Chants, Chestnuts and Other Joyful Noise

Rene Jacobs combines scholarship and passion and elicits splendid performances of this thrilling music, especially from four faultless soloists: soprano Dorothea Roschmann, countertenor Andreas Scholl, tenor Werner Gura and baritone Klaus Hager. The rich score emerges urgent yet unforced, pristine and powerful. The choir and instrumental ensemble are models of accuracy and style, linking immaculate execution with textual intensity.

Recordings are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good), four stars (excellent).