Several recent releases that we found to be very satisfying cover music from the Baroque, specifically for church use. Among these were a solo vocal debut album, Seelentrost, by Isabel Schicktanz, featuring music from the time of Heinrich Schütz. Contemporaneous with that are Bach’s Leipziger Choräle, which Masaaki Suzuki (pictured) starts on as part of his cycle covering Bach’s organ music. Rounding out the notable sacred music releases are Palestrina by the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, and Vivaldi by the Coro e Orchestra Ghislieri. For string quartet enthusiasts, two releases stood out: Beethoven’s early quartets by the Calidore Quartet, and the complete quartets of John Zorn by the JACK Quartet.
Łukasz Borowicz, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln – Grazyna Bacewicz: Complete Symphonic Works, Vol. 3
Boston Early Music Festival Chamber Ensemble- Giovanni Battista Pergolesi: La serva padrona; Livietta e Tracollo
Michel Bouvard, François Espinasse- Nicolas de Grigny: Messe & Hymnes
Calidore String Quartet- Beethoven: The Early Quartets
David Castro-Balbi, Teo Gheorghiu, Howard Griffiths- Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 5 KV 219; Piano Concertos Nos. 3 KV 40 & 14 KV 449
Gloria Cheng- Root Progressions
Seong-Jin Cho- Ravel: The Complete Solo Piano Works
Clare College Choir, Cambridge; Graham Ross- Palestrina Revealed
The Counterpoints – Italophilia: Discovering the Italian Style in Handel’s London
Attilio Cremonesi, Händel-Festspielorchester Halle- Handel: Lotario
Peter Donohoe- Busoni: Fantasia contrappuntistica; Chopin Variations; Sonatina prima; Sonatina seconda
Ensemble Hesperi – A Gift for your Garden: Telemann, Handel, Graun, Oswald
Gaechinger Cantorey, Hans-Christoph Rademann – Vision Bach: The First Cantata Year, Vol. 6
Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla, Amanda Majeski, Gyula Orendt – Weinberg: The Passenger
Howard Griffiths, BBC National Orchestra of Wales- Cipriani Potter: Complete Symphonies Vol. 2
Emanuel Gruber, Arnon Erez- Brahms: Cello Sonatas
Christopher Guild – Ronald Stevenson: Piano Music, Vol. 7 – Folksong with Grainger
Bernard Haitink, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks- Schostakowitsch: Symponie Nr. 15
Raaf Hekkema – Karg-Elert
Jean-François Heisser, Orchestre de Chambre Nouvelle-Aquitaine- Ravel l’Alchimiste
Alina Ibragimova, Cédric Tiberghien – Schumann: Violin Sonatas
Eliahu Inbal, Sinfonieorchester des Südwestfunks, Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR- Robert Schumann: Sinfonie Nr. 4 d-Moll; Jean Sibleius: Sinfonie Nr. 1 e-Moll
JACK Quartet – John Zorn: Complete String Quartets
Paavo Järvi, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen – Haydn: London Symphonies Nos. 94 & 99, 95 & 98
Sebastian Knauer, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, David Newman – Hollywood
Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Thomas Kaufmann, Camerata Bern- Exile
Olivier Latry – Bach to Notre-Dame
Shannon Lee, Arseniy Gusev – Witraz
Sabine Liebner- John Cage: Winter Music
Jaakko Luoma, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Janne Nisonen- Bassoon Concertos: Crusell, Du Puy, Berwald, Brendler
Marian Consort – Una poesia muta: Art in early Cinquecento Venice
Marmen Quartet- Ligeti: String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2; Bartók: String Quartet No. 4
Maxwell Quartet- Joseph Haydn: String Quartets, Op. 77 & Folk Music from Scotland
James McVinnie- Dreamcatcher
Christopher Monks, Armonico Consort- Francesco Scarlatti: Daniele
Nash Ensemble- Debussy: Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune; Sonatas; String Quartet
Stefania Neonato, Christine Busch – Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonaten für Klavier und Violine op. 12 Nr. 3, Op 30 Nr. 3, Op. 96
Enrico Onofri, Isabelle Faust, Münchener Kammerorchester – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Serenata
Gerhard Oppitz- Robert Schumann: Piano Works, Vol. 2
Orlando Consort – Machaut: A Lover’s Death
Ari Pelto, Opera Colorado- Gerald Cohen/Deborah Brevoort: Steal a Pencil for Me
Members of the Piatti Quartet, Simon Callaghan, Ashok Klouda- The Chamber Music of William Busch
David Ponsford, David Hill- Bach-Centricity: Concertos, Trios & Sonatas
Petr Popelka, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra – Má Vlast: Bedrich Smetana Symphonic Works
Giulio Prandi, Coro e Orchestra Ghislieri- Vivaldi: Musica sacra per coro e orchestra, Vol. 1
Roberto Prosseda, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Nir Kabaretti – War, Silence: Rare Italian Piano Concertos
Simon Rattle, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks – Mahler: Symphonie Nr. 7
Simon Rattle, Magdalena Kožená, Andrew Staples, London Symphony Orchestra – Weill: The Seven Deadly Sins
Isabel Schicketanz – Seelentrost
Charlotte Spruit, Sergio Bucheli, Jonathan Manson – Le Mercure Galant
Stenhammar Quartet- Kalevi Aho: String Quartets 1 – 3
Stile Antico- The Golden Renaissance: Palestrina
Marek Stilec, Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice – Wranitzky: Orchestral Works, Vol. 8
Masaaki Suzuki- Masaaki Suzuki plays Bach Organ Works, Vol. 6 … leipziger choräle (I) …
Third Coast Percussion- Glass: Aguas da Amazonia
Various Artists- Robert Simpson: Chamber Music, Vol. 1
Klaus Florian Vogt, Ensemble Acht – Franz Schubert: Die schöne Müllerin (arr. Andreas N. Tarkmann)
Muen Vanessa Wei- Jean Louis Nicodé: Piano Music, Vol. 1
William Wei, Evan Wong – Shiuan Chang: Earthing
Hellen Weiß, Paul Rivinius- Ernst von Dohnányi: Violin Sonata, Op. 21; Serenade, Op. 10; Richard Strauss: Violin Sonata, Op. 18
Haewon Yang- Haewon Yang plays the Piano Works of Harry Bulow
Sophie Yates- Harpsichord Music from the Reign of Louis XIV
Adriana Zabala, Jesse Blumberg, Martin Katz, J.J. Penna- A Few Words about Chekhov: Songs and Cycles of Dominick Argento