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Bach: Cantatas, Vol 1 /Gardiner

from: Monteverdi

Release Date January 03, 2005
This 2-disc set is numbered 1 in Gardiner's great `pilgrimage' through the entire collection of Bach's surviving cantatas, but put not your trust in numbers where this series is concerned. The performances were recorded on the liturgical dates for which they were composed throughout the calendar year 2000, and the Feast of St John the Baptist and the first Sunday after Trinity fall just after midsummer. This issue has some claim to primacy from the sheer amount of music that it contains - several of the cantatas here are exceptionally long, and each disc contains an hour and a quarter of music.

I found the same things to admire here as I have found in all my growing collection of the pilgrimage issues. The style is impeccable, ... Read More:

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Handel: Theodora /Gritton · Bickley · Blaze · Agnew · Smith · Davies · Gabrieli Consort & Players · McCreesh

from: Archiv Produktion

Release Date October 16, 2000
Dying for one's beliefs, Bertrand Russell said, is putting rather a high premium on conjecture. Killing for one's beliefs seems to be back on the agenda these days, and the story of the Christian martyrs Theodora and Didymus should strike a few chords in the 21st century. The Roman 'President' (yes, really) Valens is not some monster of total evil but a perfectly recognisable authoritarian redneck -- the laws of Rome including religious observances will be obeyed or else. Theodora refuses as a Christian and is sentenced to prostitution. The closet Christian Didymus tries to help, Valens' lieutenant Septimius intercedes with Valens arguing that it would have been his duty to carry out a sentence of death but not of a fate worse than, and the outcome ... Read More:

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Gurney: Severn Meadows and Other Songs

from: Hyperion

Release Date July 02, 2001
A range of English poetry set to music in the greatest tradition of English song in the early twentieth century, the melodic line always reflecting the language with the greatest sympathy. Paul Agnew's voice occasionally sounds just a tiny bit strangled, but overall gives such great pleasure that I have listened to this disc day in and day out and feel it is becoming a part - even a "necessary" part - of my existence. I had always thought of Ivor Gurney as a minor composer, but these songs seem to place him in the highest rank. I hope Agnew and Julius Drake will be recording more of his songs.

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Handel: Saul /Scholl · Davies · Gritton · Argenta · Padmore · Gabrieli Consort & Players · McCreesh

by: Gabrieli Consort Gabrieli Players Paul McCreesh

Release Date March 08, 2004
From the very start you know you are entering a masterpiece performed by one of the greatest living conductors. First the use of instruments. Each one has a particular part to play and, even in the most unified tuttis of the orchestra, each instrument plays its role and can be followed faithfully without getting lost in some kind of blended melting pot. This is admirable from the opening notes right on till the end. Then Handel uses voices in a very creative way too. David is an alto, which is normal in the 18th century since he is the hero and no one is going to cast a shadow on him. The alliance of this alto with the tenor Jonathan or the soprano Michal, or even the antagonistic soprano Merab, leads to giving each voice a real dramatic depth. The ... Read More:

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Lully: Les Divertissements de Versailles

from: Erato

Release Date May 13, 2002
Considering his historical importance as the founder of French Baroque opera, it is perhaps surprising that Jean-Baptiste Lully has not received the same degree of attention on disc as his rivals and followers. The revival of French Baroque music which has been such a phenomenon over the last two or three decades has only rarely paid him much attention. Listeners seem to find the harmonic daring of Marc-Antoine Charpentier or the incredible colour and imagination of Jean-Philippe Rameau far more to their taste. Lully's suave, well-crafted music is often dismissed as bland beside the music of these figures and that of Lully's English follower, Purcell. But as this well-filled (78 minutes) disc of extracts from the whole range of his stage music demonstrates, ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 6
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Rameau: Grand Motets

