Name: AAM at 40
SKU: AAM040
Availability: InStock

AAM at 40

Academy of Ancient Music

2 CD set

£20.00

We are delighted to release this limited edition CD to celebrate 40 years of the Academy of Ancient Music. We hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we have enjoyed the forty years of music making it represents.

The history of AAM is the history of a revolution. During the twentieth century, there were many attempts to look again at the way baroque and classical repertoire was presented at the time of its composition, and to explore the relevance of recreating this style for contemporary audiences. However, many of these experiments succumbed to the polar extremes of either austerity and earnestness or romanticism and lushness. Founding AAM in 1973, Christopher Hogwood took a different approach — an approach rooted in the combination of academic rigour and a desire for direct communication. From these bold initial steps Hogwood and AAM realised baroque and classical masterworks anew, their historically informed performances influencing profoundly the musical life of Europe and beyond.

In everything they did, Hogwood and the academy’s musicians aimed to recapture the intimacy, passion and vitality of music when it is first written. Through scholarship they developed a deep understanding of the music’s original context, through reducing the size of the orchestra they allowed each instrument to shine, restoring the original balance of sound. And through using instruments which were either originals or faithful copies they created a sound which is startling in its immediacy and clarity. Where possible, they also played from first edition scores, stripping away any later additions and returning faithfully to the composer’s original vision.

Alongside a busy concert schedule, Hogwood instituted a recording schedule that has seen the orchestra’s discography grow to over 300 discs. These recordings have been lauded by listeners and critics alike — many of them Brit and Grammy Award-winning. True to Hogwood’s original vision, these have also broken new ground.

Appropriately, disc 1 starts with the ensemble’s very first recording — an overture by Thomas Arne recorded in 1974 — and the compilation concludes with John Taverner’s Eternity’s Sunrise, which was written for AAM.

Joining the orchestra on these discs are outstanding artists who have frequently collaborated with AAM in performance and recording — singers Emma Kirkby (soprano), James Bowman (counter-tenor), Anthony Rolfe Johnson (tenor), Michael George (bass), Catherine Bott (soprano), Cecilia Bartoli (mezzo-soprano), Sarah Connolly (alto) and instrumentalists Gustav Leonhardt, Jaap Schröder, Rachel Podger and Andrew Manze are featured — to name but a few. Fruits of the ongoing collaborations with the choirs of New College, Oxford, and King’s College, Cambridge also feature in this reflection of AAM at 40.

We hope you enjoy this CD - retrospective of the Academy of Ancient Music’s first forty years.

Disc 1

Thomas Arne (1710-1778) - Eight Overtures
- Overture No.3 in G Major 5:07
- Christopher Hogwood (Director)
- Label: Decca
- Catalog Number: 436 859-2
- Year of Release: 1974
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) - Concerto in C Major, RV588
- Allegro molto 5:41
- Andrew Manze (Director & Violin)
- Label: Harmonia Mundi
- Catalog Number: HMU 907230
- Year of Release: 1997
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) - Concerto Grosso, Op.6, No.12 in B Minor
- Larghetto e piano 3:42
- Andrew Manze (Director & Violin)
- Label: Harmonia Mundi
- Catalog Number: HMU 907228-29
- Year of Release: 1998
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) - Concerto in D Minor for Two Violins, BWV1043
- Vivace 3:26
- Rachel Podger (Violin), Andrew Manze (Director & Violin)
- Label: Harmonia Mundi
- Catalog Number: HMU 907155
- Year of Release: 1997
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) - Rinaldo, HWV7
- "Combatti da forte" 3:22
- Cecilia Bartoli (Almirena - Mezzo-Soprano), Christopher Hogwood (Director)
- Label: Decca
- Catalog Number: 467 087-2
- Year of Release: 2000
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736) - Stabat Mater
- Stabat Mater 4:27
- Emma Kirkby (Soprano), James Bowman (Counter-Tenor), Christopher Hogwood (Director)
- Label: Decca
- Catalog Number: 425 692-2
- Year of Release: 1989
Johann Sebastian Bach Harpsichord Concerto in A Major, BWV1055
- Allegro 4:12
- Richard Egarr (Harpsichord), Andrew Manze (Director)
- Label: Harmonia Mundi
- Catalog Number: HMU 907283.84
- Year of Release: 2002
Henry Purcell (1659-1695) - Dido and Aeneas
- "Thy hand Belinda - When I am laid - With drooping wings" 8:26
- Catherine Bott (Dido - Soprano), Christopher Hogwood (Director)
- Label: Decca
- Catalog Number: 475 7195
- Year of Release: 1994
George Frideric Handel - Orlando, HWV31
- "E'questa la mercede - Cielo! Se tu il consenti" 4:38
- James Bowman (Orlando - Counter-Tenor), Christopher Hogwood (Director)
- Label: Decca
- Catalog Number: 430 845-2
- Year of Release: 1991
Johann Sebastian Bach - Violin Concerto No.2 in E Major, BWV1042
- Allegro 7:58
- Jaap Schröder (Violin), Christopher Hogwood (Director)
- Label: Decca
- Catalog Number: 400 080-2
- Year of Release: 1982
Johann Sebastian Bach - St. John Passion, BWV245
- "Es ist vollbracht" 5:30
- Sarah Connolly (Alto), Richard Egarr (Director & Harpsichord)
- Label: AAM Records
- Catalog Number: AAM002
- Year of Release: 2014
George Frideric Handel - Concerto Grosso, Op.3, No.6 in D Major
- Allegro 3:26
- Richard Egarr (Director)
- Label: Harmonia Mundi
- Catalog Number: HMU 907415
- Year of Release: 2007

