Chandos
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Special offer. Handel: Alceste
RecommendedLucy Crowe (soprano), Benjamin Hulett (tenor) & Andrew Foster-Williams (bass-baritone)
Early Opera Company, Christian Curnyn
Curnyn's delicious recording of the surviving score is amplified with a sinfonia from Admeto and a passacaglia from Radamisto. These fizzily, sexily swung orchestral additions emphasise the... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 14th May 2012
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BBC Music Magazine, July 2012, Opera Choice
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Gramophone Magazine, August 2012, Editor's Choice
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2013, Opera Award Winner
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Special offer. Handel: Amadigi di Gaula
Tim Mead (Amadigi), Mary Bevan (Melissa), Anna Dennis (Oriana), Hilary Summers (Dardano), Patrick Terry (Orgando), Early Opera Company, Christian Curnyn
Handel took a less-is-more approach to his Amadigi di Gaula. Christian Curnyn’s answering restraint reveals the stark solos, shimmering textures, ringing silences and stunning one-to-a-part... —
Awards:
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BBC Music Magazine, November 2022, Opera Choice
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Gramophone Magazine, November 2022, Editor's Choice
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International Classical Music Awards, 2023, Nominated - Baroque Vocal
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Gramophone Magazine, Critics' Choice 2022
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The BBC Philharmonic under principal conductor Gianandrea Noseda plays it all with a straight face and makes a real success of things… —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, October 2003, Editor's Choice
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Building A Library, April 2026, Top Choice (La Boutique Fantasque)
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King of Kings - JS Bach Orchestral Transcriptions
RecommendedBBC Philharmonic, Sir Andrew Davis, Martyn Brabbins
the late Andrew Davis is in good company orchestrating Bach's organ works. He was his own man though, combining a little of the didacticism of Schoenberg and Webern, the ebullience of Walton,... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 1st August 2025
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Gramophone Magazine, September 2025, Recording of the Month
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International Classical Music Awards, 2026, Nominated - Baroque Instrumental
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Winner 2025
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Special offer. Handel: Acis and Galatea
Lucy Crowe (Galatea), Allan Clayton (Acis), Benjamin Hulett (Damon), Jeremy Budd (Coridon) & Neal Davies (Polyphemus)
Early Opera Company, Christian Curnyn
Curnyn has hit on a secret that eluded previous interpreters of this work: it was conceived specifically to showcase the beauty of the English language…Channelling Handel’s enthusiasm, Curnyn... —
Awards:
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Record Review, 16th June 2018, Recording of the Week
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The Times Records of the Year, 2018
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2019, Finalist - Opera
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2019, Winner - Opera
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…Leonard Slatkin and the BBC Symphony Orchestra relish the considerable technical challenges posed by these transcriptions… those who enjoy their Bach as a full meat-and-two-veg course will... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, October 2004, Editor's Choice
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The real point of this recording is its wonderful pianism…Colli takes no liberties with the text…the kaleidoscope is shaken and shaken, creating a riveting hour, with most of the works being... —
Awards:
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Presto Editor's Choice, February 2020
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BBC Music Magazine, April 2020, Recording of the Month
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Purcell: Dido and Aeneas
RecommendedSarah Connolly (Dido), Gerald Finley (Aeneas), Lucy Crowe (Belinda), Patricia Bardon (Sorceress), William Purefoy (Spirit), Sarah Tynan (2nd Woman), John Mark Ainsley (Sailor), Carys Lane & Rebecca Outram (Witches)
Choir & Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Steven Devine and Elizabeth...
This new Dido… enshrines Connolly as one of the most affecting Carthaginian Queens since Janet Baker's account nearly half a century ago. From the outset, Connolly exudes imposing presence,... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 2nd February 2009
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Gramophone Magazine, February 2009, Editor's Choice
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Building a Library, November 2019, Recommended Recording
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Special offer. Handel: Serse
Anna Stéphany (Serse), Rosemary Joshua (Romilda), David Daniels (Arsamene), Hilary Summers (Amastre), Joélle Harvey (Atalanta), Andreas Wolf (Elviro), Brindley Sherratt (Ariodate)
Early Opera Company, Christian Curnyn
[Stéphany's] is a stunning central performance, comfortably matched by incisive playing from the Early Opera Company orchestra. Sopranos Rosemary Joshua (as Romilda) and Joelle Harvey (Atalanta)... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, September 2013, Editor's Choice
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Gramophone Awards, 2014, Finalist - Baroque Vocal
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The performances are all superbly judged and controlled, balancing fragility with strength, restraint with great depth of feeling… The early Divertimenti, played with considerable wit and elegance,... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, May 2019, Editor's Choice
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Gramophone Awards, 2019, Finalist - Chamber
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