Jean-Baptiste Lully's “heroic pastoral” Acis et Galatée was his last completed opera, findshed short months before his death in 1687. It was conceived as an entertainment to be included in the festivities organised by Louis-Joseph de Bourbon, Duc de Vendôme, and his friends Charles-Auguste, Marquis de La Fare,

Presented here in the order Op. 54 Nos. 2, 1 and 3, following the order of the Longman and Broderip editions, the Quatuor Psoophos present beautifully fresh renditions of three glorious Haydn string quartets. Founded in 1997 at the National Conservatory of Music in Lyon, the quartet then worked with

Released just a few days ago on October 15, this Mahler Fifth follows on from Bychkov's Mahler Fourth (with soprano Chen Reiss) which we will be covering here on Classical Explorer in a later post. We had a relatively recent post that included a Mahler Fifth Symphony here:

It's not often I begina post with a music example, but if you have never heard of Pieter Hellendaal (1721-1799) before, have a listen to this, the Ouverture to the first piece heard here, the Grand Concerto in G-Minor, Op. 3/1: Several things stand out - the

Haydn The Seasons, Hob. XXI:3 (sung in English, translation McCreesh). Rachel Nichols (soprano, Hannah); Benjamin Hulett (tenor, Lucas); Jonathan Lemalu (bass, Simon); Nina Dunn Studio (video & projection design); Martin Parr (staging director); The Academy of Ancient Music Chorus and Orchestra  / Laurence Cummings. Barbican Centre,, London, 4.10.2022

Puccini Tosca (sung in English, translated by Edmund Tracey). Cast; Chorus and Orchestra of English National Opera / Leo Hussain. London Coliseum, St Martin’s Lane, London, 30.09.2022 Production: Director – Christof Loy Associate Director – Georg Zlabinger Designer – Christain Schmidt Associate set designer – Federica Pacher Associate costume designer – Uta Baatz