HARMONIA MUNDI

(2CD) MESSIAH
"Perhaps no one has ever asserted so forcefully the victory of the spirit over death; no one has ever spoken with such firm tenderness of acceptance and gentleness. Handel's message is addressed to mankind oppressed by the sorrows and complications of life. Everyone can understand it: it is simple, and it is written for everyone. Sometimes this simplicity is thrown back at him as a reproach; but it is the very core of his strength, permitting him to be listened to and loved by people who never attend a concert. Which should be every compos...
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(CD) PIANO SONATAS: No.14 "MOONLIGHT", No.23 "APPASSIONATA", No.31 opp.110
"Since his victory in the Reine Elisabeth Competition in Belgium in 1992, at the age of 22, Braley has allowed himself plenty of time for reflection, and his career... has been, in his own image, refined and demanding." (Michel Le Naour, Le Monde de la Musique). "This young French pianist, who made his recording debut with a Schubert disc for harmonia mundi, is an exquisitely polished player." Performance ***** (BBC Music Magazine). "Schubertian elegance, a playful fluency, the desire to bring colour and timbre to his sound" are not th...
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(CD) PIANO TRIOS
The two piano trios are both major works of Mendelssohn's creative maturity. Hailed as 'the master trio of our era' by the German press of the day, no.1 (1839) was written by a composer who had just turned 30; yet, a mere six years later, Trio no.2 (1845) was already destined to be his last chamber work with piano. After a Brahms CD unanimously acclaimed by the critics, here is the Wanderer Trio once again at the peak of its art. This title was released for the first time in 2007....
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(CD) PIANO SONATA No.3 Op.5
This disc presents three of Brahms's finest piano works. The Fantasias and Klavierstucke, which date from his last years, are also among the best-known. Jon Nakamatsu, Gold Medal Winner at the 1997 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, judiciously adds a much earlier work, the Third Sonata written when the composer was twenty....
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(CD) LIEDER
"Brahms was capable - as were all his great predecessors - of writing a melody that was his own property, right down to the smallest inflection, and yet sounded like a folksong. Or, to put it another way, a melody that was a real, genuine folksong - and yet was by Brahms." (Wilhelm Furtwangler, 1931)...
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(CD) SUITE FRANCAISE No5
"His performances of the most complex Bach and Beethoven have a white-hot conviction... Among younger pianists he seems most likely to join the greats." -BBC Music Magazine...
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(CD) UNE LARME, DUO, SERENATA, SONATE A QUATTRO
1. SERENATA en mi bemol majeur pour 2 violons, alto, flute, hautbois, cor anglais et violoncelle SONATA A QUATTRO No.6 EN RE MAJEUR 2. Allegro spiritoso 3. Andante assai 4. Tempesta - allegro DUETTO POUR VIOLONCELLE ET CONTRABASSE EN RE MAJEUR 5. Allegro 6. Andante molto 7. Allegro SONATA A QUATTRO No.3 EN DO MAJEUR 8. Allegro 9. Andante 10. Moderato UNE LARME POUR VIOLONCELLE ET PIANO 11. Theme et variations ENSEMBLE EXPLORATIONS , Roel Dieltiens...
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(2CD) ORCHESTRAL SUITES
Alongside his innumerable cantatas and his Tafelmusik, Telemann applied himself with enormous skill to the writing of Ouvert?ren, the orchestral suites in the French style which were so highly esteemed in the German-speaking lands. His suites, full of humour, imagination and impish gaiety, display the outstanding artistry of a composer who brought a new light-hearted spirit to German music. All of them bear witness to the exceptional stylistic qualities of Telemann, the most famous composer in Baroque Germany during the first half of the 1...
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(CD) TRIPLE CONCERTO Op.56
The Triple Concerto may well be one of Beethoven's most enigmatic works: some commentators have seen it as no more than a vast rhapsody intented to show off the virtuosity of three hand-picked soloists. But when a piano trio that regularly plays together turns its attention to the piece, it takes on a quite different aspect: it becomes a genuine "Concerto for trio and orchestra". In fact the "Triple" shares the same Beethovenian ideal as the heroic quest that is Egmont: and in the case of the incidental music for his drama Goethe recognise...
