Dear Sunday Baroque listener,

Requests for CD information are the most frequent questions I receive – whether it's the details on a particular recording you've heard on the program or suggestions for building a personal CD collection. The Sunday Baroque Holiday Gift List is a way for me to share some of my recent favorites, and let you know what your fellow listeners are asking about. It's also a way to give you gift ideas for the music lovers on your list this holiday season.

Throughout December, you'll hear selections from a few gift list CDs on every program so you can audition them for yourself. Most of these recordings have received rave reviews from music critics, and they've stood out as special and noteworthy to Sunday Baroque listeners like you. Some of the recordings feature well-known music and composers, while others offer alternatives that are less well-known, but just as deserving of attention.

Whether you're planning to buy music for yourself or a friend, or whether you'd just like to enjoy listening to the best of the best of recent releases in the coming weeks, I hope you’ll find pleasing music to enhance your holiday season.

Warm regards,

Suzanne

TOMASO ALBINONI SONATE DA CHIESA. OPERA QUARTA (Genuin 10184)
Jaime Gonzalez – oboe, Asa Akerberg – cello, Thomas C. Boysen - lute, Martin Muller – harpsichord
The performers wanted to program baroque repertory that would add a rewarding variety to what is available on the market and not be simply a repetition of well-known pieces recorded for the "umpeenth time." If you're a fan of baroque music, and want to branch out from the basics, this recording is a perfect choice.

ALLA LUCE (Chatham Baroque CB-01)
Chatham Baroque
The musicians of Chatham Baroque are Andrew Fouts (baroque violin), Patricia Halverson (viola da gamba) and Scott Pauley (theorbo and baroque guitar); based in Pittsburgh, each member of the group has played with top early music groups around the US and the world. On ALLA LUCE, the trio explored music by Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger (c.1580-1651) with guest artists Allison Edberg (violin), Daniela Giulia Pierson (viola), William Carter (theorbo and baroque guitar), Philip Anderson (tenor) and Gregory Purnhagen (baritone). Not much is known about Kapsberger except that he was a virtuoso lutenist. This recording, so full of energy and high spirit, lets us experience Kapsberger's musical talents.

THOMAS A. ARNE OVERTURES AND CANTATAS (Centaur CRC 3072)
Capella Savaria Baroque Orchestra, Mary Terey Smith
The Hungarian period instrument group, Capella Savaria, introduces us to the tuneful and charming music of Thomas Augustine Arne. The composer was a prolific writer of stage works, although only a fraction of them survive today. This recording features overtures from Arne's masque KING ARTHUR, the oratorio JUDITH, and the opera ELIZA, among other offerings.

BACH: A STRANGE BEAUTY (Sony 81742)
Simone Dinnerstein – piano, Kammerorchester Staatskapelle Berlin
Pianist Simone Dinnerstein has a special affinity for Johann Sebastian Bach's music – hearing the genius in the way the composer deviates from the expected, and is expressive and soulful in unusual ways. Her all-Bach recording, BACH: A STRANGE BEAUTY, has piano solos as well as some with orchestral accompaniment.

ICH HATTE VIEL BEKUMMERNIS: KONZERTE UND SINFONIEN FUR OBOE (ECM new Series 2229)
Heinz Holliger – oboe, Camerata Bern
A half century ago, Swiss oboist Heinz Holliger won first prize in the International Competition in Geneva, launching his career as one of the world's great oboe players. He has inspired contemporary composers to write imaginative and challenging music for the instrument, and he led the way for the performance of long neglected baroque and early music featuring oboe. Holliger's 2011 recording with Camerata Bern allowed him to focus on Bach’s "miraculous wealth of solo parts for oboe or oboe d’amore."

LA GENIALE (ATMA Classique ACD2 2606)
Les Boreades
The Montreal period instrument group Les Boreades offers a collection of Italian Baroque Concertos and Sinfonias. LA GENIALE translates to THE BRILLIANT ONE, and this recording features virtuosic music by Alessandro Scarlatti, Antonio Vivaldi, Tomaso Albinoni and Giuseppe Torelli.

