Bwv 733

Philippe Pierlot and the Ricercar Consort's 2006 recording of Bach's Magnificat brings back the glory days of historically informed performances, those halcyon days in the 1980s when musicians, empowered by scholarship and energized by virtuosity, were recording the Baroque repertoire with the zeal of the newly converted. Though Pierlot and his musicians are of a younger generation, they bring a missionary fervor to the music, a program of Bach's Magnificat, BWV 243, and Missa Brevis, BWV 235, interspersed with two well-chosen organ works, the Fuga sopra il Magnificat, BWV 733, and the Präludium und Fuga, BWV 541. Pierlot's textures are clean, his rhythms buoyant, his colors bright, and tempos brisk, but not rushed in the fast movements, and contemplative but not moribund in the slow movements.

The first edition to comprise all of Helmut Walcha's recordings on Archiv Produktion, Deutsche Grammophon and Philips. Commemorating the 30th anniversary of Walcha's passing (11 August), it includes both the stereo (1956-1971) and the mono cycles (1947-1952) of Bach's complete works for organ; harpsichord recordings consisting of the Well-Tempered Clavier and the Violin Sonatas BWV 1014-1019 with Henryk Szeryng, the latter originally issued on Philips; plus other organ works from the early North German repertoire, including Bruhns, Scheidt, Buxtehude, and Sweelinck. The mastermind of Walcha's recordings was legendary producer Erich Thienhaus, a prolific recording producer and progenitor of the Tonmeister profession itself.

Norwegian folk musician Sinikka Langeland, singer and player of the kantele (the Finnish table harp) is a distinctly non-traditional traditionalist, redefining "folk" in successive projects. 'Maria's Song' finds her in the company of two distinguished classical musicians - organist Kare Nordstoga and "giant of the Nordic viola" Lars Anders Tomter - and on a mission to restore Marian texts to sacred music, weaving folk melodies in between the timeless strains of J S Bach. Langeland made a lot of friends with her sparkling ECM debut Starflowers: "There are jewels everywhere on this arresting example of ego-free music-making. One of the albums of this or any other year" raved the Irish Times. Where Starflowers brought Langeland into the orbit of jazz improvisers, Maria's Song is a meeting and cross referencing of folk and 'classical' energies, and also a righting of historical 'injustice': Religious folk songs are amongst the most distinctive elements of the Norwegian folk tradition, yet the Virgin Mary rarely appears in them.