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Recent releases

AAM is renowned worldwide for its extensive range of recordings, with well over 200 LPs and CDs issued since its foundation in 1973.

This page provides information on recent releases and reissues. For a complete discography click here.

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Handel Organ Concertos Op.4
Buy direct from AAM
Richard Egarr
Academy of Ancient Music
HandelOrgan Concerto in G minor Op.4 No.1
HandelOrgan Concerto in B flat major Op.4 No.2
HandelOrgan Concerto in G minor Op.4 No.3
HandelOrgan Concerto in F major Op.4 No.4
HandelOrgan Concerto in F major Op.4 No.5
HandelOrgan Concerto in B flat major Op.4 No.6
HMU 807446
Handel Concerti grossi Op.3, Sonata à 5
Buy direct from AAM
Richard Egarr
Academy of Ancient Music
HandelConcerto grosso in B flat major/ G minor No.1
HandelConcerto grosso in B flat major No.2
HandelConcerto grosso in G major No.3
HandelConcerto grosso in F major No.4
HandelConcerto grosso in D minor No.5
HandelConcerto grosso in in D major/ D minor No.6
HandelSonata à 5 HWV288
HMU 907415
Vivaldi, Concerti grossi Opp. 3, 4, 8 & 9
Christopher Hogwood
John Holloway
Monica Huggett
Catherine Mackintosh
Elizabeth Wilcock (violins)
Susan Sheppard (cello)
Academy of Ancient Music
L’Estro Arminico Op.3 (CD 1 & CD 2)
La Stravaganza Op.4 (CD 2 & CD 3)
Il Cimento dell’Armonia e dell’Inventione Op.8 (CD 3 & CD 4)
La Cetra Op.9 (CD 5 & CD 6)

Decca 00289 475 7693
6 CD box set
 
Handel: Messiah
Edward Higginbottom
Henry Jenkinson
Otta Jones
Robert Brooks
Iestyn Davies
Toby Spence
Eamonn Dougan
Choir of New College, Oxford
Academy of Ancient Music
Naxos 8.570131-32
 
Purcell: Dido & Aeneas
Christopher Hogwood
Catherine Bott
Dame Emma Kirkby
John Mark Ainsley
David Thomas
Elisabeth Priday
Sara Stowe
Julianne Baird
Daniel Lochmann
Michael Chance
Academy of Ancient Music Chorus
Academy of Ancient Music
Decca 475 7195
 
Purcell music for Queen Mary
Choir of King’s College, Cambridge
Stephen Cleobury
Academy of Ancient Music
EMI 0946 3 44438 2 1
Purcell Come, ye sons of Art
Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem
Love’s goddess sure
Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary
Funeral Sentences
Funeral Anthem for Queen Mary
 
Pergolesi and D. Scarlatti settings of the Stabat Mater
Choristers of New College Oxford
Academy of Ancient Music
Edward Higginbottom
BBC Singers
Harry Christophers
Distributed with BBC Music Magazine, April 2006
Pergolesi Stabat Mater
Domenico Scarlatti Stabat Mater
 
Handel, Bach and Vivaldi concerti and concerti grossi
This recording is sponsored by
Pavlo Beznosiuk (violin and director)
Frank de Bruine (oboe)
Rachel Podger (violin)
Academy of Ancient Music
WHLive 005
Handel Concerto Grosso in G major Op.6 No.1 HWV319
Vivaldi Concerto in B flat major for two violins RV524
Handel Concerto Grosso in D minor Op.6 No.10 HWV328
Vivaldi Concerto in B-flat major for oboe and violin RV548
JS Bach Concerto in D minor for two violins BWV1043
 
Handel: Messiah on DVD
Judith Nelson
Dame Emma Kirkby
Carolyn Watkinson
Paul Elliott
David Thomas
Choir of Westminster Abbey
Academy of Ancient Music / Christopher Hogwood
NVC Arts 0630-17834-2
 
Handel: Messiah, Athalia, Esther and La Resurrezione
CDs 1 & 2 Messiah
Judith Nelson
Dame Emma Kirkby
Carolyn Watkinson
Paul Elliott
David Thomas
Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, (Director Simon Preston)
The Academy of Ancient Music / Christopher Hogwood

CDs 3 & 4 Athalia

Joan Sutherland
Dame Emma Kirkby
Aled Jones
James Bowman
Anthony Rolfe Johnson
David Thomas
Choir of New College, Oxford
(Chorus master: Edward Higginbottom)
The Academy of Ancient Music / Christopher Hogwood

