EarlyMusicNews.Org

"Have you ever heard a wonderful piece of music on the radio and then tried to track down a copy on CD?

ArkivMusic works with most classical radio stations in the U.S. to help with that search. But early on, we realized that many of those recordings (over half) are actually out of print.

So some years ago we started our ArkivCD program ...

Many new titles added to the Grigorian.com site of which many in the early music field. You may want to see what is on their list. You can see their latest catalog for the month of may on the Grigorian.com website.

“Following their 2011 Decca recording of Striggio’s Mass in 40 Parts (1566), I Fagiolini continue their quest to unearth lost treasures of the High Renaissance and early Baroque, …
  

(From a recent Harmonia Mundi news release)

“The award-winning choral ensemble Stile Antico presents Passion and Resurrection, an album featuring texts inspired by the dramatic events of Holy Week and Easter set to music by some of the greatest Renaissance composers from England and the Continent. Included is a setting of the poem "Woefully arrayed" composed especially for Stile Antico by John McCabe. This is the work's first recording.”

(From a recent eClassical newsletter)

“This week we (eClassical) would like to present a number of releases from the small Japanese company: Arte dell'arco, led by Hidemi Suzuki, the famous Baroque Cellist, brother of Masaaki Suzuki, Leader of the Bach Collegium Japan. They are also 24-bits for the price of mp3, and as a pair, we offer BIS-CD-807 with Concerti by CPE Bach, played by Hidemi and the BCJ, for a 30% discount. …”
   

(From a recent Grigorian.com newsletter)

“Can you believe it is already mid-November!? With Holiday Season upon us, we at Grigorian have begun to compile a list of some of the great gift items that have come out this past year. These include some of the amazing box sets that have been released, as well as outstanding CDs and DVDs.”

(Editor) Of particular interest to early music enthusiasts …
    

(From a recent Harmonia Mundi news release)

“Mozart places melody at the very heart of his concertos. Introverted and sometimes uncertain at the start of K.453, it is subsequently transmuted into birdsong - foreshadowing Papageno - and leads to a finale worthy of an opera buffa. …
    

“Ready or not, here come the holidays! Next week is Thanksgiving, so it's time to get your holiday playlist in order. We have great deals aplenty at ArkivMusic to make the holidays merry. …”
    

“On their first CD, QUALIA presents a collection of polyphonic music from late medieval sources, especially from manuscripts around the year 1500. In a very short period of time around the turn of the 15th century, the European music culture changed from the ancient phytagoreic to meantone temperament and created some astounding, highly complex and intellectually as well as musically challenging works …
    

(From a recent Grigorian.com newsletter)

“… Natural, just born, innate, Simple, innocent, sincere. So why this name “naïve”? Many thought you had to be a little naïve to launch a record label just when digital music and hi-tech began their ascent. As you can see, diehard music lovers still believe in beautiful packages, the smell of freshly-printed paper, booklets you spend hours admiring, the beauty a human voice and a few strums on a guitar. The Naive label is the Gramophone Label of the Year, and Grigorian offers the entire Label at a tremendous sale price. In most cases, over 30% off . See what Gramophone has recognized and sample some of this excellent label! Click here to see all of the Naive catalogue! …

Newly released on the Fugatto label, Andrea Chezzi performs Handel on a period Italian organ (Benedetti, 1765). 

Andrea Chezzi, born in Colorno (PR) in 1975, graduated in organ and composition from the Conservatory A. Boito in Parma, and then studied harpsichord in Amsterdam under the guidance of Bob van Asperen. He followed courses in performance practice of early music with L. F. Tagliavini, W. van de Pol, Ch. Stembridge, G. Murray, A. Marcon, Ch. Rousset at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena. …

(From a recent ArkivMusic newsletter)

“The ArkivMusic 10th Anniversary Storewide Sale ends in just 3 more days! Take part in the celebration and save yourself a bundle. We are also extending this weekend's Weekend Specials an extra day, so make sure to place your orders before our Storewide Sale ends on Monday at midnight ET!”

