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Pièces pour le lut par JS Bach • Duncumb

Bach’s works for lute—an instrument that was perhaps eclipsed by the guitar after the baroque period—I learned are far less a tidy collection, than say, his works for organ, or his three sonatas and three partitas for…

Pandolfi: Complete Violin Sonatas

Just as I credit Andrew Manze (as part of Romanesca) for introducing me to Heinrich Biber, I credit him and his former musical partner Richard Egarr for introducing me to the music of Pandolfi-Mealli.

Bach: Magnificat; Handel: Dixit Dominus

These two pieces are not always presented together, as they are here on this 2017 release from Alpha featuring Vox Luminis, however they are popular vocal works that have a lot of competition in the recorded canon.

Foreign Masters • Volbers & van Heißen

Max Volbers (recorders) pairs with harpsichordist Alexander von Heißen to record an album of baroque pieces for recorder and basso continuo.

Bach: Clavier-Übung II, Chaconne • Aya Hamada

When I reviewed this album back in January, I should have paired it with this release from Aya Hamada. Across both are performed the French Overture, BWV 831 and the Italian Concerto, BWV 971.

Roman – Golovinmusiken

This album is now five years old, but it’s new to me, and I thought the music itself was worth more exposure. Johann Helmich Roman is likely known to you as a Swedish composer, specializing in music for recorder.

Tuma: Vesperæ

My good friend has been a real fan of Roman Válek’s recordings, appearing upon the Supraphon label from the Czech Republic.

Handel in Rome: A recital with Nardus Williams

Dunedin Consort, dir. John Butt, records cantatas by G. F. Handel during his Roman period with soprano Nardus Williams on Linn The liner notes of this album quote the book by Ellen Harris, Handel as Orpheus which I have…

Bach: The Six Partitas • Koopman

I know I covered this album as part of my Bachcast series podcast, but I was surprised I had never reviewed this album. It was released by Koopman on Challenge Classics/Antoine Marchand in December 2012.

Melancholy Grace • Jean Rondeau

This generous recital (79 minutes) from Jean Rondeau was released in the spring of 2021 on Erato. The collection explores the meaning of melancholy, one of those terms I remember learning in the tenth grade as part of…

The Experts: Music as a Family Affair

On Harmonia Mundi comes a new album from Ensemble Les Surprises highlighting the family connections in Bach’s time around music making, focusing on the impacts of the Bach family and the Silbermann family.

Domenico Gallo – 12 Sonate • Melante

There’s a lot of novelty in this recording, covering two CDs, by the ensemble Concerto Melante performing music by the Venetian baroque composer Domenico Gallo.

Bach: Mass in B minor • La Cetra Basel

I’m writing this review on 26 October 2024, the birthday, incidentally, of a friend of mine from high school, one admired for his intellect and curiosity.

Arias for Bass • Nahuel Di Pierro & Ensemble Diderot

This is not the first time Johannes Pramsohler and his Ensemble Diderot have devoted a disc to vocal music; however in this album featuring arias for bass, starring Nahuel Di Pierro, the forces of the ensemble have…

Concerto Italiano – More Bach, Please!

I foresee a time in my own lifetime that we’ll have an AI that can compose in the style of Bach to a degree that many will find delight.

A Man of Genius – Scarlatti Sonatas

I had the good fortune to meet Francesco Corti after hearing him play at the 2023 Boston Early Music Festival. I still remember his riveting performance of Bach’s fifth French Suite.

Bach: Complete Toccatas • Rousset

For many years my go-to harpsichord rendition of the Bach Toccatas was the edition on Virgin Veritas by Pierre Hantaï.