CDs 5 & 6 Esther

Patrizia Kwella
Anthony Rolfe Johnson
Ian Partridge
David Thomas
Dame Emma Kirkby
Paul Elliott
Andrew King
Drew Minter
Westminster Cathedral Boys Choir
Chorus of the Academy of Ancient Music
The Academy of Ancient Music / Christopher Hogwood

CDs 7 & 8 La Resurrezione

Dame Emma Kirkby
Patrizia Kwella
Carolyn Watkinson
Ian Partridge
David Thomas
The Academy of Ancient Music / Christopher Hogwood
Decca 475 6731
 
Coronation Anthems
The Academy of Ancient Music / Edward Higginbottom
Choir of New College Oxford
Boyce The King shall rejoice
Come holy ghost
Praise the Lord; O Jerusalem
Handel The King shall rejoice
Zadok the priest
Croft The Lord is a sun and a shield
Clarke Praise the Lord; O Jerusalem
Blow Let my prayer come up
The Lord God is a sun and a shield
Purcell I was glad
My heart is inditing
Decca 476 723-0

This recording celebrates the richness of choral music performed at the 17th- and 18th-century coronations of James II, William and Mary, Anne, and for Georges I, II and III.

Famous anthems by Handel (Zadok the Priest; The King shall rejoice) and Purcell (I was glad; My heart is inditing) appear alongside works by William Boyce; William Croft; Jeremiah Clarke and John Blow; all leading composers of their day.

This is a re-issue of Decca 470 226-2, released in 2002, to celebrate HM Queen Elizabeth’s Golden Jubilee. Coronation Anthems was Editor’s Choice in Gramophone magazine and is now in Decca’s Critics’ Choice, Legendary Performances series.

Haydn symphonies 76 & 77
Sound clip from opening of Symphony 77
Christopher Hogwood (conductor)
The Academy of Ancient Music
Symphonies 77 and 76

Distributed with BBC Music Magazine, May 2005

The completion of the AAM’s complete Haydn symphonies cycle with Christopher Hogwood was postponed after the release of the 10th boxed set. These two symphonies were recorded as the first CD in volume 11, and are available exclusively with the May 2005 issue of BBC Music Magazine.

J C Bach
Sound clip from the overture to Adriano in Siria
Simon Standage (director)
The Academy of Ancient Music
Overture Adriano in Siria
Symphonies Op 18 No 4 and Op 18 No 1
Sinfonia Concertante in C major
Chandos CHAN 0713 X

When Mozart heard of the death of JC Bach he wrote ‘What a sad day for music’.

This recording gives a taste of the orchestral music that excited London audiences in the 1760s and 1770s, by JS Bach’s youngest son. It comprises opera and concert overtures, with a sinfonia concertante which had its first performance in the interval of a performance of Handel’s Samson in 1775.

Mozart symphonies — Salzburg 1772–1773
Sound clips are available for Symphonies 20 and 21
Jaap Schröder (concert master)
Christopher Hogwood (keyboard)
The Academy of Ancient Music
Symphonies 18–24, 26, 27, 50 and K175
Decca 476 1718

Decca have recently re-released the AAM’s award-winning recording of Mozart’s symphonies from 1772–1773 in their Gramophone Awards Collection series.

In this recording there is no conductor, but, as in Mozart’s time, the role of directing is shared between the keyboard continuo player (Christopher Hogwood) and the Concert Master (Jaap Schröder).

Purcell Theatre Music
Dame Emma Kirkby, Judith Nelson (sopranos)
James Bowman (countertenor)
Martyn Hill (tenor)
David Thomas (bass)
The Taverner Choir
The Academy of Ancient Music / Christopher Hogwood
Decca 475 529-2
‘...the Play-house Musick impoved yearly, and is now arrived to greater perfection than ever I knew it’.

So wrote a playgoer describing the changes in the English theatre between 1660 and 1690. The Restoration of the Stuart monarchy in 1660 had a hugely beneficial effect on social life and the arts in England, re-establishing the Court and its household of musicians, the Church of England and music in the Church, and allowing the theatres to open their doors once more. No English composer bears greater responsibility for the state of near-perfection achieved by theatre music during this period than Henry Purcell, and by the 1690s no play was complete without a garnishing of incidental music and complement of songs.

This set of six CDs is a compilation of songs and instrumental music from Henry Purcell’s theatrical corpus. Soloists including Dame Emma Kirkby, Judith Nelson and James Bowman perform a diverse selection of music based on text by the likes of John Dryden (Tyrannic Love or The Royal Martyr, The Indian Emperor or The Conquest of Mexico); Aphra Behn (Abdelazer or The Moor’s Revenge); William Congreve (The Old Bachelor, The Double Dealer) and Beaumont and Fletcher (The Knight of Malta).

