2021 Holiday Gift List

Every year at this time, I compile a list of some of my favorite recent recordings to recommend for your holiday gift giving. For many years the goal has been pretty straightforward: to give you practical guidance and take away a little bit of the stress of getting ready for the holiday season, which can sometimes be chaotic.

Listening to music is itself a gift. It can provide comfort or brighten our mood, it can be a welcome distraction, or be a soothing balm. As a regular listener, you and I enjoy the music on Sunday Baroque every week.

Now more than ever we need to focus on the things that connect us, the things that bring light and positivity into our lives, and I think these musical selections are a great place to start.

They are interesting works, beautifully performed. They include some of your favorite musicians, as well as some names that may be new to you. Whether you choose to add any of them to your library, give them as gifts, or simply enjoy auditioning them each week, I hope you will enjoy discovering these wonderful musicians and recordings with me over the last weeks of 2021.

 -Suzanne

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A MEXICAN CHRISTMAS

The Newberry Consort & EnsAmble Ad-Hoc

A beautifully performed collection of 17th century Mexican traditional music for worship and celebration. The performances include voice and a variety of instruments, including strings, guitars, percussion, organ, harp, bassoon, and Mexican traditional instruments.

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AMERICAN ORIGINALS – A NEW WORLD, A NEW CANON

Reginald Mobley – countertenor, Agave Baroque

This terrific 2021 recording features music spanning four centuries – from the baroque era with music by composers such as Cuban musician Esteban Salas and Manuel de Zumaya, anonymous music from archives in Bolivia and Peru, as well as stunningly gorgeous and more recent music by Florence Beatrice Price, Justin Holland, and William Marshall Hutchison.

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AN AMERICAN MOSAIC

Simone Dinnerstein – piano

Music by Richard Danielpour inspired by the heroes and stories of the COVID pandemic, as well as three of Danielpour’s transcriptions of music by Johann Sebastian Bach. The modern works on this recording are powerful, touching, and poignant, and Mr. Danielpour’s touch with the Bach is respectful and elegant.

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BACH: BRANDENBURG CONCERTOS 1-6

Isabelle Faust – violin, Alexander Tamestit – viola, AKADEMIE FUR ALTE MUSIK, BERLIN

A great recording of Johann Sebastian Bach’s complete Brandenburg Concertos is a must for any music lover. This new release features some of the world’s top early music specialists.

 

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BAROQUE

Nicola Benedetti – violin, Benedetti Baroque Orchestra

Grammy award-winning Scottish-Italian violinist Nicola Benedetti plays Concertos by Antonio Vivaldi and Francesco Geminiani with her newly-formed Benedetti Baroque Orchestra. She enlisted the help of top-tier freelance period instrument performers to form her backup group to make her first baroque music recording.

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CORELLI’S BAND VIOLIN SONATAS

Augusta McKay Lodge – violin, Doug Balliett – violone, Ezra Seltzer – baroque cello, Adam Cockerham – theorbo, Elliott Figg – harpsichord

18th-century Italian violinist, teacher, and composer Arcangelo Corelli paved the way for other musicians with his virtuosity and style. This recording features music by Corelli, as well as Giovanni Mossi, and Giovanni Stefano Carbonelli.

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HILDEGARD VON BINGEN ORDO VIRTUTUM

Seraphic Fire

Patrick Dupre Quigley founded his Florida-based vocal ensemble Seraphic Fire in 2002. The group’s repertory spans centuries of works for the human voice. In 2021, they made this complete recording of ORDO VIRTUTUM – the sacred music drama by Hildegard of Bingen, composed in around the year 1151.

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INFLUENZA ITALIANA

Ensemble Mirable

The San Francisco Bay Area based period instrument group’s members are violinists Elizabeth Blumenstock and Katherine Kyme, cellist and viola da gamba player Joanna Blendulf, guitarist Kevin Cooper, and harpsichordist JungHae Kim. Sharing their contagious love of the music, the title of their recording INFLUENZA ITALIANA is a play on the idea of spreading an infectious Italian Baroque style.

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PELHAM HUMFREY – SACRED CHORAL MUSIC

Joseph McHardy – organ, Choir of the Chapel Royal

This new release focuses on sacred music by 17^th century English composer Pelham Humfrey. Despite living only to age 27, Humfrey was respected and admired enough to have earned the privilege of being buried in Westminster Abbey. The Choir of the Chapel Royal is led by Scottish harpsichordist and organist Joseph McHardy.

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VIVALDI: THE FOUR SEASONS

Cristian Li – violin, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

In 2018, as a 10 year old, Chinese Australian violinist Christian Li became the youngest performer to win the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition for Young Violinists in the Junior Category. He won it playing SUMMER from Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Christian Li made history again as the youngest musician to RECORD Vivaldi’s Four Seasons Concertos. He collaborated with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and it’s a mature and passionate performance.