L’Arpeggiata and Philippe Jaroussky at Festival Ambronay

One of my fond memories five years ago was getting to hear two performances at the Ambronay Festival, featuring the Imaginarium Ensemble (Enrico Onofri) and a performance of Handel’s Giulio Cesare by Les Talens Lyriques…

Cabinet of Wonders, Volumes 1/2 • Ujszászi & Foster

Kinga Ujszászi (violin) and Tom Foster (harpsichord) record violin sonatas from the manuscripts located in the Saxon State and University Library in Dresden, from the so-called Schrank II collection.

The Lute Songbook • Lautten Compagney

I haven’t been that familiar with Lautten Compagney, but one of the magical things that comes about to music streaming is the new awareness that comes of music and musicians as part of the crashing wave of abundant…

Biber: Sonatas from 1681 • Ars Antiqua Austria

In what appears to be a blood-splattered release from this January, Gunar Letzbor and his Ars Antiqua Austria have re-recorded the eight sonatas by H.I.F. von Biber, C. 138-145 on Pan Classics.

Bach’s Musical Offerings

Just recently in my car I chose to listen to an old favorite album of music by Rameau, performed by the Calefax Wind Quintet.

Concertos – Flute, Flute and Harp by W. A. Mozart

My exposure to Mozart’s so-called wind concertos was by way of a DG recording by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. At the time, the number of recordings on period instruments were fewer in number.

Concerti per una vita

French violinist Théotime Langlois de Swarte has recorded a double album featuring works by Antonio Vivaldi with Le Consort.

# Vivaldi x 2^2

La Serenissima, directed by violinist Adrian Chandler, has been putting out releases featuring Vivaldi’s music for some time. They’re most recently been releasing on Signum Classics.

La Mascarade

I hope readers will forgive me for turning to an album which is was recorded in 2012 and released in 2016. Of course there’s nothing wrong with enjoying a wine today that was harvested back in 2016 (or some as far back…

Krebs Keyboard Works Volume 4 • Steven Devine

Auditioned using Qobuz at 96 kHz resolution, without a provided booklet. Krebs is interesting historically as a composer; both he and his father studied with J.S. Bach.

Andrea Chezzi plays Bernardo Pasquini

Composer: Bernardo Pasquini (1637-1710) Performed by: Andrea ChezziCD Length: 51 minutes - Urania Records Recording Date: June 2023Location: Rocca Sanvitale di Fontanellato, Parma, ItalyInstrument: Anonymous Italian…

Mozart: Piano Concertos nos. 20 & 23

This is not the first collaboration with Il Gardellino and Pashchenko performing Mozart; Alpha 726 paired piano concertos 9 and 17. In full disclosure, number 20 in D minor is my favorite of Mozart’s piano concertos.

Torelli opus 2

This new release from Challenge Classics presents 12 trio sonatas for two violins and continuo by Giuseppi Torelli. Torelli’s legacy is founded in development of the concerto genre, both for violin and trumpet.

Bach Toccatas: Enrico Baiano’s Harpsichord Mastery

Bach’s Toccatas, BWV 910-916, are seven pieces which we don’t believe Bach collected as a single corpus, such as the six partitas or the aria with thirty variations known as the Goldberg Variations.

D!ssonanti Bach Transcriptions

Once again we’re confronted with another Bach album of “arrangements,” here featuring strings and period winds. Some of these recordings are not conceptually interesting, but the artistic results can go either way.

de Visée Theorbo Solos

In this album by well-known lute player Jakob Lindberg we are treated to a concert of solos for the theorbo by Visée.

Telemann and the Baroque Gypsies

This recording came out in 2009, but I only discovered it recently after enjoying Ensemble Caprice's reading of Bach's Brandeburg Concertos.

(Jérôme) Hantaï plays Mozart

In the realm of classical music, where the echo of the past continually reverberates through the present, Jérôme Hantaï's latest exploration of Mozart on a period piano is a vivid testament to the enduring vibrancy of…

Wonder Women – L’Apreggiata

L'Arpeggiata, under the imaginative direction of Christina Pluhar, continues to be a beacon of innovative early music performance, as vividly showcased in their latest release, Wonder Women.

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