic period. It includes famous masterpieces like Mozart’s „Coronation Mass“, Beethoven Missa solemnis, Haydn „Harmony Mass“, Gounod St. Cecilia Mass but also rarities like „Missa Sancti Joannis Nepomuceni“ by Michael Haydn, the „Coronation Mass“ by Cherubini, „Missa sacra“ by Robert Schumann and the „Misa solemnis“ of the german romantic composer Friedrich Kiel. Performed by well known artists like the Vienna Boys’ Choir, RIAS Chamber Choir, Tölzer Boys’ Choir, Wiener Akademie and last but not least also includes the spectacular recording of Beethoven’s Missa solemnis with conductor Michael Gielen.

Les Cinquième et Sixième symphonies de Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) ont vu le jour pour ainsi dire en même temps. Dès 1803, au milieu des esquisses de la Troisième, l’Héroïque , on retrouve une ébauche du début de la Cinquième Symphonie et un motif intitulé « murmure de ruisseaux » qui sera utilisé dans le second mouvement de la Sixième. Mais ce n’est qu’en 1805 que la Cinquième fut vraiment entreprise et, l’année suivante, la Sixième Symphonie. Beethoven les acheva toutes deux en 1808, non sans avoir fait plusieurs pauses pendant lesquelles il composa, entre autres, la Quatrième Symphonie, le Quatrième Concerto pour piano, le Concerto pour violon, la Messe en do majeur et la Fantaisie pour piano, orchestre et chœurs.

While it never quite got the attention that the Mahler revival of the 1950s and 1960s got, the music of Franz Schubert, particularly with respect to the early symphonies and his choral works, saw an upsurge of its own beginning in the late 1960s and early 1970s. As such, it went a long way to prove that this composer, who lived a tragically short life, was every bit as important to classical music as Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. The revival of the choral works, in particular, were a big factor in this; and a good deal of the credit for all of it could be ascribed to the series of recordings made of them for EMI by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus during the 1980s, with Wolfgang Sawallisch conducting.

A leader of the movement for historically informed performances, Jos van Immerseel has been active in performances of Renaissance and Baroque music, but he has concentrated on piano music of the Classical and Romantic eras, performing and recording much of the keyboard repertoire on period instruments. This eight-CD box set from Accent contains van Immerseel's recordings from 1979 to 1986, played on a variety of original pianofortes and modern reproductions, and with period instruments in the works for ensembles.

The French division of the massive EMI corporation has released a compendium called Les Introuvables de Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (EMI 68509, six CDs), and it contains so much outstanding material that one feels churlish complaining about what it lacks. But here we go. These six discs contain more than 125 lieder, ballads, cantatas and songs – primarily in German, but also in French, Italian, Latin and English – recorded mostly in the 1950s and '60s when Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau's voice was one of the wonders of the musical universe.

VIVARTE is the legendary Sony Classical period music label known for producing outstanding recordings on period instruments. The recordings by legendary producer Wolf Erichson are made with the best recording technologies available and by one of the best production teams in the world (Tritonus Music Production, Stuttgart). The collection contains a perfect overview of VIVARTE's legendary catalogue ranging from Vivaldi to Brahms including recordings with specialists in historically informed performance practice such as Anner Bylsma, Gustav Leonhardt, Tafelmusik, Huelgas Ensemble, L'Archibudelli among others. Many of the recordings received critical acclaim all over the world and won prestigious awards. This box set includes CDs presented in paper sleeves with the original artwork, a 250 page booklet with track listings and the original liner notes for each recording.