Christopher Hogwood Vivaldi Recordings

Here we have a disc recorded in July of 1996 but not released until September of 2000. Additionally, we have Christopher Hogwood, a conductor who led the Academy of Ancient Music in some of their most successful recordings but who now does not have a steady contract. And we have Andrew Manze, a violinist who was a hired soloist with the Academy at the time of the recording but is now its music director. What does this suggest? It suggests a disc that languished in the record company's vaults until Manze's name and fame got it released.

This collection represents the full range of Vivaldi recordings Christopher made with the AAM, and includes L'Estro Armonico Op.3, La Stravaganza Op.4, and the violin concertos Opp. 6, 8, 9, 11, and 12; solo concertos for flute (op. 10), oboe, bassoon, and cello; and various concerti grossi. Also featured are the complete cello sonatas, along with the cantatas "Amor, hai vinto" and "Nulla in mundo pax sincera", and sacred vocal works Stabat Mater, Nisi Dominus and the enduringly popular Gloria.

Christopher Hogwood was one of the first pioneers to introduce historically informed performances in England in the 70', following Nikolaus Harnoncourt's revolution that took place in the late 50'. With the Academy of Ancient Music, he published hundreds of fine recordings from different composers, with a special focus on Vivaldi. Here he presents the famous Four Seasons. I find Hogwood's lecture of the 4 Seasons perfect.

With all the dandy digital recordings of Handel's Concerto Grossi Opus 6 available, why choose this one made in the late '80s and early '90s with Christopher Hogwood leading the Handel & Haydn Society of Boston with Daniel Stepner, Stanley Ritchie, and Linda Quan starring as the violin soloists? Choosing a recording of Handel's concertos is, of course, inevitable in the life of any listener: along with Bach's Brandenburgs and Vivaldi's Four Seasons, they form the core repertoire of high Baroque orchestral music. But why choose Hogwood? For one thing, he has a well-deserved reputation as a Handel conductor: his Messiah was lean and muscular, expressive and intense, lyrical and dramatic – characteristics of these performances as well.

This collection represents the full range of Vivaldi recordings Christopher made with the AAM, and includes L'Estro Armonico Op.3, La Stravaganza Op.4, and the violin concertos Opp. 6, 8, 9, 11, and 12; solo concertos for flute (op. 10), oboe, bassoon, and cello; and various concerti grossi. Also featured are the complete cello sonatas, along with the cantatas "Amor, hai vinto" and "Nulla in mundo pax sincera", and sacred vocal works Stabat Mater, Nisi Dominus and the enduringly popular Gloria.

Christopher Hogwood is an irreplaceable figure in a marvelous period that spans over thirty years, the time of the rebirth of the ancient and baroque repertoire: a time of so-called performances with original instruments, as they were hastily defined in an urge to simplify. A period in which, amid the initial skepticism of the critics and their subsequent appreciation, important artists and philologists restored to music lovers the joy of rediscovering masterpieces that had often been forgotten and performing practices that had long been abandoned, recreating enormous interest in a repertoire that is still continuing to reveal the existence of great forgotten musical treasures.

The Academy of Ancient Music does a wonderfully and good performance playing the pieces by Vivaldi one seldom hears and they are precious and surprising heart-touching compositions in the inimicable style of the enthusiastic Antonio. Good purchase of 6 CDs!

A collection of the very best of Bartoli's treasured recordings of musical delights and discoveries of the 17th and 18th century. Featuring two previously unreleased world premiere recordings of forgotten jewels by Leonardo Vinci and Agostino Steffani. With guest appearances from Philippe Jaroussky, June Anderson, Franco Fagioli and Sol Gabetta.

A beautifully-packaged 50-disc box set, released to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, one of the most important and adventurous early music labels. The set contains 50 classic recordings of baroque and ancient music, chosen to represent the breadth of this huge and varied catalogue and each disc is slip-cased with artwork replicating the original CD or LP artwork.

When English soprano Emma Kirkby began her professional career in the mid-'70s, period performance practice was just beginning to make its way into the realm of vocal music. Kirkby, mentored by Jessica Cash, became a pioneer of period practice for Renaissance and Baroque vocal soloists. She studied classical literature at Oxford and took vocal lessons, but did not plan on becoming a singer. She joined the Taverner Choir in 1971, and a couple of years later, she began a long-lasting collaboration with the Consort of Musicke.[ [/quote]