AllMusic 2017 Year in Review
Favorite Classical Vocal Albums
We traditionally divide our year-end classical coverage into two categories: instrumental music and vocal music, the latter of which is represented here. Interpretations of Mozart, Handel, Haydn and Wagner headline this year's list, along with works by Rachmaninoff, Liszt and Bach.
Alexander Liebreich / Berlin RIAS Chamber Choir / Münchener Kammerorchester
This performance of Mansurian's Requiem makes a fine place to start with ECM's series of the composer's music.
Ann Hallenberg / Il Pomo d'Oro
This is one of those rare recordings that break entirely new ground yet remain a pure pleasure.
Bach Collegium Japan / Masaaki Suzuki
Bach Secular Cantatas, Vol. 8: Celebratory Cantatas
The large, festive secular cantatas here qualify as obscure works well worth a revival.
Baptiste Romain / Le Miroir de Musique
Johannes Tinctoris: Secret Consolations
The Basel-based ensemble Le Miroir de Musique performs the few extant works of 15th century theoretician Johannes Tinctoris.
Barbara Hannigan / Ensemble Ludwig
Virtuoso vocalist, gifted conductor, and theatrical phenomenon, Barbara Hannigan displays her many talents in works by Berio, Berg, and Gershwin.
BBC Symphony Orchestra / Martyn Brabbins
Vaughan Williams: A London Symphony (1920 Version)
Martyn Brabbins and the BBC Symphony Orchestra present the seldom-performed 1920 version of A London Symphony with three Vaughan Williams rarities.
Binchois Consort / Andrew Kirkman
The 100 Years' War provides the framework for this album of Medieval and Renaissance music, sung by the Binchois Consort.
Loves Me... Loves Me Not... : Gluck & Mozart Arias
An unusually satisfying operatic recital, comparing the operatic languages of two composers not often placed side by side.
Cantica Symphonia / La Compagnia del Madrigale / Giuseppe Maletto / Ensemble La Pifarescha
Claudio Monteverdi: Vespro della Beata Vergine
Monteverdi's Vespro della Beata Vergine receives an ecstatic performance from Giuseppe Maletto and three early music ensembles.
Catharina Kroeger / Monica Lonero
Alma Mahler: Lieder und Gesänge; Patrizia Montanaro: Canto di Penelope
The 14 published songs of Alma Mahler are presented by soprano Catharina Kroeger with Patrizia Montanero's Canto di Penelope.
Celestial Sirens / Musica Secreta / Deborah Roberts / Laurie Stras
Lucrezia Borgia's Daughter: Princess, nun and musician
Princess, nun, musician, and the daughter of Lucrezia Borgia, Leonora d'Este may have composed the motets presented on this 2017 Obsidian release.
Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Oxford / Stephen Darlington
The Gate of Glory: Music from the Eton Choirbook, Vol. 5
English polyphony of the 15th century is not for everybody, but here it takes a big step forward in intelligibility.
Daniel Reuss / Cappella Amsterdam / Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century
Beethoven's Missa Solemnis receives a period interpretation by Daniel Reuss and the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century.
Diana Damrau / Emmanuel Villaume / Lyon National Opera Orchestra
This fine anthology by Damrau will help Meyerbeer's cause. Plainly a labor of love, brava!
John Butt and the Dunedin Consort are joined by His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts in this luminous recording of Monteverdi's 1610 Vespers.
Gianandrea Noseda / London Symphony Orchestra
This is a blood-and-guts requiem mass, with big contrasts in dynamics, a substantial choir, and soloists pushed to the edge.
Gloriae Dei Cantores / Peter Jermihov
Rachmaninoff: All-Night Vigil, Op. 37
This is a sensitive, even impassioned performance by any standard, aided by the tempo choices of conductor Peter Jermihov.
Hervé Niquet / Le Concert Spirituel Orchestra & Chorus
Hervé Niquet and Le Concert Spirituel present a re-creation of Lully's Persée, as it was performed in 1770 for Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.
Iestyn Davies / Carolyn Sampson / Joseph Middleton
This is a delightful and offbeat vocal recital with Davies' vocal timbre set off from Sampson's.
Ilker Arcayürek / Simon Lepper
Arcayürek's performance falls into a long Austrian-German tradition. Top-notch Schubert.
Jiří Bělohlávek / Elisabeth Kulman / Eri Nakamura / Michael Spyres / Czech Philharmonic
For the combination of deep feeling and technical mastery from musicians and singers, this is an accomplishment for the ages.
