CD-Charts Position 1
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Haydn - The Creation / Piau, Persson, Massey, Harvey, Padmore, Davies, Gabrieli Consort & Players, McCreesh

by: Sandrine Piau Miah Persson Ruth Massey Mark Padmore Peter Harvey Neal Davies Gabrieli Consort & Players Paul McCreesh, Miah Persson, Mark Padmore, Joseph Haydn, Paul McCreesh, Gabrieli Consort & Players, Chetham's Chamber Choir, Peter Harvey, Neil Davies, Ruth Massey

Release Date March 17, 2008
It has become `de rigueur' for choral works to be performed in their original languages: For example, where once Brahms' German Requiem or Haydn's Creation were regularly sung in English- often by large northern choirs - nowadays it seems that no-one dares to sing them in anything other than German.

The fact is that, in the case of The Creation, the English version has as much validity as the German, and it would appear that Haydn had both languages in mind when setting his text: all the more reason to have a recording in English.

Similarly, where once works such as Bach's B Minor Mass would have been given by huge choirs, modern `historically informed' practise tends towards paring down the forces, even to the extreme ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 2
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Praetorius: Mass (Lutheran Mass for Christmas Morning) /Gabrieli Consort & Players · McCreesh

by: Samuel Scheidt, Johann Hermann Schein

Release Date November 01, 1994
I must confess that this recording is not entirely to my personal taste, but it would be churlish to deny it a five star rating. As an atheist, I still get intense pleasure listening to the mass as an art form rather than as an act of worship. The Gabrieli Consort, here, offer a recreation of how a Lutheran mass might have sounded in the early-17th century. I have no doubts about the authenticity or quality of their production, it's just that the piece, itself, is not entirely to my taste.

Born in Kreuzberg, Michael Schultheiss (1571-1621) was the son of a Lutheran pastor, a man, indeed who had been a student of Luther himself - he took the name Praetorius as a Latinisation of his surname (it means 'mayor'). Praetorius began his ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 3
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Schütz: Christmas Vespers /Gabrieli Consort & Players · McCreesh

from: Archiv Produktion

Release Date November 15, 1999
I must confess that this recording is not entirely to my personal taste, but it would be churlish to deny it a five star rating. As an atheist, I still get intense pleasure listening to the mass as an art form rather than as an act of worship. The Gabrieli Consort, here, offer a recreation of how a Lutheran mass might have sounded in the early-17th century. I have no doubts about the authenticity or quality of their production, it's just that the piece, itself, is not entirely to my taste.

Born in Kreuzberg, Michael Schultheiss (1571-1621) was the son of a Lutheran pastor, a man, indeed who had been a student of Luther himself - he took the name Praetorius as a Latinisation of his surname (it means 'mayor'). Praetorius began his ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 4
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G Gabrieli; de Rore: A Venetian Christmas /Gabrieli Consort & Players · McCreesh

by: Giovanni Gabrieli, Cipriano de Rore, Gabrieli Consort

Release Date October 29, 2001
If one could hear only a single track from this exquisite album it should be Angus Dei; it makes you feel like you are actually there in the presence of something very special. A Venetian Christmas has kept my family company throughout the Christmas period. Absolutely lovely!

CD-Charts Position 5
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A Gabrieli; G Gabrieli: A Venetian Coronation 1595

from: Virgin Classics

Release Date February 02, 1998
This is one of my favourite records. Not only is the music beautiful and evocative, but the essence of what the music is about - the coronation of the Doge - adds to it a sense of time and place other recordings don't have. With other records we get a rendition of a composer's work. But with this we get a rendition of a slice of life from another age. Owing to this it acts as a sort of 'time machine', transporting the listener into the congregation in St. Mark's. I would therefore not only recommend this solely on the basis of the music (which is tremendous) but also because it is an aural museum piece that opens up one's imagination to the power and glory of the Venetian republic.
A must have.

CD-Charts Position 6
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Victoria : Requiem : Officium Defunctorum (1605) /Gabrieli Consort · McCreesh

from: Archiv Produktion

Release Date October 05, 2000
Alongside Tallis's 'Spem in Alium', this has to be, for me, the most beautiful and profound choral music written. Lush and theatrical, yet intimate and deeply felt, this is glorious music. The final evocation of the Absolutio, 'May she rest in peace', rendered me breathless and almost tearful by its hushed beauty and sense of eternal peace.

CD-Charts Position 7
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Road to Paradise

by: Gabrieli Consort & Players Paul McCreesh

Release Date June 18, 2007
What stark contrast to our overheated western 24x7 world! Paul McCreesh and the Gabrieli consort have really delivered an astonishing disc. This is not about some bible-like paradise, but the tranquil paradise within ourselves, which has become blurred by day-to-day stress. When this music enters your brain through your headphones, you suddenly realize again the importance of the willingness to focus on peace and quiet. Its effect is comparable to that of transcendental meditation. And this CD also proves that timeless music is made in EVERY decade, as well as in the 1550's as in the 1990's... this CD contains gems of both periods. Wonderful.

CD-Charts Position 8
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Venetian Vespers (1643) /Gabrieli Consort & Players · McCreesh

by: Gabrieli Consort & Players Paul McCreesh

Release Date June 14, 2004
This is a wonderful pair of CDs. Tremendous performances with a 'live' and 'authentic' feel, a convincing recreation revealing the true splendour of Venetian music of this period. If you own a recording of Monteverdi's 1610 Vespers you need to own this too! Macreesh has done nothing finer and now reissued at a low price this is a 'must have'.

CD-Charts Position 9
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Biber: Missa Salisburgensis /Musica Antiqua Köln · Gabrieli Consort & Players · McCreesh

by: Musica Antiqua Köln

Release Date August 24, 1998
I have just recently come to know some of Biber's work, and it seems amazing that 60 years of my music interest has not included this composer until now.
There appears to be some question as to the actual composer of this Mass, well, it doesn't really matter, this is BIG, BOLD, and BRASSY and a great deal at the price.

CD-Charts Position 10
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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 is death for Theodora ... Read More: