April heavyweights include two anthologies on Eloquence celebrating the ninetieth birthday of 'Dutch Nightingale' Elly Ameling, a fiftieth-anniversary compilation of The English Concert's recordings with founder Trevor Pinnock, Sir John Eliot Gardiner's collected recordings on Erato, Virgin and Warner, and Rachel Podger's complete Vivaldi recordings on Channel Classics.
Back in 1971, Gramophone described Ameling as 'the most perfect Bach soprano now before the public', and this anthology brings together all of the Bach recordings which she made for Philips and Decca: highlights include the early St Matthew Passion with Karl Münchinger, cantatas with Ernest Ansermet, Helmut Winschermann and Raymond Leppard, two Christmas Oratorios (from 1966 and 1972), and the rare recording of two of the Missae breves BWV 235 and 236.
Available Format: 20 CDs
Sir John Eliot Gardiner: The Complete Erato Recordings
English Baroque Soloists, Sir John Eliot Gardiner
To coincide with his eightieth birthday this month, this set assembles all of the recordings which Gardiner made for Erato, Warner Classics and Virgin between 1976 and 1995; as well as landmark accounts of major works by Bach, Handel and Purcell, the collection includes rarities such as Gluck's La rencontre imprévue & Don Juan, Leclair's Scylla et Glaucus, Messager's Fortunio, and Offenbach's Les Brigands.
Available Format: 64 CDs
This is the second of two anthologies celebrating the legacy of the Swiss-born conductor (a set of his Baroque & Renaissance recordings was released in October), with repertoire ranging rather wider than the title might suggest: Stravinsky's Les Noces, Poulenc's Gloria, Frank Martin's Golgotha and Honegger's Une cantate de Noël are all included, alongside earlier works such as Rossini's Petite messe solennelle, Mendelssohn's Elijah and Paulus, and the Mozart, Brahms, Fauré, Verdi, Suppé and Duruflé requiems.
Available Format: 36 CDs
Released in the wake of Podger's triumph at this month's BBC Music Magazine Awards (where Tutta sola was crowned Recording of the Year), this set brings together the Vivaldi recordings which she made for Channel Classics between 2003 and 2018 - including award-winning accounts of L'estro armonico, Le Quattro Stagioni, La Cetra, and La Stravaganza. The latter recording was named Gramophone's Baroque Album of the Year in 2003, thanks to Podger's blend of 'sheer digital dexterity [and] exquisitely fine detail'.
Available Format: 7 CDs