(From the latest ArkivMusic newsletter 10 Oct 2012)

“Do you thrive on drama, spectacle, and glorious voices like Bartoli, Kaufmann, Fleming, and Flórez? Then get ready for ArkivMusic's Fall Opera Sale, with every complete opera on sale -- DVD and Blu-ray, too! Plus, we have a select group of specially priced vocal recitals. If you can't afford the orchestra seats, our large selection of clearance opera CDs and clearance vocal recitals offers plenty of great music at tremendous discounts. Plus, we have over 100 clearance opera DVDs & Blu-rays at our best prices ever -- up to 75% off!…”

(From the latest The Sixteen Newsletter)

“This week saw the release of the second disc in our award-winning Palestrina series. Each disc is based on a theme: the first on the theme of the Assumption and this new disc on the theme of the nativity. Alongside the festive motet and mass, Hodie Christus natus est, is Palestrina’s motet O magnum mysterium, some of his settings of the Song of Songs and his Magnificat Quinti toni…

“Once again, the classical record industry has delivered! A constant stream of recordings continues unabated that bears witness to the creativity, imagination, flair, tenacity, style and prodigious talent of musicians, A&R directors and labels’ creative and editorial teams the world over…
    

“ With September 25th, 2012 marking the 80th Birthday of Glenn Gould, there has been a flurry of new editions being released. Gould single-handedly turned the classical piano world on its side, and created a niche for himself as a recording artist, and also as a musical thinker and lecturer. …
  

(From a recent ArkivMusic newsletter)

For those of you who value EMI recodings, “ArkivMusic has a tremendous deal on a select group of classic recordings reissued in the EMI Classics Encore series. CDs from Neville Marriner, Sviatoslav Richter, Klaus Tennstedt, Kathleen Battle, Kiri Te Kanawa, and more are now available at just 5 for $20!“
    

“August brings an especially large group of independent labels on sale, including two with distinctive reputations in their home countries. Delos, often referred to as "the Great American Label," is a pioneer in the digital recording process and a champion of American artists and composers. Atma Classique has quickly become a dominant standard-bearer for Canada's recording industry. Yet neither label limits its focus. Delos has developed a growing relationship with Russian artists, and Atma constantly expands its musical horizons in intriguing ways. …”
    

“The Platinum Consort, with their director Scott Inglis-Kidger, make their debut recording on Resonus with a programme of music both for and inspired by the Tenebrae tradition. Featuring some of the most powerful and poignant choral music to come from the western world, the Platinum Consort present a survey of works from the sixteenth century to the present day - including James MacMillan's stunning Miserere and Tenebrae settings by the consort's  …”
     

Hyperion has released the titles available as of the month of July 2012. There may be one early music title of interest to you.
    

For those of you who are interested in downloading your early music titles, you may want to consider registering to the eClassical newsletter. There have recently been a push to offer more titles in 24-bit quality recording throughout the music distribution industry of which available through the eClassical webstore. In addition, eClassical offers their 24-bit Friday weekly release specials as an additional incentive to its newsletter customers.
    

(A previously recorded programme celebrating Father’s day.)

“Even though Father’s Day is a recent invention, we thought it would be fun to explore early music by drawing inspiration from popular gifts ideas for good ‘ol Dad. …”
    

(From a recent Grigorian.com newsletter)

“11 JUNE 2012 (TORONTO, ON) — Universal Music Canada, the country’s leading music company, is delighted to announce the June 19 release of Beethoven For All, a two-CD compendium of some of the composer’s best known and beloved works. Comprised of selections from the symphonies, piano sonatas and piano concertos, all works are performed and conducted by Daniel Barenboim, whom The Times has described as, “…one of the few musicians in the world today who could accurately be described as legendary.”

In keeping with the spirit of Barenboim’s West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, which is comprised of musicians from a variety of Mideast countries, the Canadian release of Beethoven For All is accompanied by a celebratory concert comprised of Canadian musicians from all corners. UMC, Decca, Classical 96, L’Atelier Grigorian and Lippert Music have banded together to sponsor a search for 12-15 musicians, amateur or semi-professional, any age and any instrument, to perform a selection by Beethoven. …

“I recently moved offices and some of the fun of moving was sorting through the recordings I’ve accumulated since the beginning of the year. Boxes and boxes of CDs found their way to my new office space and out of this treasure trove I selected some of the very best for our mid-year wrap-up. These recordings are the front-runners for our end-of-year Ariama’s Acclaimed feature. …
    

(From the latest Outhere newsletter.)

A lot of interesting news in this most recent instalment of Outhere’s Spring newsletter. There are quite a few early music titles, of note:

“Homage to Gustav Leonhardt
Over the past ten years Alpha had the honour of working with the great Gustav Leonhardt. Here we present in their entirety five recordings that have had a strong musical impact. The booklet includes the original liner notes, along with a gallery of hitherto unpublished photos of this unforgettable man and musician. …”