Choral, Oratorios & Passions
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JS Bach: Matthäus-Passion
RecommendedJulian Prégardien (Evangelist), Stéphane Degout (Christus), Sabine Devieilhe & Hana Blažiková (sopranos), Lucile Richardot (mezzo), Tim Mead (countertenor), Reinoud Van Mechelen & Emiliano Gonzalez Toro (tenors), Christian Immler (bass-baritone)
Pygmalion, Raphaël Pichon
The choirs are razor-sharp in their ensemble, and if they seem initially soft-grained (in keeping with Pichon’s essentially intimate approach), their incisiveness eventually locates real venom... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, April 2022, Recording of the Month
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Presto Recording of the Week, 15th April 2022
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Gramophone Awards, 2022, Recording of the Year and Choral Award
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Building a Library, October 2022, Also Recommended
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International Classical Music Awards, 2023, Nominated - Baroque Vocal
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Winner 2022
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Special offer. Handel: Samson
RecommendedJoshua Ellicott (tenor), Sophie Bevan(soprano), Fflur Wyn (soprano), Mary Bevan (soprano), Jess Dandy (contralto), Hugo Hymas (tenor), Matthew Brook (bass), Vitali Rozynko (bass-baritone)
Dunedin Consort, John Butt
Butt has created the best Samson ever...These choral forces make for a vibrancy unique among Samson recordings…Butt’s deep grasp of both Handel’s rhetoric and of large-scale structure turns... —
Awards:
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2019
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International Classical Music Awards, 2019, Nominee - Baroque Vocal
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Gramophone Magazine, December 2019, Editor's Choice
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Gramophone Magazine, December 2019, Critics' Choice
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Gramophone Awards, 2020, Finalist - Choral
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2021, Shortlisted - Choral
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Special offer. Handel: Theodora
RecommendedLisette Oropesa (Theodora), Joyce DiDonato (Irene), Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian (Didymus), Michael Spyres (Septimius), John Chest (Valens), Il Pomo d'Oro, Maxim Emelyanychev
This is now the benchmark Theodora; it is optimally cast, dramatically intense and luminously beautiful. Its world-class principals use their fine vocal qualities to deepen their characters.... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 28th October 2022
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2022
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BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2022, Recording of the Month
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Sunday Times, 10 Best Classical Albums of 2022
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2023, Winner - Choral
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2023, Nominated - Female Singer of the Year (Oropesa & DiDonato)
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2023, Nominated - Male Singer of the Year (Spyres)
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2023, Nominated - Conductor of the Year
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Special offer. Handel: Messiah
Hilary Cronin (soprano), Helen Charlston (mezzo), Alexander Chance, Nathan Mercieca (countertenors), Guy Cutting (tenor), Frederick Long, Edward Grint (bass-baritones), Irish Baroque Orchestra & Choir, Peter Whelan
My spirits were uplifted almost throughout the recording. A current of gentle zephyrs refreshes every bar of the music...Complementing the instrumental vitality is the invigorating choral singing... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, April 2026, Editor's Choice
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BBC Music Magazine, May 2026, Choral Choice
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Camerata Bern accompanies the violinist on this latest foray into the meaning of life, the universe and everything. —
Awards:
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BBC Music Magazine, November 2019, Concerto Choice
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Presto Editor's Choice, September 2019
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Gramophone Magazine, November 2019, Editor's Choice
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International Classical Music Awards, 2019, Nominee - Assorted Program
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Gramophone Awards, 2020, Shortlisted - Chamber
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JS Bach: Johannes-Passion
RecommendedJulian Prégardien (Evangelist), Huw Montague Rendall (Jesus), Ying Fang (soprano), Lucile Richardot (mezzo-soprano), Laurence Kilsby (tenor), Christian Immler (bass-baritone), Etienne Bazola (baritone), Pygmalion, Raphaël Pichon
You feel it in the gut like few other accounts, alongside unalloyed human observation and unyielding quality. Pygmalion have now served us with a trilogy of Bach masterpieces throwing down the... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 20th March 2026
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Gramophone Magazine, April 2026, Recording of the Month
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A thoughtful assembly of music depicting affliction and repentance on the one hand and joy and desire on the other. The recording finds Sabine Devieilhe on sparkling form. Bach and Handel do... —
Awards:
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2021
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Gramophone Magazine, December 2021, Recording of the Month
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Presto Editor's Choice, November 2021
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BBC Music Magazine, January 2022, Choral & Song Choice
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International Classical Music Awards, 2023, Nominated - Baroque Vocal
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Mendelssohn: Paulus, Elias, Symphonies Nos. 1-5
RecommendedGeorg Zeppenfeld (Paulus), Andrè Schuen (Elias), Gewandhausorchester, Andris Nelsons
Nelsons understands Mendelssohn's sound world much as his onetime predecessor at the Gewandhaus Kurt Masur did...I'd call this luminously recorded set a treasure trove for Mendelssohnians and... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 3rd April 2026
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Gramophone Magazine, June 2026, Editor's Choice
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2026, Winner - Conductor of the Year
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Special offer. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245
Stephan Gähler, Philipp Kaven, Magdalena Podkościelna (soprano), Krešimir Stražanac, Robin Tritschler (tenor), Damien Guillon, Dorothee Mields (soprano), Peter Kooij (bass), Maximilian Schmitt (tenor), Collegium Vocale Gent, Philippe Herreweghe
Herreweghe’s unswerving focus is evident from the opening chorus, whose elemental summons is exactingly calibrated, dark-grained and resolute…Schmitt’s Evangelist narrates with exemplary pacing... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, March 2020, Editor's Choice
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Record Review, 22nd February 2020, Record of the Week
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BBC Music Magazine, May 2020, Choral & Song Choice
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Gramophone Awards, 2020, Shortlisted - Choral
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Gramophone Magazine, Critics' Choice 2020
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Handel: Semele
RecommendedLouise Alder (Semele), Hugo Hymas (Jupiter), Lucile Richardot (Juno/Ino), Carlo Vistoli (Athamas), Gianluca Buratto (Somnus/Cadmus), Emily Owen (Iris), Angela Hicks (Cupid), Peter Davoren (Apollo)
English Baroque Soloists, Monteverdi Choir, Sir John Eliot Gardiner
Alder is riveting in the title role as she mutates from soft seductress to vain brat to crushed victim, applying a range of styles to develop her character...Richardot’s intensity equals Alder’s,... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, September 2020, Editor's Choice
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Presto Recording of the Week, 2nd October 2020
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BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2020, Opera Choice
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The Times Records of the Year, 2020
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