The discs are a recent reissue drawing on Decca releases of recordings made by the AAM between 1974 and 1983.

A Festive Baroque Christmas
The Academy of Ancient Music
The AAM Chorus
Paul Goodwin
harmonia mundi HCX 3957202

Christmas was celebrated with particular splendour in the churches and court chapels of seventeenth-century Lutheran Germany. This attractive programme draws together a wide variety of Schütz’ choral motets and dialogues to form an alternative Christmas story. As Schütz wrote no purely instrumental music; the sonatas and conzonas are by his associates and pupils Gabrieli; Usper and Weckmann.

This is a re-issue of A Christmas Collection that was originally released in 1997.

Handel Athalia
Joan Sutherland; Dame Emma Kirkby; James Bowman; Aled Jones; Anthony Rolfe Johnson; David Thomas
The Academy of Ancient Music
Choir of New College Oxford
Christopher Hogwood

Gramophone Awards Collection

Decca 475 207-2 DGR2

This recording was first released in 1986 and has been reissued as part of Decca’s new series celebrating Gramphone Award-winning recordings. Athalia won the Choral Award in 1987; receiving glowing reviews:

The first great English oratorio. It was a brilliant stroke of imagination to ask Dame Joan Sutherland to take the title-role... her singing is truly magnificent in its grandeur and its clear; bell-like; perfectly focused tone. As a whole these two discs; excellently recorded; give an admirable and often striking realisation of this work; and I warmly recommend it.
Purcell The Indian Queen
Dame Emma Kirkby; Catherine Bott; John Mark Ainsley; Gerald Finley; Tommy Williams
The Academy of Ancient Music
The Academy of Ancient Music Chorus
Christopher Hogwood

The British Music Collection

Decca 475 052-2

Purcell’s exotic semi-opera tells of Zempoalla; the Indian Queen; who assumes the throne of Mexico. She is opposed by the Inca of Peru and his general Montezuma; who switches sides and then becomes the fatal object of the queen’s desire. Purcell did not live to complete the score so his brother; Daniel; wrote a wedding Masque to close the work which provides a somewhat jolly ending to an otherwise tragic tale.

This recording was originally released by Decca in 1995 and is reissued here as part of their ‘British Music Collection’.

Mozart Die Entführung as dem Serail
Lynne Dawson; Marianne Hirsti; Uwe Heilmann; Wilfried Gahmlich; Gunther von Kannen; Wolfgang Hinze
The Academy of Ancient Music
The Academy of Ancient Music Chorus
Christopher Hogwood
Double Decca 473 804-2

Mozart’s ‘Abduction from the Seraglio’ begins in Turkey where the young Spanish girl Konstanze; her maid Blonde and Pedrillo; the latter’s lover; are being held. They have been abducted by pirates and sold as slaves to Pasha Selim and this opera tells of their rescue by the young nobleman Belmonte; who is in love with Konstanze.

This is a reissue of the box set originally released by Decca in 1991.

Monteverdi Sancta Maria — Sacred Works
Dame Emma Kirkby, Judith Nelson (Sopranos)
Nigel Rogers (tenor)
The Academy of Ancient Music
Christopher Hogwood
Laudate Dominum
Sancata Maria
Salve Regina
Salve; o Regina
Exulta filia Sion
Decca 458 829-2

This 2-CD set is a reissue of recordings by various artists. Among them are five works with the AAM; recorded in 1980 and originally released by The Folio Society as Venice preserv’d; as well as Christopher Hogwood playing the harpsichord with the Choir of St John’s College; Cambridge.

The best of Purcell
Dame Emma Kirkby, Catherine Bott (sopranos)
James Bowman (countertenor)
The Academy of Ancient Music / Christopher Hogwood
Overture — Rondeau (Abdelazer)
‘Music for a while’ (Oedipus)
Rondeau — Menuet — Borée — March — Jig (The Old Bachelor)
‘If Music be the Food of Love’
Prelude (The Libertine)
An Evening Hymn: ‘Now that the sun’
Hornpipe — Scotch tune (Amphitryon)
‘When I am laid in earth’ (Dido and Aeneas)
Air — Jig — Hornpipe — Air (Abdelazar)
Trumpet Air — March — Hornpipe (The Married Beau)
Eloquence 467 454-2

‘The best of Purcell’ is a compilation of songs and instrumental movements from Henry Purcell’s music for the theatre in late 17th-century London. Soloists including Dame Emma Kirkby; Catherine Bott and James Bowman sing some of Purcell’s best known songs such as ‘Music for a while’; Dido’s Lament and Evening Hymn

‘Eloquence’ is a new series of reissues drawing on releases from the Deutsche Grammophon; Decca and Philips Classics labels. This reissue features various artists: 10 of the 16 tracks are from AAM CDs recorded between 1976 and 1994.