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(CD) ORGUES DE PROVENCE
Works by Louis and Francois Couperin, Frescobaldi, Roberday, Muffat and anon. Between the beginning of the 15th century and the death of Henry IV (1610) the polyphonists of the Dukes of Burgundy took the works of the Franco-Flemish School as far afield as Italy and Spain. In the wake of the musicians followed the organ-builders which is why organs bearing the stamp of the Renaissance were to be found throughout Southeastern France, the Languedoc and, above all, in Provence....
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(CD) PETITS MOTETS
These 'petites' compositions of sacred music for several soloists and a small instrumental ensemble are in a certain sense the pendants to the grands motets of Versailles: Lully's successor excelled in both forms. At the close of the Grand Siecle, Delalande asserted himself as one of the truly great figures in French Baroque music....
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(CD) ECOLE DE NOTRE-DAME
A Romanesque Christmas. It would hardly be possible to find a more perfect image of the Romanesque style in music: with Marcel Peres and Ensemble Organum, relive Mass for Christmas Day as it was sung in the prestigious setting of the School of Notre Dame in Paris, the cradle of western polyphony. This title was released for the first time in 1985....
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(CD) UN CONCERT SPIRITUEL
Two distinct styles are discernible in Monteverdi's monumental output - he called them the prima prattica and the seconda prattica, to distinguish his works in the traditional Renaissance style from those in the 'modern' style, which founded the new musical aesthetic we now call the 'Baroque'. Even in the inherently conservative domain of church music Monteverdi was a man of the avant-garde. This is amply borne out in the famous motets, duos and trios on this recording....
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(CD) EL AMOR BRUJO
The 1915 version of El amor brujo is a stage work with sung and spoken parts, numerous dances and much more music than usual in a zarzuela of the 'minor' variety (g?nero chico). Recorded with the unforgettable voice of a genuine flamenco cantaora, this CD made a lasting impact on the work's discography on its first release in 1991. An absolute must!...
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(CD) CHANT GREGORIEN
The Gallican (peculiar to the Church of the Gauls) contribution played a leading role in the constitution of the Gregorian repertory. This is distinguished by its surprising rhetorical richness, and an extremely ambitious, both expansive and supple melodic line. This highly spiritual chant lies at the very foundations of our musical culture....
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(2CD) BRANDENBURGISCHE KONZERTE
Bach's exploration of the Italian concerto grosso took the principles of instrumental 'rivalry' to the point of paroxysm, bringing to the form an unprecedented harmonic and contrapuntal refinement. Bach demanded everything that could be asked of his instruments at the time. A profoundly Baroque compendium, unsurpassed in the history of the concerto....
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(CD) MESSE A 24 VOIX
"Another obscure Renaissance composer? Not really. In his time, Padovano was as exalted as any of his peers. His career was launched in 1552, when he became organist at St Mark's Venice. Later he went to Graz, where he was the equivalent of music director at the Archduke of Austria's court. This thrilling mass, discovered only recently by Paul van Nevel in the Austrian National Library, is an enormous piece, written for three eight-part groups. The Huelgas Ensemble perform the work twice on this CD, once using choir with just two cornetti ...
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(CD) PLAIN-CHANT
In the 18th century the diocese of Auxerre possessed a totally different repertory from that of Rome, both in its text and in music. It represents one of the most perfect examples of the Gallican tradition - the spiritual, liturgical and artistic movement which strove to affirm the specific nature of the traditions of the Church of France 'against' the Roman rites and traditions....
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(CD) SONATAS OP.120 FOR CLARINET AND PIANO
Two of the summits of romantic chamber music, and Brahms's last. Inspired by the extraordinary talent of the clarinettist Richard Muhlfeld, these works were conceived "for themselves, like the pages of a private diary" (Claude Rostand)....
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(2-CD) LE MALADE IMAGINAIRE
For the first time in 317 years, Les Arts Florissants brought together in 1990 the complete score of 'Le Malade imaginaire' as it was originally conceived by Charpentier to accompany Molie`re's final comedy. And now, for the first time on CD, you can hear, in its entirety, this legendary recording by William Christie. This title was released for the first time in 1990....
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