Najpiękniejsze arie z oratoriów Jerzego Fryderyka Haendla w wykonaniu solistów - Iestyn Davies i Carolyn Sampson oraz zespołu King´s Consort pod dyrekcją Roberta Kinga.
Bardzo popularny za swojego życia Agostino Steffani wywierał także duży wpływ na takich kompozytorów jak Handel, J.S. Bach i Telemann. Po jego śmierci jego twórczość popadła w zapomnienie. Dzięki dyrygentowi Thomasowi Hengelbrockowi opera Steffaniego pt. "Niobe, regina di Tebe" zosatła wznowiona w 2008 roku. Na płycie prezentowane jest przedstawienie z The Royal Opera z 2010 roku. Soliści to Véronique Gens, Iestyn Davies i polski kontratenor Jacek Laszczkowski. Jest to premiera fonograficzna kompletnej opery.en masterpiece.
Specjalne wydawnictwo dedykowane wyjątkowemu wśród głosów męskich - kontratenorowi, którego popularność przeżywamy dziś ze zdwojoną siłą. Na płycie znalazły się najsłynniejsze z ról przeznaczonych na ten głos w wykonaniu największych artystów sceny wokalnej, aktywnych na przestrzeni ostatnich dwudziestu lat. Są wśród nich: Philippe Jaroussky, Andreas Scholl, Iestyn Davies, Gerard Lesne, James Bowman, Dominique Visse i David D.Q. Lee.
Stephen Layton’s first disc of Lukaszewski’s choral works (with The Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge) was widely praised by listeners entranced by the composer’s unique yet accessible musical language. For this new release Layton and Polyphony, together with the Britten Sinfonia and a team of world-class soloists, have taken on a major work which is destined to become a modern classic in the vein of Tavener’s The Veil of the Temple or Pärt’s St John Passion. Via Crucis is a dramatization of the Stations of the Cross, a musical reading of this most solemn journey that evolves through its 55-minutes in an arc of culminatory ritual power.Lukaszewski's reputation is growing rapidly, and rightly so … Here, Christ's victory over death enables Lukaszewski to end on a triumphant coda that carries a primal power recalling Orff's Carmina Burana and Penderecki's St Luke Passion … All the performers evince an emotional commitment to the content as well as to accurate technical realisation of the music. The purity of sound achieved by Polyphony's sopranos and countertenor Iestyn Davies is notable, so too is Roger Allam's sonorous narration' (BBC Music Magazine)."A composer with a profound understanding of the technical and emotional range of the human voice … The shining writing for the countertenor Evangelist (performed by the outstanding Iestyn Davies) … and the Resurrectional blaze of the final 'Christus vincit'. This string of moments, by turns bright and oppressively dark, dramatic and reflective, receives a performance of the very deepest conviction by Polyphony and the Britten Sinfonia under Stephen Layton, and the recorded sound is wonderful" - (Gramophone).
British countertenor Iestyn Davies is one of the fastest rising stars on the concert and opera circuit. Following his highly acclaimed recording of Porpora cantatas, he returns for a second solo album with Hyperion, a selection of arias written for Gaetano Guadagni. Italian-born Guadagni was the first ‘modern’ castrato, famed all over Europe for the lyric purity of his voice and his powerful, naturalistic acting style. Not only did he enjoy a close artistic relationship with Handel, who nurtured Guadagni’s voice to fit the alto roles in his English oratorios, but he effectively created the role of Orpheus in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, an opera he thoroughly made his own. Here, Iestyn Davies is joined again by the renowned period-instrument band Arcangelo, directed by Jonathan Cohen