Pergolesi Marian Vespers
Reconstructed by Malcolm Bruno (world premiere recording)
The Academy of Ancient Music / Edward Higginbottom
Choir of New College Oxford
Sophie Daneman (soprano)
Noemi Kiss (soprano)
Erato 0927-46684-2

For a composer who died at the age of 26; Pergolesi enjoys a fine reputation. That reputation; however; is almost solely based on one work (the Stabat Mater) and has been clouded by forgeries and works misattributed to him. Such is the extent of these misattributions; only about one third of the works that appeared in the first ‘collected’ works (published in the 1940s) is by Pergolesi.

This new 2-CD set reveals Pergolesi’s true legacy through a newly-researched panorama of his sacred choral work brought together in a ‘reconstruction’ of Marian Vespers.

Thomas Augustine Arne
The Academy of Ancient Music / Christopher Hogwood
Eight Overtures
Dame Emma Kirkby
The Academy of Ancient Music / Christopher Hogwood
Rise glory Rise (Rosamond)
By the rushy-fringed bank (Comus)
Brightest Lady (Comus)
Where the bee sucks there lurk I (The Tempest)

The British Music Collection

Decca 470 372-2

A law student turned self-taught composer; Arne is perhaps best-known — to the English; at least — for composing the patriotic song; ‘Rule Britannia’ and for his setting of the song from Shakespeare’s The Tempest; ‘Where the bee sucks’. The latter song appears on this disc; sung here by the ever-popular Dame Emma Kirkby; but the greater part is devoted to Arne’s Eight Overtures; written to accompany theatrical productions.

This 2-CD set also features other artists and is reissued as part of Decca’s ‘British Music Collection’.

Boyce Symphonies Op 2
The Academy of Ancient Music/Christopher Hogwood

The British Music Collection

Decca 473 081-2

The Boyce ‘Eight Symphonys’ are one of the treasures of English eighteenth-century music; cheerful; unassuming and confident; full of good tunes; and typically English in the heterodoxy of their style — their quirky lines; their refusal to follow the regular procedures; their mixture of baroque and classical features; with their fugues declining to remain fugal; their very un-French French overtures: all this is part of their particular charm.

This CD was first released in 1994 and is reissued by Decca within their new series; ‘The British Music Collection’.

Vivaldi Gloria, Magnificat and Dixit Dominus
The Academy of Ancient Music/Stephen Cleobury
The Choir of King’s College Cambridge
Sarah Fox and Deborah Norman (sopranos)
Michael Chance (countertenor)
James Gilchrist (tenor)
Jonathan Lemalu (bass)
Gloria in D; RV 589
Dixit Dominus in D RV 594
Magnificat in G minor RV 610
EMI Classics. 5 57265 2
 
J. S. Bach Harpsichord Concertos
The Academy of Ancient Music/Andrew Manze
Richard Egarr (harpsichord)
Andrew Manze (violin)
Rachel Brown (flute)
Concerto in D Minor BWV 1052
Concerto in E Major BWV 1053
Triple Concerto in A Minor BWV 1044
Concerto in D Major BWV 1054
Concerto in A Major BWV 1055
Concerto in F Minor BWV 1056
Concerto in F Major BWV 1057
Concerto in G minor BWV 1058
Harmonia Mundi USA HMU 907283.84

J. S. Bach’s seven harpsichord concertos and the “Triple” concerto BWV 1044 span the total range of Baroque expression: from the tempestuous élan of BWV 1052; through the disquiet and amger of BWV 1056; to they joy and elation of BWV 1055. Richard Egarr and The Academy of Ancient Music; led by Andrew Manze; present these masterpieces in radically fresh; intimate readings; charged with dramatic intensity.

