Ondine is pleased to announce the debut release of charismatic mezzo-soprano Virpi Räisänen. Having already performed as a successful violinist, Virpi Räisänen has since appeared as a singer at the Staatsoper in Berlin, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Netherlands Opera and the Salzburg Festival with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Ingo Metzmacher in Nono’s opera Al gran sole carico d’amore in 2009 and in the premiere of Wolfgang Rihms’s Dionysos in 2010.

A profoundly modern dimension emerges from this confrontation between English works from the 17th century (Henry Purcell, Matthew Locke) and works from the 20th and 21st centuries (Philippe Hersant, Franck Martin, Thierry Pécou). Coming from highly different musical universes, each composition is, however, largely inspired by the founding themes of Shakespeares play, sometimes taking up excerpts from it.

Great fire will fall from the sky, the cause will appear both stupefying and marvelous. Very soon after, the earth will tremble. As was prophesized by Nostradamus, The Comet Is Coming… Marvel! As it blazes a streak of phosphorescent beauty across the night sky. Listen! As a trailing meteor shower drops hot coals hissing into topographical oceans. Inhale! The burning funk of strange new flavors. The sound of the future… today. Our saviors Danalogue the Conqueror, Betamax Killer and King Shabaka come bearing their debut album Channel The Spirits. A prophetic document. A celebration. The beginning of the end.

For its 16th edition, the Festival produces a poster signed by Jean Tinguely – the source of the Montreux Jazz Festival logo ; still used today as the official logo, it now qualifies as an internationally recognized brand. The Casino stage hosts Jackson Browne, Gilberto Gil, Jimmy Cliff, The Crusaders, Anita O’Day, The Dave Brubeck Quartet, Koko Taylor, Mink Deville, Sippie Wallace, Steve Miller Band, The Modern Jazz Quartet as well as Talking Heads, Milton Nascimento, The Lounge Lizards and Lionel Hampton accompanied by Lou Donaldson, Wynton and Brandford Marsalis. Spectators discover the supergroup A Gathering of Minds, composed of Jack Bruce, Billy Cobham, Didier Lockwood, David Sancious and Alan Holdsworth. Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble come to Montreux for the first time and the Festival welcomes a visitor – a local resident called David Bowie.

"He who has heard my music, must free himself of all human miseries." said Beethoven. When Trio Leos recorded Beethoven's Trio Opus 1 more than two hundred years after their creation, they wished, of course, to join that long tradition of conservation and questioning of the great works of the history of music. Beethoven wanted to abolish the bounds of time.

It was between 1900 and 1930 that Ravel composed these works; from the Menuet Antique right up to La Valse, Europe, and indeed the world, are full of frenzy, acceleration, fury and finally explosion. Did this monstrous machine ever stop? It was at the end of 2015, that Hélène Tysman recorded this disc, and two phrases in particular which inspired her for this programme still resonate: the quotation of Henri de Régnier, highlighting the Valses Nobles et sentimentales, who talks of "the delicious and ongoing pleasure of a useless occupation", and the exchanges between two aristocrats, present at a soirée preceding the 1830 revolution, who observe; "we are dancing on a volcano", a phrase which would inspire Jean Renoir for La règle du jeu in 1939.

Dialogue is the story of a poetic exchange between Laurence Oldak and two composers a century apart: Alexander Scriabin, the centenary of whose death is being commemorated on 14 April 2015, and Kirill Zaborov, a talented contemporary Franco-Russian composer.

The Dutch composer Robin de Raaff has four symphonies to his name. Will De Raaff follow in the footsteps of tradition, or will he give the name, the form, a new meaning, a new direction?

The full details of the soundtrack album for the horror thriller A Quiet Place have been revealed. The album features the film’s original music composed by Marco Beltrami (3:10 to Yuma, Logan, Scream, World War Z, The Hurt Locker, The Wolverine). The soundtrack is set to be released digitally on April 6 and physically on May 11 by Milan Records and is now available for pre-order on Amazon. A Quiet Place is directed by John Krasinski who also stars in the film, alongside Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe. The movie follows a family living an isolated existence in utter silence, for fear of an unknown threat that follows and attacks at any sound. The thriller will be released in theaters nationwide on April 6 by Paramount Pictures.