More wonders from our online Naxos video and music libraries 

John Eliot Gardiner in Rehearsal: J.S.Bach, “Christen, atzet diesen Tag”, BWV 63

Arthaus/Naxos
Arthaus/Naxos

It’s almost hard to imagine a time when orchestral music of the pre-Romantic era was played on anything other than period instruments, so familar have we become with their utterly unique timbres. Watching the great John Eliot Gardiner working with his Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists on this most joyous cantata of Bach, you can see how by going back to the performance practices of Bach’s own time the music doesn’t just breath but positively sparks with electricity. Go straight to chapter 10 and the opening of the cantata if you want to hear what Baroque music is really all about!

King Kong original score by Max Steiner

Sony/Naxos
Sony/Naxos

With King Kong currently chewing up the scenery at the Regent Theatre, it seems only fitting to remind ourselves of what the original 1933 movie actually sounded like. Max Steiner’s extraordinary score remains one of the most important in movie history, not just because it works so well in the film, but because it also helped usher in a golden-age of grand symphonic film music which remains both dazzling and influential to this day. It’s great to see more and more film scores appearing in the Naxos Music Library.

Entertainment by Marc Moulin

Blue Note/Naxos
Blue Note/Naxos

Okay I admit it, I only chose this disc from the Naxos Jazz Library because of that adorable puppy on the cover! But that’s the great thing about these wonderful online collections, you can take a punt and give something a go for whatever reason takes your fancy. As it turns out, I now know that Marc Moulin was a Belgian jazz musician and journalist who wrote some pretty cool music, and if you feel like chilling out you could do worse than go with the dog!

 

And on YouTube, one of the true fathers of the original-instrument brigade, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, performs Christen Atzet Diesen Tag with the wonderfully eccentric Tolzer Knabenchor and the sublimely raucous Concentus Musicus of Vienna. Audio only, but fantastic!

 

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