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Although often overshadowed by his better-known Italian contemporary Claudio Monteverdi, as well as his successor in Lutheran music J.S. Bach, Heinrich Schutz's contributions to 17th-century sacred music were nevertheless significant. With a career that spanned an era of great musical developments, his sacred compositions reveal a rich array of influences and were to prove inspirational to future generations of composers. This 19-disc box set is the result of four volumes of recordings made by Cappella Augustana and Matteo Messori for Brilliant Classics between 2003 and 2010, collected together for the first time.

The box contains 10 CDs and offers reference shots of all the central works such as the Psalms of David, the Cantiones sacrae, the Resurrection History, the Little Sacred Concerts, Choral Music and last but not least the Passions. The partly unpublished recordings show the Dresden Kreuzchor at the height of its development.

Mozart's arrangement of Handel's Messiah, made in 1789, relates to his involvement in the circle of musical connoisseurs surrounding the Baron Gottfried van Swieten, Viennese nobleman and aficionado of the monuments of Baroque music. It is, as the booklet here aptly puts it, a "cover version" (the German participle, charmingly enough, is "gecovert") of Handel's work, neither a radical rethinking nor a light rescoring. Mozart adds a good deal of wind scoring, often arranging things so that the winds peek out with a wink toward the end of an aria.

As one of the most legendary champions of Bach Karl Richter's many (and in some instances multiple) recordings of the composers Cantata's arguably is his greatest achievement. Richter enlisted many of the finest vocalists in their prime during the 1950's through the early 70's for these recordings elevating the neglected form at the time to the level of Grand Opera. His conducting, especially for his day as well remains remarkably animated and fluent yet always respectful of Bach's underlying powerful architectural components. These recordings set the standard and for many today remain the benchmark performances by which all new ones continue to be judged.

The ultimate collection of the complete music of J.S. Bach. Having all of Bach's music at my fingertips is a dream come true. This astonishing collection of music is a historic event. Teldec has compiled an excellent collection of all the works of J.S. Bach, from well-known to the obscure, performed by a wide variety of highly respected musicians. There are many, many treasures included in this collection, for example: the cello suites performed by Nikolaus Harnoncourt now on cd for the first time. And the 4-cd set of chorales is stunning.