Academy of Ancient Music (1973- )

The astonishing 19-year-old Dutch recorder player returns to take us on a journey around Baroque Europe, showcasing the most virtuosic music from her native Netherlands, as well as Germany, Italy, France, Spain and England. Highlights from the album include Handel's Arrival of the Queen of Sheba, Bach's Badinerie and the world premiere recording of a concerto by Jacques-Christophe Naudot and Dido's Lament by Purcell. For her second album, Lucie is...

Handel's most beloved of all oratorios was performed by fewer than forty instrumentalist and a chorus, less than thirty strong, of boy trebles and men. This is the tradition to which this performance has returned to. Members of the Academy all play instruments of the period or accurate modern copies. The soloists improvised embellishments in the arias and, in certain cases, join in the singing of the choruses, just as they would have done 240 years...