Patrick Rydman

A broad selection of 33 Overtures (Orchestral Suites) by Georg Philipp Telemann is here collected in one generous 8-CD set. Telemann, one of the most prolific and gifted composers of the 18th century, wrote many charming, graceful suites in the fashion of his time - comprised of a three-part French overture followed by shorter dance movements, chaconnes, character pieces, and more. The historically-informed performance of Collegium Instrumentale Brugense under Patrick Piere shows that these bright, varied works truly rival the suites of Handel and Bach.

In Great Scott, the Kansas-born mezzo-soprano, one of today’s best-loved classical singers, creates a role conceived specifically with her in mind. The character she plays, Arden Scott, just happens to be an opera star, and she is the lynchpin of what Fred Plotkin of WQXR, the USA’s leading classical music radio station, welcomed as a “deeply moving and musically brilliant work” that “should enter the standard repertory just as Heggie’s two previous masterpieces – Dead Man Walking and Moby-Dick – already have”.