"Gregorian Chant: Death and Resurrection" explores the heights and depths of the liturgical celebration of the most important mysteries of Jesus Christ.
The selection of chants covers the Holy Week, the Easter Sunday and Ascension day.

In this recording, we can listen to the prayer of the Schola cantorum of the Abbey of Münsterschwarzach, in Germany: the Roman Catholic community of monks of Münsterschwarzach is one of the largest Benedictine communities in Europe. It is a vowed life of prayer and work ('ora et labora' is one of the mottos of the Benedictines) which we undertake together, by God's grace, as brothers.

At the heart of the celebration of the liturgical year, the Easter of Christ and of the Church, Good Friday occupies a central position. Before proclaiming the glorious resurrection of Jesus, the Church identifies herself in her own destiny of death, involving herself totally in the experience of the Cross.
The liturgy of Good Friday is unlike that of other days. It has a special and exceptional dimension: Good Friday opens a window on the principal aspect of the Easter mystery. This is to be understood by the people of God through a total and personal participation in every way, from reason to imagination, from deep feeling to bodily gesture.

This ancient music, the beautiful chant and its fascinating monody bring to mind images of the cloistered activities of monks centuries ago: this disc, in particular, is performed by the descendants of those mediaeval monks in England.
The chants for the Mass, and the Office of Matins for St Thomas of Canterbury are taken from the Sarum rite - the liturgical format developed at Salisbury Cathedral, which became the, more-or-less, standard sung formula throughout the middle ages in England. St Thomas of Canterbury is, of course, England’s most important home-grown Saint, and therefore has a special resonance to the place of Canterbury. The performers here are the Lay Clerks of Canterbury Cathedral - the professional men of the cathedral choir.

Bach's famous Sonatas for Violin and Keyboard need no introduction other than to say that they are considered to be the pinnacle of sonata writing in the Baroque era. This two-disc set presents all six sonatas performed by the legendary Yehudi Menuhin and Louis Kentner, recorded in 1951.

Yehudi Menuhin is commonly considered one of the twentieth century's greatest violin virtuosi; he was in the first flush of his mature style in 1951, and his trademark noble tone never fails him. Kentner is always a supportive and tasteful partner, always following the ebbs and flows of the violinist's tempos, and rising and falling appropriately with the music. Slow movements are delicate and warm, and both musicians handle the faster sections with elegance and flair. Menuhin always said that Bach's music should be played "with a spirit of reverence," and he is certainly true to his word here.

The songs recorded on "Voce mea ad Dominum" (quotation from Psalm 77) are part of the repertoire that in recent years has enriched the liturgical life of the Basilica di San Marco in Venice, thanks to the art of the Cantores Sancti Marci, a music ensemble active in St. Mark's since the XIII-XIV century, and thus one of the oldest, still active, institutions of music in the world.
These compositions are a glimpse of the Venetian sixteenth century through its greatest composers: Croce, Willaert, Bassano and Gabrieli. It is music born in the liturgy for the liturgy, in a unique place where, over time, prayer and diplomacy, Church and State concurred to support and promote artistic experiences that have enriched not only Venice, but the whole world. The sounds, the contrasts, the harmonic colour, the praxis of double choirs are among the most recognizable features of the Venetian music at the end of '500, a point of convergence of the best composers in Europe, still able to inspire emotions in the XXI century.

“In Paradisum” combines music from three sources: the Officium Defunctorum of Victoria, polyphony by Palestrina and Gregorian chant from a 17th century manuscript. Placing the work of the Spanish and Italian religious composers in a historically "authentic" context, the Hilliard Ensemble (one of the world’s finest vocal chamber groups) also give us a sense of the overwhelming musical experience that the Catholic Mass was at the time of the Renaissance. The antiphon “In Paradisum deducant te angeli” – may the angels conduct you to Paradise – gives the album its title, this being the sequence which concludes the Latin rite of the Roman Catholic liturgy for the dead, before the funeral procession leaves the church to escort the body to its final resting place.

Giacomo Antonio Perti (6 June 1661 – 10 April 1756) was an Italian composer of the Baroque era. He was mainly active at Bologna, where he was Maestro di Cappella for sixty years. He was the teacher of Giuseppe Torelli and Giovanni Battista Martini.

The English Chamber Choir and the Spectrum Ensemble, under the direction of Guy Protheroe, offer a beautiful recording of choral works inspired by the Byzantine Tradition.
Liturgical art in Orthodoxy is an expression of prayer, which in turn is a means of living aschatologically, ever conscious of the revelation (Apokalypsis in Greek): the transfiguration of our everyday lives in order to prepare the coming of the heavenly Kingdom. Bearing this in mind, we can understand the essence of the Orthodox art - and music in particular - and its great importance in the liturgical life of Eastern tradition.

Biber's so-called "Mystery Sonatas" are among the most alluring, meditative, virtuostic and amazingly beautiful compositions ever written for the violin. The depth of emotive effects and degree of virtusosity immediately catch the attention of the listener and draws one into their mysteries (of the lives of Christ and the Virgin Mary). In addition to the "standard" harpsichord and/or theorbo continuo, these sonatas also add deeply-resonant organ bass pedal-points that create a powerful and alluring backdrop for the drama of the soloist to unfold…
(Info from Amazon.com and Signumrecords.com.)

This concert, recorded in April 2007 at the Teatro Valli, in Reggio Emilia (Italy), brings together young musicians of the "Orchestra Mozart" and excellent soloists of international repute, under the direction of Claudio Abbado.

They interpret the first three of the six Bach "Concerts avec plusieurs instruments (Concertos with several instruments)", that were dedicated to the Margrave (military leader of a border province) Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg in 1721, thus taking the name of Brandeburg Concertos.
The Brandeburg Concertos are widely regarded as the most beautiful and famous pages of the whole Baroque period.

Breve presentazione delle tecniche principali di realizzazione di una stampa originale d'arte.
Il testo di Paola Cane, rivolto principalmente a chi per la prima volta si avvicina al mondo delle "stampe", è arricchito da molte illustrazioni di Antonio Mascia.