Under Mahan Esfahani’s hands—and occasionally fists—the harpsichord is transmogrified into an elemental force, by turns supported or menaced by an astonishing arsenal of electronics. Concerned listeners please note: no harpsichords were harmed in the making of this album.

Regarded in his day as equal to Handel and Telemann, Reinhard Keiser composed more than one hundred operas, of which Fredegund , set partly in German and partly in Italian, was one of the most popular. It explores the politically volatile relationships between the sixth century Frankish king, Chilperich, whose ambitious mistress Fredegunda is prepared to use magic to become his queen, although Chilperich is betrothed to Princess Galsuinde and Fredegunda also has a secret relationship with Langerich. This important and entertaining German Baroque opera abounds in melodious, often ravishingly orchestrated, music.

The new recording by recorder player Dorothee Oberlinger with violinist and countertenor Dmitry Sinkovsky shows the musical turn of time from the Renaissance to the Baroque in a kaleidoscope of newly conceived, experimental declamatory music by Italian masters, who for the first time expressed passions such as love and hate, grief and joy, astonishment and longing in music to the fullest.

Over 40 years of collaboration between Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra is among the most dazzling and longest connections in the history of classical music. In this unique edition, all mono recordings from the period from 1944 to 1958 appear on 120 CDs for the Columbia label. They also reflect an important section of record history in the changing cover design. Ormandy, a master of orchestral brilliance and timbres and also appreciated as an excellent companion, created the famous "Philadelphia Sound" with his orchestra.

Die Bündner Mezzosopranistin Maria Riccarda Wesseling, deren Karriere als Opernsängerin gegenwärtig einem wahren Höhenflug gleicht – sie singt auf den bekanntesten Bühnen unter der Leitung von Dirigenten wie Marc Minkowski, Philippe Herreweghe oder Alberto Zedda – stellt erneut ihr Talent unter Beweis.

Gone are the days when the Dvorak Violin Concerto was neglected on disc. Among the 20-odd rival recordings listed in the catalogue there are many outstanding versions, including at least one, Tasmin Little's on CfP, at bargain price. Naxos now offer another, with the Dvorak Concerto generously coupled not only with the Romance (often the only extra on recordings of this work) but with another high-romantic, Slavonic violin concerto, the Glazunov. The disc makes an outstanding bargain despite some reservations.

Following in the footsteps of Milos and his guitar revival, Deutsche Grammophon presents the charismatic young Israeli musician Avi Avital, champion of yet another beautiful and underestimated stringed instrument the mandolin. Avi Avital is a young man with a dream. Overflowing with charm, intelligence and enthusiasm he looks set to become the first international superstar of the mandolin.

Sous les empereurs autrichiens de la maison des Habsbourg, les arts et tout particulièrement la musique jouèrent un rôle très important dans le cérémoniel de l'affirmation du pouvoir de la cour et de l'empire. Bien que Ferdinand III fût le premier des empereurs autrichiens à avoir composé lui-même de la musique, son second fils et successeur Léopold (1657-1704) était bien plus doué que lui…L'un de ses professeurs fut Antonio Bertali. Son répertoire trop peu connu et qui mérite d'être redécouvert est d'une extrême variété musicale, clairement influencée par la musique théâtrale: elle ne lassera jamais l'auditeur, qui pourra toujours s'attendre à d'agréables surprises après chaque cadence.

Thuringia has always been a highly musical region. Along with the greats who resided there, including at times Schutz, Telemann, Bach and his sons, and Liszt, a closer examination reveals other Thuringian composers who indisputably contributed to the course of music history such as Johann Melchior Molter. This composer from Tiefenort was active in Eisenach and Karlsruhe and during his lifetime was regarded as one of the most productive and significant composers as well as a trailblazer participating in the transition from the Baroque to the classical era. On the occasion of the 250th anniversary of his death Theater&Philharmonie Thringen has launched an editorial project in cooperation with the Institute of Musicology in Weimar-Jena.

Is it possible that a recorded performance could be too much of a good thing? Well, such an assessment probably would be unfair to a singer as gifted and in command of such astonishing technical skills as countertenor Philippe Jaroussky, so impressively exhibited on this surprising and thoroughly mesmerizing CD. While you may not have heard of this French singer, he's part of a relatively new group of performers–calling themselves Ensemble Artaserse–who have recently joined to explore their mutual interests in "early 17th-century Italian music". These songs by Benedetto Ferrari provide the perfect medium for Jaroussky's art–and it's quite formidable in both purity of tone and subtlety of expression as well as the near-inhuman technical feats he brandishes as naturally as breathing.

Gluck wrote his opera seria Ezio in 1750 for production in Prague. (In 1762, after the formal and stylistic breakthroughs of Orfeo ed Euridice, he revised the opera for a Vienna production, but it's the original version that's recorded here.) The opera has many of the characteristics of Italian late Baroque opera; it's essentially a series of arias separated by accompanied recitatives, the formula that the composer reacted against in Orfeo. It's not Gluck at his most innovative or original, but it's a fine example of opera seria, with a number of impressive arias and some very expressive recitatives, and it can make quite an impact in a performance as fine as this one.

The Stabat Mater by the Italian late baroque composer Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710- 1736) invariably holds the number one position in many western classical music charts. In Pergolesis own era, his composition received enormous acclaim and was frequently a source of inspiration for the many tone poets who wanted to follow in his footsteps. For this version, we brought together two wonderful vocalists who are symbiotic and complementary both in terms of personality and musical interpretation: soprano Amaryllis Dieltiens and countertenor Clint van der Linde.

Over 40 years of collaboration between Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra is among the most dazzling and longest connections in the history of classical music. In this unique edition, all mono recordings from the period from 1944 to 1958 appear on 120 CDs for the Columbia label. They also reflect an important section of record history in the changing cover design. Ormandy, a master of orchestral brilliance and timbres and also appreciated as an excellent companion, created the famous "Philadelphia Sound" with his orchestra.

“La forza del destino” (The Force of Fate), premiered in St. Petersburg 1862, is one of Verdi’s most important opera compositions. Its plot is complicated and combines a sequence of interlaced unfortunate strokes of fate. Donna Leonora is the centre of events, together with her brother Don Carlo di Vargas and her lover Don Alvaro. The story was originally set in 18th century Spain, however the French director Nicolas Joël established the action in a slightly later period, in the time of the Empire, the early 19th century.

Recorded in 1995 this album has never been one of the "hits" by German countertenor Andreas Scholl. It covers a repertoire that was (and remains) virtually unknown, and it doesn't really play to the sentimental side of Scholl's personality. Nevertheless, this is one of his very best releases, and even casual Scholl fans who missed it the first time around are advised to pick it up. In 1995 he was in absolutely prime voice, and even though he here has few of the pure melodies in which he excels, he finds plenty of subtle ways to deploy it in text expression and in delineating unusual harmonic moves.