Paul Agnew
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J. S. Bach: A Life in Music Vol. 1
RecommendedArnstadt & Mühlhausen (1703-1708), Early Cantatas
Paul Agnew (tenor), Les Arts Florissants (early music ensemble), Miriam Allan (soprano), Thomas Hobbs (tenor), Edward Grint, Maarten Engeltjes, Benjamin Alard (early keyboard instruments), Nicolas Kuntzelmann
With just one or two to a part, each musician is a leader here. The purity of the singers’ straight tones and the immediacy and depth of their individual reactions to lexical meaning are bracing,... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 5th April 2024
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International Classical Music Awards, 2025, Nominated - Baroque Vocal
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Sunday Times, 20 Best Classical Albums of 2024
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Bach Cantatas Volume 1
RecommendedCantatas for the Feast of St. John the Baptist & Cantatas for the First Sunday after Trinity
Joanne Lunne, Wilke te Brummelstroete, Paul Agnew, Dietrich Henschel, Gillian Keith
The Monteverdi Choir, The English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot Gardiner
In 2000 John Eliot Gardiner commemorated the 250th anniversary of Bach's death with theBach Cantata Pilgrimage, a year-long European tour by the English Baroque Soloists and Monteverdi Choir... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, March 2005, Disc of the Month
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Gramophone Awards, 2005, Recording of the Year
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Gramophone Awards, 2005, Winner - Baroque Vocal
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There are some delightfully sparkling and engaging displays here...recordings of Monteverdi's very early madrigals are rare and this surpasses some...if not all. —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, July 2015, Editor's Choice
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Gramophone Awards, 2016, Winner - Baroque Vocal
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Vivaldi: The Great Venetian Mass
Les Arts Florissants (early music ensemble), Paul Agnew (tenor), Sophie Karthäuser (soprano), Lucile Richardot (mezzo-soprano), Renata Pokupić (mezzo-soprano)
The whole is expressively shaped by Paul Agnew, whose supple moulding of the musical lines and vivid contrasts of tempos serve, above all, to highlight the words...In sum, a creative idea that... —
Awards:
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Record Review, 25th June 2022, Record of the Week
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BBC Music Magazine, September 2022, Choral & Song Choice
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Gesualdo: Madrigali, Libri Quinto & Sesto
Les Arts Florissants (early music ensemble), Paul Agnew (tenor)
Here, the singers zone in on Gesualdo’s final two anthologies (perhaps the rawest of all) with their usual crystalline clarity. —
Awards:
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Gramophone Awards, Finalist - Early Music
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Gramophone Magazine, May 2023, Recording of the Month
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International Classical Music Awards, 2024, Nominated - Early Music
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New. Bach: Köthen, A Life in Music, Vol. 3
Les Arts Florissants, Benjamin Alard (harpischord), Paul Agnew
This instalment manages to say something engaging about music that sits at the core of the canon; no mean feat. —
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JS Bach: A Life in Music Vol. 2
The Weimar Years (1708-1717)
Paul Agnew (tenor), Les Arts Florissants (early music ensemble), Benjamin Alard (early keyboard instruments)
Undogmatic about forces or format, Agnew achieves from the outset an exceptional alliance between singers and instrumentalists. —
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There is fine singing here, particularly from the bass Lisandro Abadie in Altri canti d’Amour (great richness and clarity) and the contralto Lucile Richardot in Lettera Amorosa (with some stylish... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Awards, 2017, Finalist - Baroque Vocal
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Record Review, 18th February 2017, Recording of the Week
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The singers pay studious attention to the poetry and its nuances, painting the words with a rich palette and contrasting light and shade to reflect Gesualdo’s chiaroscuro...Harmonia Mundi’s... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, July 2026, Critics' Choice 2021
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Gramophone Magazine, April 2021, Editor's Choice
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Gramophone Awards, 2021, Shortlisted - Early Music
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Schütz: Italian Madrigals
Les Arts Florissants (early music ensemble), Paul Agnew (tenor), Miriam Allan (soprano), Hannah Morrison, Mathilde Ortscheidt, Sean Clayton, Jonathan Sells
Les Arts Florissants’ elasticity of expression brings out a particularly lucid evocation of rolling waves and ‘sweet harmony’ in the concluding eight-voice ‘Vasto mar, nel cui seno fan soave... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Awards, 2024 Shortlist, Finalist - Early Music
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