The stirring young voice of Charles K. L. Davis brings you in this album a number of the world’s favorite arias, his voice ranging from lines of lyric beauty to passages of dramatic power. The melodic splendor of Puccini, the vigor and brilliance of Verdi, the exquisite expressiveness of Mozart – all are here, along with others – demonstrating many styles, moods, and feelings. Members of the New York Philharmonic (The Stadium Symphony Orchestra of New York) are joined by famed Metropolitan Opera conductor Wilfred Pelletier.

There are those who would argue that the Berlin Philharmonic under Herbert von Karajan was a magnificent instrument for the later Romantics Brahms, Bruckner, Wagner, and Strauss. There are others, however, who would argue that Karajan and the BPO were too magnificent for the earlier Romantics Mendelssohn, Schumann, and especially Schubert. They would say that the lushly, plushly, voluptuously sensual sound of the BPO simply overwhelmed the lighter, brighter, and more lyrical early Romantics. And while a few might concede that the BPO may be acceptable in Mendelssohn’s Italian or Schumann’s Rhenish, even they would say that they were all wrong for Schubert.

For the second time on the Phi label, Philippe Herreweghe presents four Bach cantatas written during the first year the composer spent in Leipzig. In relation to the repertoire composed in Weimar, the instrumentarium is enlarged to adapt to the size of the churches of Saint Thomas and Saint Nicholas. But, above all, the instrumental virtuosity is much greater, as are the vocal demands confronting the choirs and solo singers, trained at the time by Bach himself.

The four cantatas selected by Philippe Herreweghe for this recording date from the first year of Bach s activity in Leipzig. Written at a tight pace between late July and early September 1723, they underscore the composer s obvious effort to establish original musical proposals. He continually showed musicians and listeners that he was not serving them routine cantor s music, but was writing sacred music as a true Kapellmeister. In this first volume of Bach cantatas for the PHI label, the Collegium Vocale Gent interprets some of the cantatas for the first time.

The first ever German album of Natalie Dessay (this is her first Schubert album and her first lieder album). 4 Lieder have never been sung by a woman before. recorded with Philipp Cassard (piano) in Berlin, Siemensvilla on November 28th – December 3rd, 2016. Album supported with World Tour Dates in Spring 2017. from Schiller and Goethe to Heine, the Schubertian Lied, which is based on the best German poets, is a reflection of the intimate thoughts of the composer who realizes an outstanding fusion between the poetic verb and the musical lyricism.