Disc 2

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) - Requiem, K626
- Introitus 4:11
- The Choir of King's College, Cambridge (Stephen Cleobury, Director)
- Label: KGS0002
- Year of Release: 2013
Johann Wenzel Anton Stamitz (1717-1757) - Sinfonia a 4 in D Major
- Presto 4:24
- Richard Egarr (Director)
- Label: AAM Records
- Catalog Number: AAM001
- Year of Release: 2013
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) - Symphony No.1 in C Major, Op.21
- Menuetto 4:17
- Christopher Hogwood (Director)
- Label: Decca
- Catalog Number: 476 168-6
- Year of Release: 1986
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) - The Creation, Hob. XXI:2
- "Most beautiful appear" 6:45
- Emma Kirkby (Soprano), Anthony Rolfe Johnson (Tenor), Michael George (Bass), Choir of New College, Oxford (Christopher Hogwood, Director)
- Label: Decca
- Catalog Number: 430 397-2
- Year of Release: 1990
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Symphony No.31 in D Major, K297, "Paris"
- Allegro assai 7:04
- Christopher Hogwood (Director)
- Label: Decca
- Catalog Number: 452 496-2
- Year of Release: 1985
Franz Schubert (1797-1828) - Piano Quintet in A Major, D.667, "Trout"
- Scherzo 3:56
- Jaap Schröder (Violin), Christopher Hogwood (Director & Fortepiano)
- Label: Decca
- Catalog Number: 455 724-2
- Year of Release: 1980
Franz Joseph Haydn - Symphony No.24 in D Major, Hob. I:24
- Adagio 3:54
- Performer: Christopher Hogwood (Director)
- Label: Decca
- Catalog Number: 436 082-2
- Year of Release: 1990
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Piano Concerto No.15 in B-flat Major, K450
- Allegro 7:53
- Robert Levin (Fortepiano), Christopher Hogwood (Director)
- Label: Decca
- Catalog Number: 455 814-2
- Year of Release: 1997
Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No.4 in B-flat Major, Op.60
- Allegro non troppo 6:33
- Christopher Hogwood (Director)
- Label: Decca
- Catalog Number: 476 168-6
- Year of Release: 1987
Franz Joseph Haydn - Symphony No.59 in A Major, Hob. I:59, "Feuersymphonie"
- Presto 6:18
- Christopher Hogwood (Director)
- Label: Decca
- Catalog Number: 436 012-2
- Year of Release: 1992
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Symphony No.41 in C Major, K551, "Jupiter"
- Menuetto 5:57
- Christopher Hogwood (Director)
- Label: Decca
- Catalog Number: 452 496-2
- Year of Release: 1985
John Tavener (1944-2013) - Eternity's Sunrise
- Eternity's Sunrise 4:56
- Paul Goodwin (Director)
- Label: HMU 907231
- Year of Release: 1999