Japan Only CD featuring the rare and sought after "Rhythm of Life (Gospella version)

‘virtuosissimo’ is a photograph of an influential moment in music history. With this new album, Dmitry Sinkovsky - a dazzlingly multi-talented artist, a brilliant violinist, countertenor, conductor -goes beyond Vivaldi and his influences: as well as Pisendel, he plays works by Locatelli, Tartini, Leclair and Telemann, all of whom enriched the early 18th Century violin repertoire with opulent, highly personal works focusing on soloistic bravura.

My Dying Bride is a veteran English doom and gothic metal band known for serpentine compositions, dark, brooding atmospherics, beautifully produced recordings and a theatrical stage presence. Though they began as a "slower-than-usual" death metal band with brutal recordings such as 1993's As the Flower Withers and Turn Loose the Swans, the slow, dark, atmospherically brooding nature of their later recording such as 1999's The Light at the End of the World and 2001's The Dreadful Hours were invested with both classical and romantic themes, and found them ushering in gothic metal; they were also a prime influence on the second wave of doom metal alongside Anathema and Paradise Lost, the so-called "Peaceville Three" (all three bands were signed to the label at the time).

Ballads, which really seems to make ballads out of ballads, has been considered both worthy of hanging on the museum wall alongside the other masterpieces and being accorded special merit as the jazz record most used for background music. Since no less a genius than the great French composer Erik Satie invented the concept of background music, this might not be such a contradiction or insult. Only the short "Circles" invites a real comparison with the piano music of Satie; elsewhere you're in extremely extended territory, Paul Bley's desire to play the slowest music in history meshing with a new style of rhythm section accompaniment that sounds like everything from tuning the drums to adjusting the drapes.

The Argentinian composer Carlos Guastavino (1912-2000) was unafraid to distance himself from contemporary modernism. He resolutely followed his own path, leaving experimentation to others, creating a catalogue of over 500 intimate, autobiographical works harking back to the 19th century, many of them for voice and piano. In keeping with the aesthetic of these songs, this album has been given a ‘vintage’ sound quality, evocative of the 45 and 78 rpm records of a bygone era. Guastavino studied chemical engineering in the Argentinian town of Santa Fe, before going to Buenos Aires in 1938, having received a district grant to study music at the National Conservatory.

Rares sont les compositeurs qui ont réussi à écrire des oeuvres destinées aux enfants en restant eux-mêmes, sans faire la moindre concession sur leur style ou sur leur langage. Qu’ils aient créé des pièces techniquement simples pour les apprentis pianistes ou faciles à écouter pour de jeunes auditeurs, Jean-Sébastien Bach avec le Petit livre d’Anna-Magdalena Bach ou Bela Bartok avec Microcosmos ont réussi la prouesse de produire une littérature « pédagogique » qui accompagne le développement des enfants et qui marque de façon indélébile leur mémoire d’adultes en ne faisant aucune concession sur le plan esthétique. Piotr Ilitch Tchaïkovski, Sergueï Prokofiev et Aram Khachaturian dont les les langages respectifs reposent souvent sur une rhétorique de la virtuosité ont relevé le même défi et ont composé trois sommets du répertoire pédagogique pour le piano. S’inspirant quelquefois des musiques populaires de leurs pays respectifs, ils font référence aux thématiques poétiques de chères à tout enfant : la danse, les jeux et les animaux. C’est la joie et la légèreté qui caractérisent ces cycles qui hanteront les « doux rêves » de leurs auditeurs.

What’s in a title? When a composer sets out to compose, very often inspiration comes in the form of works of various length that do not have a specific designation. It was the case for Bach’s preludes from the Well-tempered Clavier, Beethoven’s bagatelles, or Chopin’s preludes – all works that were perhaps too short as standalone pieces, but that eventually found their way into larger collections. Today we view these as cohesive sets, though it was never the original intention.

French composer Yann Tiersen has written music for various instruments, including guitar, piano, synthetizer, violin, accordion, xylophone, and melodica. Some of his compositions have been used in film scoring, such as “Amélie”, whose soundtrack primarily features excerpts from his first three studio albums (“La Valse des monstres”, “Rue des cascades”, and “La Phare”). The present recording features Tiersen’s original solo piano works selected from his very first album, but also from “L’Absente”, “Les Retrouvailles,” and from his last work - “EUSA”. It also includes some piano works found in the soundtracks for “Amélie” and “Goodbye Lenin!”.

The duo formed by violinist Alberto Bologni and pianist Giuseppe Bruno is one of the most long-standing ensembles on the Italian scene. During thirty-five years of activity together, in which they have performed hundreds of concerts, we are happy to announce two important recordings made for our label, OnClassical: and, yes, the first is dedicated to Ludwig van Beethoven.

Wordsound Records released the debut extended play by MC Paul Barman called It's Very Stimulating. This EP is notable for being produced by Prince Paul. 2000 is the copyright on the CD.

Rhythm Of Life is a four song CD3 (3 inch CD) released by Ubiquity Records. A sampler for the label, it highlights some of the material they were releasing at the time.

Radio Megamix (US promo CD single)] is a promotional 1-song CD single in support of the compilation album Ultimate Dance Party 1997. It is a megamix to promote the comp disc and may be of interest for those who enjoy megamix or would like to utilize this to play an assortment of songs rather than focus on one. This was released by Arista.

After an acclaimed first installment, Inon Barnatan, Alan Gilbert and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields complete their Beethoven piano concertos diptych. This recording project bears the fruit of longstanding and profound musical friendships, and – surprisingly – offers the first integral recording of Beethoven piano concertos by the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, one of the most-recorded ensembles in the world of classical music. While the 2nd Piano Concerto is fairly Mozartian in spirit, the famous 5th “Emperor” Concerto reveals Beethoven’s full maturation, and is one of the most popular piano concertos to this very day. These pieces are complemented by two rarities: Beethoven’s arrangement for piano and orchestra of his Violin Concerto, as well as his Choral Fantasy, a small-scale forerunner of his epic “Choral” Ninth Symphony. Inon Barnatan is one of the most admired pianists of his generation (New York Times). The Academy of St Martin in the Fields has built a consistent repertoire with the label throughout the years. Alan Gilbert made his PENTATONE debut with Beethoven Piano Concertos Part 1 in 2019.

Most musicians would at least be considering the idea of retirement by the time they reach their mid-seventies, but most musicians aren't Sonny Rollins. After a five-year recording hiatus, Rollins returned from a Japanese tour and took his band into the studio to cut Sonny, Please. It's the first release on his own Doxy label, coming after a monumental 35-year stay at Milestone that produced some of the most forward-looking, trend-setting jazz ever captured on tape.

Beat-oriented freestylism with Namlook mostly in charge of melodies (some dark some light) while Atom Heart pounds out some morphing drum tracks through various alienating filters. All the Jet Chamber releases demonstrate some interesting live-sounding interaction: drums react to melodies and vice versa. JC1 ranges from being quite musical to more abstract wind-tunnel howlings with reverb the size of airplane hangers.