2022 Holiday Gift List

Harpsichordist and conductor Mahan Esfahani is carving out a broad-ranged career playing standard harpsichord repertory from the baroque repertory, as well as working with contemporary composers and collaborating with major symphony orchestras on four continents. This all-Bach recording by Mahan Esfahani shows off his superlative skills as a soloist.

Grammy-winning American guitarist Jason Vieaux released volume 1 of his recordings of Johann Sebastian Bach’s works for lute in 2009. It took until April 2022 for him to release volume 2. This is a lovely introduction to music by Bach, beautifully performed by a world-class musician.

Cantica Obsoleta is a recording that spotlights music from The Düben archive – it’s a collection of 2300 music manuscripts used to entertain the Royal Swedish Court in Stockholm. The music in the archive hasn’t been recorded – and some hadn’t even been published – and this recording shines a light on some of this lovely yet forgotten music by composers including Johann Heinrich Schmelzer, Caterina Giani, Giacomo Carissimi, Johann Philipp Krieger, Christian Geist, Samuel Capricornus, and others. The instrumental ensemble Acronym is joined by four top-tier solo singers.

What a treat to learn more about the trailblazing musician Elisabeth Claude Jacquet de La Guerre and her impressive body of work! Amarillis ensemble, led by their longtime artistic director, the French-Swiss Baroque oboeand recorder player Héloïse Gaillard, performs two cantatas and two instrumental pieces by Elisabeth Claude Jacquet de La Guerre.

Soprano Jeanine De Bique’s debut solo recording MIRRORS, with Concerto Köln led by Luca Quintavalle, is a gorgeous collection of baroque arias by George Frideric Handel, Carl Heinrich Graun, and Georg Philipp Telemann. Jeanine De Bique is making a splash internationally with her impressive collaborations with such ensembles and musicians as the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel, Martin Fröst and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, and the Vienna Philharmonic and Herbert Blomstedt. This recording highlights the breadth of her musicianship.

Baroque violin player Rachel Podger plays solo repertoire from several European composers of the baroque era: Johann Sebastian Bach, Johann Joseph Vilsmayr, Nicola Matteis Jr., Johann Paul von Westhoff, and Giuseppe Tartini. Ms. Podger is a world-class musician (and a charming person – check out her conversation with Sunday Baroque host Suzanne Bona in the podcast section of SundayBaroque.org) This is a lovely way to enjoy the purity and elegant tone of the solo violin.

Infusion Baroque is a quartet of musicians based in Canada – all graduates of McGill University. Their 2022 recording VIRTUOSA celebrates women in music from the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods: Anna Bon di Venezia, Wilhelmine von Bayreuth, Anna Amalia of Prussia, and Maddalena Laura Sirmen. This terrific recording by outstanding musicians is a welcome addition to any music-lover’s library!

Julien Chauvin and his Concert de la Loge are featured in this 2022 volume of violin concertos in the ongoing Vivaldi Edition. These concertos are linked to Johann Georg Pisendel (1687-1755), who was konzertmeister at the Dresden Court chapel, and a student and friend of Vivaldi. These are less well-known that some of Vivaldi’s other Concertos, but they are equally lovely and they are expertly performed.

Jeannette Sorrell is a Grammy-winning American conductor and keyboard player, and founder of Apollo’s Fire period instrument ensemble in Cleveland. She and her group collaborated with Spanish violinist Francisco Fullana on a passionate recording of music by Antonio Vivaldi – his Four Seasons Concerts and Jeannette Sorrell’s arrangement of Vivaldi’s LA FOLLIA. The performers leaned into the imagery of the sonnets that Vivaldi included with each movement of his Four Seasons. (Hear Jeannette Sorrell talk about their approach to the music in her Sunday Baroque Conversations podcast interview with Suzanne Bona.)