Pachelbel's Canon and Other Baroque Favorites

Gregorio Allegri (Composer), Johann Sebastian Bach (Composer), Giovanni Gabrieli (Composer), George Frederick Handel (Composer), Claudio Monteverdi (Composer), Johann Pachelbel (Composer), Henry Purcell (Composer), Antonio Vivaldi (Composer), Andrew Parrott (Conductor), Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra (Performer), Taverner Consort Choir & Players (Performer), Christopher Krueger (Performer), Janet See (Performer), Andrew Lawrence-King (Performer), Paul Goodwin (Performer), Marion Verbruggen (Performer), David Staff (Performer), Alison Bury (Performer), Chiara Banchini (Performer), John Holloway (Performer)

Product Details

• Performer: Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, Taverner Consort Choir & Players, Christopher Krueger, Janet See, Andrew Lawrence-King, et al.
• Conductor: Andrew Parrott
• Composer: Gregorio Allegri, Johann Sebastian Bach, Giovanni Gabrieli, George Frederick Handel, Claudio Monteverdi, et al.
• Audio CD (January 11, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: EMI Classics
• ASIN: B0006SSOPO
• Average Customer Review: No customer reviews yet. Be the first.
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #184,789 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Gloria, for 3 solo voices, chorus, trumpet, oboe, violin (ad lib), 2 violas, 2 cellos, strings & continuo in D major, RV 589: I. Glor

2. Canon and gigue, for 3 violins & continuo in D major, T. 337: Canon

3. Canon and gigue, for 3 violins & continuo in D major, T. 337: Gigue

4. Fantasia upon a ground, for 3 violins (or recorders) & continuo in D major /F major, Z. 731

5. Abdelazer, or, the Moor's Revenge, incidental music, Z. 570: Rondeau

6. Laetatus Sum (Psalm 121), for chorus, strings & continuo in F major, RV 607

7. Violin Concerto, for violin, strings & continuo in E major ('La Primavera,' The Four Seasons; 'Il cimento' No. 1), Op.8/1, RV 269: I.

8. Violin Concerto, for violin, strings & continuo in E major ('La Primavera,' The Four Seasons; 'Il cimento' No. 1), Op.8/1, RV 269: II

9. Violin Concerto, for violin, strings & continuo in E major ('La Primavera,' The Four Seasons; 'Il cimento' No. 1), Op.8/1, RV 269: II

10. Flute Concerto, for flute, strings & continuo in G minor ('La Notte'), Op. 10/2, RV 439: I. Largo

See all 25 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Dixit Dominus, hymn for soloists, chorus & orchestra in G minor, HWV 232

2. Sacrae Symphoniae: No. 6: Sonata pian e forte for 8 parts

3. Miserere mei Deus (Psalm 51), motet for chorus

4. Beatus Vir (I), motet for 6 voices, 2 violins, 3 violas/trombones and continuo (from Seva morale e spirituale), SV 268

5. Harp Concerto in B flat major, Op.4/6, HWV 294: I. Andante allegro

6. Harp Concerto in B flat major, Op.4/6, HWV 294: II. Larghetto

7. Harp Concerto in B flat major, Op.4/6, HWV 294: III. Allegro moderato

8. Violin Concerto, for violin, strings & continuo in G minor ('L'estate,' The Four Seasons; 'Il cimento' No. 2), Op. 8/2, RV 315: I. Al

9. Violin Concerto, for violin, strings & continuo in G minor ('L'estate,' The Four Seasons; 'Il cimento' No. 2), Op. 8/2, RV 315: II. A

10. Violin Concerto, for violin, strings & continuo in G minor ('L'estate,' The Four Seasons; 'Il cimento' No. 2), Op. 8/2, RV 315: III.

See all 17 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This recording focuses less on the music than on the performers: Andrew Parrott and the Taverner Consort, Choir and Players, which he founded 32 years ago. Under his direction, the group has achieved international acclaim and produced a large discography; this 2-CD set was compiled from its recordings of the 1980s and '90s, supplemented by a few numbers played by the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, also led by Parrott. The selections were clearly chosen to display the group to best advantage: its vocal and instrumental repertoire, technical polish, tonal beauty and balance, style, versatility, and expressiveness. The program has almost too much variety, consisting mostly of excerpts from longer works; indeed, four movements of Bach's D-major Suite are divided between the two discs. However, several concertos appear in their entirety and, in excellent performances, constitute the most substantial, musically rewarding parts of the set: Bach's Second Brandenburg Concerto, a Harp Concerto by Handel, a Flute Concerto by Vivaldi and the "Spring" and "Summer" Violin Concertos from his "Four Seasons." Other instrumental highlights include the famous Pachelbel Canon--really a set of increasingly ornate variations on a ground bass--a glorious-sounding Sonata for brass by Gabrieli and several arresting, beautiful pieces by Purcell. Some of the program's "favorites" are better known in a different guise, such as the Sinfonia from a Bach Cantata, which he adapted from the Prelude of his third Partita for unaccompanied violin. The instrumental tuning alternates between normal and low; the reason is not explained, but the difference in timbre and resonance is immediately apparent even if one does not know the work's original key. The choral selections, with and without instruments, are all wonderful. Appropriately, the program begins with the bright opening chorus of Vivaldi's Gloria and closes with the heart-breaking final one of Bach's St. John Passion. --Edith Eisler