Florilegium - Pergolesi: Stabat Mater (2010) [Hi-Res]

The small ensemble Florilegium has gained a reputation as one of Britain's leading period instrument groups, performing in top venues worldwide. With a repertoire ranging from the High Baroque to the early Romantic period, Florilegium has an unusually deep catalog of recordings. Florilegium was founded in 1991 by harpsichordist Neal Peres da Costa and flutist Ashley Solomon, now the group's director. With a core membership of five, they can expand to a much larger size for orchestral and choral performances. A breakthrough in their career was a three-year Ensemble in Residence stint at Wigmore Hall in London from 1998 to 2000. They have also performed at the Frick Collection in New York, the Beethovenhaus in Bonn, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Concertgebouw in Amsterstam, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the Esplanade in Singapore, and the Sydney Opera House. Among their vocal collaborators have been Emma Kirkby and Elin Manahan Thomas.

Florilegium has served as Ensemble in Association at the Royal College of Music, coaching players in 18th century Baroque repertoire.Their greatest renown, however, has come from their recording activities, which began in 1993 with an album of Telemann chamber music on the Dutch label Channel Classics. With few exceptions, they have continued to record for that label. Many of their albums have been reviewed enthusiastically in the Netherlands and beyond, and several have received or been nominated for major awards. An album of Bach cantatas featuring Dutch soprano Johannette Zomer received the Edison Award, the Netherlands' top classical music prize, in 2008. That same year, the group's album Baroque Music from Bolivian Missions was nominated for a BBC Music Magazine award. Their 2014 recording of Bach's complete Brandenburg Concertos, their 25th release, won a Luister 10 Award in the Netherlands. In 2018, among appearances in major cities of the U.K., they issued an album of Telemann's Essercizii Musici. -- James Manheim