Amazon.com's Best of 1999
Too long considered an erotic trifle, this masterpiece of psychological insight is on a par with Shakespeare's bittersweet comedies. The keen, witty direction of René Jacobs brings us a magnificently bracing, but never fussy, period-instrument interpretation. And the bonus CD-ROM allows you to explore the context and character of Mozart's opera in fascinating detail

“Mozart began this masterpiece in 1780 for the new Viennese Singspiel company, but at their insistence on a comedy he switched to writing Idomeneo, and Zaide remained unfinished. This recording presents the complete music Mozart wrote – without posthumous additions or dialogue. An exotic tale of escape from slavery, set in a Turkish sultan’s palace, it contains glorious arias ranging in style from bel canto (“Ruhe sanft”) to opera buffa and closes with a masterful quartet.” – Harmonia Mundi.com

“The most dramatic of oratorios. Although oratorios are not intended to be staged, Handel’s Saul is something of an exception – for one thing, it contains extremely precise stage directions which were printed in the wordbooks distributed at performances. Hence audiences at the first English oratorios could construct a form of mental theatre, aided by Handel’s dazzling musical depiction of the action: as we listen, we can see Goliath’s gigantic strides, the course of the Jordan, or Saul throwing his javelin.” – Harmonia Mundi.com

'“Based on Tasso’s Gerusalemme liberate, this Italian opera, the first that Handel wrote for London audiences, immediately enjoyed great success. It is true that it had all the necessary crowd-pleasing ingredients: the attraction of novelty and the surprising exoticism that the music expresses through its richly colourful orchestration. ” – Harmonia Mundi.com

This Magnificent 16 CD Box set was posted here on Avaxhome some time ago by Redox. Unfortunately only a couple of the files are still downloadable and all the pictures are gone. I have tried several times to contact the guy to beg him for a reupload... No reply. Instead I have spent the last couple of months collecting the full set from elsewhere and I have now uploaded it all in best Ape quality for all you good people of Avaxhome. Hope you'll enjoy it!...

"Jennifer Larmore's Caesar is a triumph, magnificently assertive in her many heroic arias, but yieldingly tender in the face of Cleopatra's charms. Even Jacobs's very fast tempo for the famous 'Allampo' is justified by Larmore's ability to articulate every semi-quaver. Bernarda Fink's rich contralto brings tragic intensity to the role of the widowed Cornelia, whilst Derek Lee Ragin is a suitably blustering Ptolemy, singing the despot's often angular lines with commendable accuracy… This recording is obligatory to all Handelians." --CD Review

'''My soul doth magnify the Lord.'
The Magnificat was the very first work Bach composed after his appointment as Cantor of St. Thomas's School in Leipzig in 1723. We can imagine the care he lavished on the work that was to establish him in this new function. It was revised some years later: the key was changed to D major and the forces were considerably enlarged. This is the version in which one of Bach's most famous choral works has come down to us.'' --HarmoniaMundi.com

"A CD of outstanding quality. In terms of pure sound, the music-making of the singers and period-players of Herreweghe's Colleguim Vocale is utterly glorious. This, combined with an emphasis on narrative clarity, brings Bach's devotional music fully to life. The fine quartet of soloists includes Christophe Prégardien at his smooth, expressive best." --The Examiner

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Who would have thought that Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik could actually sound fresh and vibrant. The English Concert and its new conductor/violinist Andrew Manze accomplish the unlikely task in their first recording together, and their crisp, invigorating playing strips the layers of cliché from Mozart's well-worn serenade. The familiar opening movement has real momentum, as does the Romance that follows, and you hear every line clearly. Rhythmic precision and stylish phrasing are the hallmarks of the playing throughout, in the best tradition of period-instrument playing...

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''When Bach composed his Passion according to Saint Matthew for the church of St Thomas in Leipzig, he clearly had in mind a vast architectural structure in music, not only in its rhetorical organisation, but also in the disposition at different levels of the sources of the sound (two choruses, two orchestras…). The undertaking was a total success. The reaching out towards the absolute, the turmoil of the senses inherent in this sound mass, so perfectly balanced, so attentive to the representation of a tragic event which lies at the very heart of the history of the Western world, are unfathomable.'' --HarmoniaMundi.com

''From top to bottom, the voices of these mixed choirs combine the refinement and projective power of adults with the spare, 'white' sound and innocent feeling of children. A comparable balance of lightness and warmth prevails in Herreweghe's modest band. Few choral recordings of recent years commend themselves so strongly to so many listeners as this set.'' --Clarke Bustard

''Sorrow, desolation and comfort
In 1723 and 1724, the congregation of the Lutheran parish church of St Thomas’s in Leipzig had ample opportunity to discover, week after week, a little more of the talent of their new Kantor, a certain Johann Sebastian Bach. Among the ‘obligatory cantatas’ that were his weekly lot were the three presented on this CD, which make use of the texts of Psalms 22 and 130 (the De profundis: ‘Out of the deep have I called unto thee’) or deal with the ‘Weeping, wailing, lamenting, fearing’ that are our everyday fare in this vale of tears. In fact this cantata BWV 12, which actually dates from considerably earlier in Bach’s career, gives a particularly doleful tone to a programme whose ultimate message will nonetheless bring succour to souls in torment . . . '' --HarmoniaMundi.com