Elizabeth Strouth

This recording of the BBC’s broadcast of the coronation service from Westminster Abbey was taken by means of a direct line to Abbey Road Studios in St John’s Wood, London.

Recorded live in concert at Festival d’Aix-en-Provence in 2023, this album sees the London Symphony Orchestra and conductor Sir Mark Elder join forces with Lyon Opera Chorus, Maîtrise des Bouches-du-Rhône, the Mediterranean Youth Orchestra, and an incredible cast of soloists to bring to life Meyerbeer’s visionary historical drama, Le prophète.

In 1724, Sébastien de Brossard hailed Jean-Baptiste Drouard de Bousset as ‘indisputably the best of our composer-authors’. Although, at the beginning of the 18th century, the Master of Music at the Académies des Sciences et des Inscriptions imposed himself as the unquestionable leader of the genre, his 875 airs sérieux are little known nowadays and deserve to be brought back into the light. Such is the desire of Elizabeth Dobbin and the ensemble Le Jardin Secret, who recreate with artistry and intelligence the ‘noble, pleasant and natural’ songs of the composer, described by Titon du Tillet in his Parnasse françois (1732).

This recording of the BBC’s broadcast of the coronation service from Westminster Abbey was taken by means of a direct line to Abbey Road Studios in St John’s Wood, London.

This recording of the BBC’s broadcast of the coronation service from Westminster Abbey was taken by means of a direct line to Abbey Road Studios in St John’s Wood, London. The splendid ritual of the coronation rite has offered to composers of succeeding generations an opportunity to provide music of fitting beauty and to the choirs taking part an incentive to excel in presenting music in which Britain has a rich and unique tradition. Some of this music had been heard in earlier coronations, some was composed especially for this occasion.

Elizabeth Hainen, Solo Harpist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, performs a programme of pieces she enjoys playing in the intimacy of her own home, including popular works by Bach, Debussy and Sting. Philadelphia Orchestra Solo Harpist Elizabeth Hainen paints a varied and innovative portrait of private moments in this ode to the pleasures of home.

The culmination of the fabulous Beethoven 250 series by French pianist Elizabeth Sombart, conductor Pierre Vallet and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; a boxset featuring spectacular performances of Beethoven’s piano concertos and his ‘Triple’ Concerto.

Passing Fancy: Beauty in a Moment of Chaos, the AVIE debut by leading New York City early music ensemble Sonnambula, traverse music by several Renaissance composers who were forced to conceal their identities for social, religious or ethnic reasons. Yet their music transcended the disorder surrounding them, flourishing in the intersection of beliefs and styles.

Two faiths, two empires, two rulers - colliding in 1588. Papist Spain wants to bring down the heretic Elizabeth. Philip is building an armada but needs a rationale to attack. With covert intrigue, Spain sets a trap for the Queen and her principal secretary, Walsingham, using as a pawn Elizabeth's cousin Mary Stuart, who's under house arrest in the North. The trap springs, and the armada sets sail, to rendezvous with French ground forces and to attack. During these months, the Virgin Queen falls in love with Walter Raleigh, keeping him close to court and away from the sea and America. Is treachery or heroism at his heart? Does loneliness await her passionate majesty?