MATTEO 300 YEARS OF AN ITALIAN CELLO (Oxingale OX2018)
Matt Haimovitz – cello
Matteo Goffriller (1659-1742) was a Venetian instrument maker who crafted Matt Haimovitz's cello. Haimovitz celebrated the 300th anniversary of his instrument and his own 40th birthday in 2010 with this recording of Ricercars by Domenico Gabrielli. It's some of the earliest unaccompanied cello music written, and Haimovitz juxtaposed it with contemporary works, including Luciano Berio, Luigi Dallapiccola, Brian Cherney and Claudio Ambrosini. Gramophone’s review described it as, "A Fabergé egg of musical delights." I agree!

MURRAY PERAHIA PLAYS BACH CONCERTOS (Sony 82429)
Murray Perahia – piano, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
For decades, pianist Murray Perahia was best known for his performances of Classical and Romantic era music. But he experienced a career-threatening thumb injury in the early 90s, and it brought him back to music by Johann Sebastian Bach – listening to recordings, at first, because he still couldn’t play. Eventually, when he could play again, he turned to Bach's music. In the early 2000s, Murray Perahia released Concertos by Bach, and they were recently re-released in a comprehensive 3-CD set. It's nearly three hours of music that includes performances of Concertos BWV 1052-1058, the Triple Concerto in a for Flute, Violin and Harpsichord, BWV 1044; Brandenburg Concerto #5, and the "Italian" Concerto in F Major, BWV 971. It's a comprehensive collection of beloved Concertos, performed beautifully.

THE SACRED MYSTERIES THE ROSARY SONATAS FOR VIOLIN & CONTINUO (Lyrichord LEMS 8079)
Leah Gale Nelson – baroque violin, Daniel Swenberg - theorbo, Dongsok Shin - organ
Heinrich Biber dedicated his 15 Rosary Sonatas to his boss, Archbishop Maximilian Gandolph. The Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious Mystery Sonatas were crafted as accompaniment for meditation and prayer. The music is dramatic and intense, and very difficult to play, and this fine recording is especially well done.

SECRET VOICES - MUSIC FROM LAS HUELGAS, C.1300 (Harmonia Mundi HMU 807510)
Anonymous 4
The women of the a capella group Anonymous 4 reach back to the 13th century, singing sacred music from a manuscript contained in a Spanish convent. Haunting, uplifting, and unusual – this music opens a rare window into the musical life of women from an ancient era.

SUNDAY BAROQUE – MUSICAL GIFTS (Sunday Baroque SB-1101)
Various performers including Michala Petri, Emma Kirkby, Les Violons du Roy (King's Violins), Toronto Consort, Worcester Cathedral Choir and La Petite Bande de Montreal.(ONLY AVAILABLE WHEN YOU CONTRIBUTE TO YOUR LOCAL PUBLIC RADIO STATION)

VIVALDI & FRIENDS (AVIE 2211)
Apollo’s Fire Baroque Orchestra, Jeannette Sorrell
Antonio Vivaldi receives a lot of teasing for being such a prolific composer of concertos, but well respected musicians including Johann Sebastian Bach admired and copied Vivaldi. This recording features Vivaldi's Concerto in b for 4 violins RV580, as well as Bach's transcription of it, the Concerto for 4 harpsichords BWV1065. The Cleveland period instrument group's collection also includes Vivaldi's beguiling setting of LA FOLIA, the Summer Concerto from the Four Seasons, and a Concerto for 2 cellos. The tasty encore is a Concerto in d for 2 violas da gamba by "Duchiffre" – aka cellist Rene Schiffer, who contributes this loving 21st century take on a concerto in the baroque style.

VIVALDI GODS, EMPERORS & ANGELS (AIVE 2201)
La Serenissima, Adrian Chandler
The title of this all-Vivaldi recording refers to the many "highnesses" Antonio Vivaldi was connected to: the mythological god Apollo he compared to one of those emperors, and the "angelic" talents of his Venetian students. La Serenissima is a British period instrument group, and these Concertos show off their broad range of talents – virtuosic bassoon, recorder and violin playing by Peter Whelan, Pamela Thorby, and Adrian Chandler, respectively. If you enjoy Vivaldi's Concertos but already own the basics, this is a perfect way to broaden your collection with compelling but less well known Concertos.