Joyce DiDonato / Michael Spyres / John Nelson
This 2017 concert recording by John Nelson and the Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg presents Berlioz's Les Troyens in its entirety.
Laurence Equilbey / Accentus / Insula Orchestra
Mozart: Coronation Mass; Vesperae solennes de confessore
Equilbey forges clean contrasts between the rich choir and the vibrato-free strings for a superb reading of the Mozart warhorse.
Le Concert Spirituel Orchestra & Chorus / Hervé Niquet
Hervé Niquet and Le Concert Spirituel celebrate 30 years together with this performance of the 1754 version of Handel's Messiah.
Marc Minkowski / Les Musiciens du Louvre - Grenoble
Minkowski and musicians deliver an interpretation that is sharp and biting.
Marco Beasley / Pierre Pitzl / Private Musicke
Meraviglia d'amore: Love Songs from 17th-century Italy
This is of a rather specialized nature, but is still entirely listenable and even enchanting for the general listener.
A French song recording in which everything comes together.
Mark Elder leads the Hallé Orchestra in this recording of Parsifal, presented at the BBC Proms for the Wagner bicentennial.
Martin Baker / Westminster Cathedral Choir
Both sumptuous and informative, this is a superior Sheppard recording.
Matthias Goerne / Simon O'Neill / Jaap van Zweden / Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra
Jaap van Zweden and the Hong Kong Philharmonic present the third music drama in Wagner's Ring, Siegfried.
Tutta Bella! A Venetian Christmas Revels
Megan Henderson leads arts ensemble The Revels in lively performances of Renaissance music, evoking Christmas celebrations in Venice.
Michael Rafferty / Music Theatre Wales
The Trial is the first Philip Glass opera to receive its premiere in the U.K., and this recording is taken from the 2014 premiere.
Michele Pasotti / La Fonte Musica
This collection of late medieval music of the Ars Nova is performed by Michele Pasotti and La Fonte Musica.
If you think you've heard every possibility in recording English Renaissance choral music, get to know ORA through this release.
The fourth volume in the Orlando Consort's series of Machaut's vocal music presents love songs on the subject of idealized beauty.
Revelatory Haydn in the way the historical instruments combine with the large forces to produce a truly mighty sound.
The virtuosic castrati arias in Handel's operas are explored by countertenor Philippe Jaroussky and his period ensemble Artaserse.
Regula Mühlemann is Cleopatra in this 2017 Sony release of Baroque arias, showcasing her virtuoso technique and expressive powers.
René Jacobs / Berlin RIAS Chamber Choir / Freiburger Barockorchester
René Jacobs and the Freiburger Barockorchester present Pierre-Henri Dutron's 2016 revision of Süssmayr's completion of Mozart's Requiem.
Renée Fleming / Sakari Oramo / Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
Fleming has always had a flair for material originating from the popular sphere, but her work here is exceptional.
This 2017 Erato release by soprano Sabine Devieilhe has multiple strengths that propelled it onto the charts.
Simon Rattle / London Symphony Orchestra
A fine Pelléas, and a suggestion of how effective the semi-staged medium can be for recorded opera.
Parle Qui Veut: Moralizing Songs of the Middle Ages
For its debut on Linn, the Sollazzo Ensemble presents 14th century moralizing songs that reflect the traditions of the trouvères and troubadours.
Divine Theatre: Sacred Motets by Giaches de Wert
A superior album of Renaissance sacred music, featuring pieces new to most listeners.
The Sixteen / Harry Christophers
Claudio Monteverdi: The Selva Morale e Spirituale Collection
This reissued set of Selva Morale e Spirituale, performed by Harry Christophers and The Sixteen, marks the 450th anniversary of Monteverdi's birth.
The Sixteen / Harry Christophers
Francis Poulenc: Mass in G; Un Soir de neige; Litanies a la Vierge Noire; Etc.
Uniquely satisfying results even for those who already have plenty of Poulenc or plenty of The Sixteen.
The Sixteen / Harry Christophers
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Vol. 7
Either alone or as part of the Sixteen's ongoing project, this is a highly recommended outing.
Thomas Hampson / Catherine Wyn-Rogers / Daniel Barenboim / Staatskapelle Berlin / Andrew Staples
In this reading by Barenboim, the work emerges as positively operatic, with impressive results.
Timothy Fallon / Ammiel Bushakevitz
Timothy Fallon sings some of the less familiar Lieder of Franz Liszt, who composed songs throughout his career.
Visions finds Gens absolutely at the top of her powers. A really thrilling release.