Focus on Flowers

This week, the Harmonia Traditions Series celebrates the holidays with a Baroque Christmas, including popular works from Germany, France, and Italy, along with a few surprises. Plus, a new release of Robert Dowland's Musical Banquet with Monika Mauch and Nigel North.

What's in a name? Apparently, plenty since the middle ages. The Harmonia Traditions Series continues this week with a look at the celebration of name days and birthdays. Early music composed for both special events will be heard along with a new release by harpsichordist Elizabeth Farr.

If singing has always been part of the human experience, then dancing is surely its equal. This week the Harmonia Traditions Series explores dancing from medieval Italy to 18th-century Scotland, as well as a new release of music by Hieronymous Praetorius.

Harmonia looks at early wedding music this week in continuation of the Traditions Series - medieval wedding songs, music from Renaissance and Baroque royal celebrations, and excerpts from a wedding cantata by J.S. Bach. Also, performs in a new release on the Naxos label.

A new release from the Alpha label brings us Bruno Cocset in a program of cello sonatas by Francesco Geminiani. We'll also have a look at Geminiani's orchestral arrangements of the op. 5 violin sonatas by Corelli.

Today, the Thanksgiving holiday can mean many things to a multitude of people. This was not necessarily the case for those who celebrated it over two hundred years ago. This week, the Harmonia Traditions Series looks at Thanksgiving in early America… plus a new release by the English choir Ex Cathedra.

The Harmonia Mundi label brings us Renaissance music by Jewish composers with the viola da gamba consort Fretwork. We'll also hear the ensemble in an earlier recording of music from the Odhecaton.

Singing has always been part of the human experience. Songs express emotion in myriad ways when words alone fall short. The Harmonia Traditions Series continues this week with an exploration of traditional songs and hymns from many cultures…and a new release by the Bach Collegium Japan.

The tragic stories of two famous Christian figures are at the center of oratorios by Stradella (San Giovanni Battista) and Alessandro Scarlatti (Il Martirio di Santa Cecilia). Alessandro de Marchi leads the Academia Montis Regalis in the Stradella while Scarlatti's oratorio receives its premiere recording under Diego Fasolis and I Barocchisti.