Handel Coronation Anthems
The Academy of Ancient Music / Stephen Cleobury
Choir of King’s College Cambridge
Stephen Cleobury (conductor)
Coronation anthems:
Zadok the priest
Let thy hand be strengthened
The king shall rejoice
My heart is inditing
Ode for the birthday of Queen Anne
EMI Classics 7243 5 57140 2 2
 
John Tavener Total Eclipse and Agraphon
The Academy of Ancient Music/Paul Goodwin
Choir of New College Oxford/Edward Higginbottom
Patricia Rozario (soprano)
Christopher Robson (contertenor)
James Gilchrist (tenor)
John Harle (saxophone)
Harmonia Mundi HMU 907271
This is music that aspires to convey a sudden flash of insight that resonates through eternity.
The Guardian

Total Eclipse — John Tavener’s latest icon in music; is a moving meditation on the conversion of St Paul. It is combined with Agraphon; a meditation on the unwritten traditions about Christ.

Mozart Harpsichord concertos, Nos. 1–4 (K37, 39, 40 and 41)
The Academy of Ancient Music/Christopher Hogwood
Robert Levin (harpsichord)
Decca L’Oiseau-Lyre 466 131-2 DH

These fascinating arrangements by the eleven-year-old Mozart (assisted by his father Leopold) of works by older contemporaries; were made to display his prodigious virtuosity.

Purcell, Dowland, Byrd, Campion
Barbara Bonney (soprano)
The Academy of Ancient Music/Christopher Hogwood
Jacob Heringman (lute)
Phantasm (viol quartet)
Andrew Manze (violin)
Decca 466 132-2 DH

This is a collection of English songs from the seventeenth century sung by the soprano Barbara Bonney. They bring together three strands of composition — music for voice and viols (with the Phantasm Viol Quartet); lute songs (with Jacob Heringman) and; from later in the century; songs with orchestra (The Academy of Ancient Music).

Handel Rinaldo
The Academy of Ancient Music / Christopher Hogwood
Bernarda Fink
Cecilia Bartoli
David Daniels
Gerald Finley
Luba Orgonasova
Bejun Mehta
Ana Maria Rincon
Catherine Bott
Mark Padmore
Decca L’Oiseau-Lyre 467 087-2 OHO3

Following two sell-out tours in 1999; the AAM and an all-star cast directed by Christopher Hogwood went into the recording studio for a fortnight; and this is the spectacular result. With David Daniels in the title role and Cecilia Bartoli as Almirena; this is a landmark recording of Handel’s first Italian opera written for the London stage in 1711.

Geminiani Concerti Grossi (after Corelli Op 5)
The Academy of Ancient Music/Andrew Manze
Andrew Manze (violin)
David Watkin (cello)
Concerti Grossi 1–12
Cello Sonata Op 5 No 2
Corelli Violin Sonata Op 5 No 9
Harmonia Mundi 907261.62

Andrew Manze writes: ‘This recording presents twelve orchestral concerti grossi by Francesco Geminiani; which are based on the Op 5 sonatas for solo violin by his teacher; Archangelo Corelli. They are more than arrangements or orchestrations: they are explorations; expansions; the end product of a process of musical evolution’.

Listen out in particular for the wild ‘Follia’ — a veritable showcase for the talents of Andrew Manze and the AAM strings.

Vivaldi Violin Concerti
The Academy of Ancient Music/Christopher Hogwood
Andrew Manze (violin)
Violin Concertos; Op 6
Concerto in A Major; RV 335; ‘The Cuckoo’
Decca L’Oiseau-Lyre 455 653-2 OH

Christopher Hogwood and Andrew Manze combine to bring the listener more gems from Vivaldi’s vast output. In addition to the six concertos of Op 6; the disc also includes his delightful concerto in A major RV 335 nicknamed ‘The Cuckoo’. For those who think Vivaldi wrote wrote the same concerto hundreds of times; try this CD and be prepared to revise your views!

Bach Magnificat
The Academy of Ancient Music / Stephen Cleobury
The Choir of King’s College Cambridge
Susan Gritton (soprano)
Lisa Milne (soprano)
Michael Chance (countertenor)
Ian Bostridge (tenor)
Michael George (bass)
Cantata ‘Wachet auf’ BWV 140
Magnificat in D major BWV 243
Air from Suite No.3 in D major BWV 1068
Missa Brevis in A major BWV 234
Sanctus in C major BWV 237
Cantata ‘Weinen; klagen’ BWV 12
EMI Classics 5569942
 
Albinoni 12 Concertos, Op 9
The Academy of Ancient Music / Christopher Hogwood
Andrew Manze (violin)
Frank de Bruine; Alfredo Bernadini (oboes)
Decca L’Oiseau-Lyre
 
Tavener Eternity’s Sunrise
The Academy of Ancient Music / Paul Goodwin
Patricia Rozario (soprano)
Julia Gooding (soprano)
George Mosley (baritone)
Andrew Manze (violin)
Harmonia Mundi 907231