Choral music - please help me spend my money

This looks like a really nice box set:

Sacred Music

It's been on my wish list for a while.

Some of my favourites include:

Beethoven - Mass in C
Mozart - Mass in C
Haydn - Nelson Mass, Maria Theresa Mass and Paukenmesse
Vivaldi - Gloria
Charpentier - Te Deum
Haydn - The Creation
Verdi - Requiem
Mozart - Requiem

and of course there is the Messiah.

B

For a real change of pace and a different venue, try Mozart's Magic Flute.

If you enjoyed the St. Matthew's Passion, try Bach's B-minor mass. Desert Island stuff.

I was listening to that very recording this morning, and very lovely it was.

I'd recommend Monteverdi's 8th book of madrigals on Opus 111.

Nigel

I like Monteverdi's Beatus Vir. Another recommendation would be the St John Passion by Bach.

thanks folks...any particular versions of the works that you would recommend..............I don't want to buy just any old Bach's B-minor mass or Haydn - Nelson Mass, Maria Theresa Mass and Paukenmesse

Try this b-minor Mass:



http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bach-M...d=1270288460&sr=8-10

I would recommend this selection of Thomas Tallis. Rich and magical.

One of the most moving choral discs I have is Brahms' Requiem, with Klemperer, the Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus. It's available on EMI, Great Recordings of the Century.
Cheers,
Ken

quote:

Brahms' Requiem

This one Ken?

In addition to suggestions so far, I would also add the following few suggestions, which I have found very satisfying (just a selection, not comprehensive list):

Late Mediaeval/Rennaissance:

Josquin Despres: Missa Pange Lingua, Tallis Scholars


Tavener: Missa Gloria Tibi Trinitas, The Sixteen


Allegri: Misere, Palestrina: Missa Papa Marcelli (etc), Tallis Scholars


Byrd: The Three Masses, Tallis Scholars


Tallis: Spem in Alium, Tallis Scholars (already recommended by another poster - and FWIW my first ever CD)

Victoria: O Magnum Mysterium and Ascendens Christum in Altum (Masses), Westminster Cathedral


Baroque/Early Classical

Bach, Handel, etc - lots of suggestions already made

Pergolesi: Stabat Mater, Freni/Berganza (Archiv)


Mozart - if you have room for only 3 CDs:

Great Mass


Coronation Mass
(This 'highlights' CD from the 'Complete Mozart edition' includes also some of Mozart's lovely other music for the Service of Vespers (Evening Prayer)


Requiem


Haydn

Nelson Mass and Te Deum, Pinnock


Missa Sancti Nicolai, Pinnock


19th/20th Centuries

Verdi: Requiem, Von Karajan


Gounod: St Cecilia Mass and Bizet: Te Deum, Zobeley


Puccini: Messe di Gloria, Pappano


Faure and Durufle: Requiems, Willcocks


Elgar: Dream of Gerontius, Boult


Alain: Jehan Alain Retrouve (Complete Vocal Works), Marie-Claire Alain etc


Poulenc: Gloria etc, Hickox (one of his last recordings)


Kodaly: Budavari Te Deum and Missa Brevis, Ferencsik


Vaughan Williams: Mass in G Minor, Christchurch Cathedral, Oxford (hard to find, I'm afraid)


Rachmaninov: The English Rachmaninov (also includes Walter Vale: Requiem, possibly only recording), All Saints, Margaret Street


Walton: Sacred Choral Works, St John's College, Cambridge


Britten

War Requiem, cond by Britten himself


Ceremony of Carols, Ronald Corp, Naxos


Rejoice in the Lamb, etc, St John's College, Cambridge


And right up to the moment...

Sir John Tavener

Song for Athene and other Sacred Choral Works, St John's College, Cambridge

quote:

Originally posted by Diccus62:

quote:

Brahms' Requiem

This one Ken?

I don't know this version. The one I have seems to have been remastered in 1998 and is in the EMI "Great Recordings of the Century" series. Catalogue number is 7243 5 66903 2 5.
Cheers, Ken

Thanks everyone. Thanks JWM for that great selection, that should keep me busy.

Another vote for the English Barouque Soloists / John Eliot Gardiner

But also, which imho may be even better...



Ferenc Fricsay was a fabulous conductor with Mozart's sacred musik, and Maria Stader on top form too! This cd is available via amazon/marketplace from £1.57 Much Recommended! : )

Debs

Ken/Diccus, EMI have been bringing out this series of releases as the 50 year copyright period lapses. You pay less, but get less good documentation. I imagine (but don't actually know) that in the case of Klemperer's German Requiem the same remastering will be used as on the GROC issue.

Graham

cheers Graham

JWM covered much fertile ground and I would highlight Pinnock's recordings of the Haydn Masses as particular favourites - the Nelson Mass especially.

A few of my favourites that slipped through his net are

Boccherini - Stabat Mater - Ensemble 415
Hadyn - Seven last words of Christ - Harnoncourt
Vivaldi - Gloria, Stabat Mater, Salve Regina

and for something a little different

Lamento di Arianna - Consort of Musicke

For myself I might check out the Puccini - thanks JWM great post.

Olly

I could not better the excellent suggestions made by JWM but I would add this:

A Feather on the Breath of God



Emma Kirkby in fine form.

Graham,
Thanks for the information. I had not known that before.

Diccus,
I have the Poulenc disc conducted by Hickox but in all honesty, it is not one which I would recommend. In the "Gloria", I much prefer Lopez-Cobos and the Suisse Romande Orchestra and Chorus with Sylvia Greenberg (soprano) on Decca. It sounds so much more alive - real countryside religion. My CD is numbered 425672-2, but I suspect that it may not by in the current catalogue. My disc also has George Malcolm playing in both the Organ and Harpsichord concertos - great performances.

Regards,
Ken