Kuijken+accent

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Così fan tutte, opera lirica in due atti KV 588
Soile Isokoski - La Petite Bande / Sigiswald Kuijken
3xCD | EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 749 MB | Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Accent # ACC 9296-98 D | Country/Year: Belgium 1992
Genre: Classical | Style: Viennese School, Opera

"…More importantly, it just feels right, and that’s important for this piece where mood and atmosphere can have such an impact on the reading. I might even suggest that, next to the frenzied Jacobs and the rather serious Gardiner, this could come close to being a prime choice for a period version. " –MusicWeb International

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Requiem in D minor for soloists, chorus and orchestra, KV 626
Le Petite Bande / Nedelands Kamerkoor / Sigiswald Kuijken
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 226 MB | Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Accent # ACC 68645 D | Country/Year: Belgium 1987
Genre: Classical | Style: Viennese School, Sacred, Vocal

Belgian period instrument orchestra La Petite Bande takes its name and constitution from Lully's own orchestra at the court of Louis XIV. It was founded in 1972 by violinist and conductor Sigiswald Kuijken in order to record Lully's Le bourgeois gentilhomme with Gustav Leonhardt for Deutsche Harmonia Mundi. Although it had only been put together for a few recordings, it soon established a reputation as a leader in the performance of French Baroque music. La Petite Bande began giving regular concerts and appearing at festivals throughout the world. The orchestra's repertoire expanded to include music by Bach, Handel, Gluck, Haydn, and Mozart.

These live recordings of Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni and CosÏ fan tutte are a fine tribute to celebrate 40 years of La Petite Bande. They have released an Anniversary Series to mark the oustanding achievement of this highly regarded Belgium-based ensemble.

Johann Sebastian Bach - "La Nativité", Cantates BWV 61, 122, 123, 182
Montreal Baroque - Eric Milnes
EAC+LOG+CUE | APE: 295 MB | Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: ATMA # SACD2 2403 | Country/Year: Canada 2008
Genre: Classical | Style: Baroque, Sacred

This is the fourth volume of ATMA's ongoing Bach Cantata cycle and it is a big improvement over Bach: Cantatas BWV 1, 82, 147 - Montréal Baroque because Eric Milnes has moderated his previous excesses of interpretative choices. Now pauses fit in the overall conception of phrases and the longer line is immediately identifiable without recourse to a score…

With this first volume, Les Voix Humaines members Margaret Little and Susie Napper embark on a very ambitious cycle to record all of Sainte Colombe the Elder's 67 "Concerts a deux violes esgales" (concerts for two bass viols). On evidence of the first 18 offered here, the interpretations are consistently quicker and noticeably sunnier compared to the few other recordings of several of these pieces.

I’ve become increasingly fond of Aapo Häkkinen’s recording of the Goldberg Variations since reviewing it in 2009, and I was therefore more than happy to see his name appearing against some further favourite repertoire. Rameau’s Pièces de clavecin en concerts were written and published when his reputation as a composer of opera was already well established, and the nature of the music follows patterns which might relate to Couperin’s Concerts royaux and composers such as Mondonville.