from: Erato

Release Date February 06, 1995
Considering his historical importance as the founder of French Baroque opera, it is perhaps surprising that Jean-Baptiste Lully has not received the same degree of attention on disc as his rivals and followers. The revival of French Baroque music which has been such a phenomenon over the last two or three decades has only rarely paid him much attention. Listeners seem to find the harmonic daring of Marc-Antoine Charpentier or the incredible colour and imagination of Jean-Philippe Rameau far more to their taste. Lully's suave, well-crafted music is often dismissed as bland beside the music of these figures and that of Lully's English follower, Purcell. But as this well-filled (78 minutes) disc of extracts from the whole range of his stage music demonstrates, ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 7
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Schütz: Christmas Story

from: Naxos

Release Date November 04, 1996
Considering his historical importance as the founder of French Baroque opera, it is perhaps surprising that Jean-Baptiste Lully has not received the same degree of attention on disc as his rivals and followers. The revival of French Baroque music which has been such a phenomenon over the last two or three decades has only rarely paid him much attention. Listeners seem to find the harmonic daring of Marc-Antoine Charpentier or the incredible colour and imagination of Jean-Philippe Rameau far more to their taste. Lully's suave, well-crafted music is often dismissed as bland beside the music of these figures and that of Lully's English follower, Purcell. But as this well-filled (78 minutes) disc of extracts from the whole range of his stage music demonstrates, ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 8
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Handel Arcadian Duets / Dessay . Gens . Petibon . Claycomb . Lascarro . Panzarella . Mijanovic . Mingardo . Asawa . Agnew . Le Concert d'Astrée . Haïm

from: Virgin Veritas (EMI Classics)

Release Date October 07, 2002
The 21-year-old Handel spent 4 years in Italy from 1706. His main patrons, Cardinal Pamphili and the Marquis of Ruspoli were members of a group known as the Arcadian Academy - hence the CD's title.
However, perhaps only 2 or 3 of the 9 duets here date from that time, while another 3 date from 1740 - 1745. Two of those were re-used for numbers in the Messiah - and it is fascinating to hear how the Italian word are set!
Haim's direction of Le Concert D'Astree is wonderfully sensitive. For soloists she has mostly recruited past colleagues - a superb group (Dessay, Gens, Petibon, Panzarella, Mingardo, Agnew etc.) and they perform with great style.
If you love Handel, and his great gift for setting music for the voice, then this is pure delight. ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 9
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Vivaldi: Atenaide - Musical Drama in 3 Acts

by: Paul Agnew, Stefano Ferrari

Release Date October 29, 2007
The 21-year-old Handel spent 4 years in Italy from 1706. His main patrons, Cardinal Pamphili and the Marquis of Ruspoli were members of a group known as the Arcadian Academy - hence the CD's title.
However, perhaps only 2 or 3 of the 9 duets here date from that time, while another 3 date from 1740 - 1745. Two of those were re-used for numbers in the Messiah - and it is fascinating to hear how the Italian word are set!
Haim's direction of Le Concert D'Astree is wonderfully sensitive. For soloists she has mostly recruited past colleagues - a superb group (Dessay, Gens, Petibon, Panzarella, Mingardo, Agnew etc.) and they perform with great style.
If you love Handel, and his great gift for setting music for the voice, then this is pure delight. ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
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Rameau - Les Boréades / Robert Carsen, La La La Human Steps, Les Arts Florissants, William Christie, Opéra National de Paris [2003]

starring: Barbara Bonney, Anna Maria Panzarella, Jaël Azzaretti, Paul Agnew, Toby Spence
directed by: Thomas Grimm

Release Date May 03, 2004
We've been treated to some stupendous productions on DVD of Rameau opéras-ballets in recent years, not least by William Christie and his Arts Florissants (Les Indes Gallantes, Les Paladins). This version of Les Boréades looked too good to miss, with old favourites in this repertoire like Agnew and Naouri performing alongside well-known names like Bonney and Spence. I found much to admire in the rather dark staging and the effective use of 1940's costumes (though that won't be to everyone's taste) but I was disappointed by two things. First, Bonney's French diction simply didn't sound French (maybe that's just my ignorance of the language). Second, much more importantly, the La La La Human Steps choreography was hopelessly distracting. The dancers gyrated and jerked ... Read More: