Thee Diane Bonjour

Even though it has hardly been performed and rarely recorded “L’Allegro il Penseroso ed il Moderato” has to be counted as one of Handel’s most beautiful and musically valuable oratorios. Its lack of popularity is solely due to the complexities of performance and the un-dramatic subject matter. In so doing, Handel bestowed some of his best music upon Charles Jennen’s reworking of John Milton’s text. With this recording, Peter Neumann together with the Cologne Chamber Choir and the Collegium Cartusianum have brought this wonderful work to life, guaranteeing that it will sit proudly amongst the other oratorio works of Handel.

Handel's Utrecht Te Deum HWV 278 was already enthusiastically received at its first performance in 1713 in St. Paul's in London. To celebrate peace after twelve years of Spanish War of Succession, Handel composed a captivating Te Deum and Jubilate. A British national composer was born!

This lavish reissue of Vaughan's 1957 double LP displays a Gershwin different in tone from Ella Fitzgerald's better-known one. Naturally more elastic in her interpretations than Fitzgerald, Vaughan also manages a more intimate tone perhaps better suited for the later hours of late-night listening. Hal Mooney's arrangements wisely alternate between full-blown orchestral backing and a more rhythmic emphasis, as on "I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise," which would have fit right in with the singer's string of pop hit singles. Most impressive, though, are Vaughan's intuitively touching readings of ballads like "I've Got a Crush on You," "The Man I Love," and "A Foggy Day": no matter how many recordings of them exist, these must stand near the top of the stack. The original album is augmented here by 13 incomplete takes from one of the sessions.

Hippolyte et Aricie was Rameau's first surviving lyric tragedy and is perhaps his most durable, though you wouldn't know it from the decades we had to wait for a modern recording. Now there are two: this one, conducted by Marc Minkowski, and William Christie's version on Erato. Choosing between the two is tough. Minkowski uses a smaller and probably more authentic orchestra, and with the resulting leaner sound, the performance has more of a quicksilver quality accentuated by Minkowski's penchant for swift tempos. His cast is excellent. –David Patrick Stearns

Hippolyte et Aricie was Rameau's first surviving lyric tragedy and is perhaps his most durable, though you wouldn't know it from the decades we had to wait for a modern recording. Now there are two: this one, conducted by Marc Minkowski, and William Christie's version on Erato. Choosing between the two is tough. Minkowski uses a smaller and probably more authentic orchestra, and with the resulting leaner sound, the performance has more of a quicksilver quality accentuated by Minkowski's penchant for swift tempos. His cast is excellent. The central lovers in the title are beautifully sung by two truly French voices, soprano Véronique Gens and especially the light, slightly nasal tenor of Jean-Paul Fourchécourt. In the pivotal role of the jealous Phèdre, Bernarda Fink is perfectly good but not in the exalted league of Christie's Lorraine Hunt. So there's no clear front-runner, but anyone interested in French Baroque opera must have at least one.

Sit back, put your feet up and prepare to enjoy this superbly relaxing collection of favourite hymns and songs expertly brought to life on the Scottish, English & Irish bagpipes. All the best-known 'traditionals' are here, including Holy Holy Holy, Dear Lord And Father Of Mankind, Eternal Father Strong To Save, and The Lord’s My Shepherd. Together, the three CDs provide almost three hours of listening pleasure from what is a remarkable instrumental collection.