The baroque ensemble Artemandoline and the renowned soprano Nuria Rial are set to release their new album Venice’s Fragrance on June 12th, on the German label Sony, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi and on the French label Sony France.

Semyon Alexeyevich Barmotin was a student of Balakirev and Rimsky-Korsakov, and his fate under the Soviet regime in the 1930s remains a mystery, but what survives of his music is impressive in both scale and content. These world première recordings are filled with colour and contrast: the Tema con variazioni transforms its material into a multitude of moods to conclude in a symphonic march, while the 20 Preludes are striking in their sophisticated harmonies and heightened emotional impact.

Aurora Orchestra’s debut album for Deutsche Grammophon, ‘Music Of The Spheres’, featuring memorised performances, will be released in June.

Animals is a compilation album by the Scottish hard rock band Nazareth, released in 2005. Nazareth are a Scottish hard rock band formed in 1968, that had several hits in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s, and established an international audience with their 1975 album Hair of the Dog. Perhaps their best-known hit single was a cover of the ballad "Love Hurts", in 1975. The band continues to record and tour.

One of the most interesting aspects about the Alan Parsons Project is the band's ability to forge a main theme with each of its songs, while at the same time sounding extremely sharp and polished. Much of this formula is used in Ammonia Avenue, only this time the songs rise above Parsons' overall message due to the sheer beauty of the lyrics partnered with the luster of the instruments. The album touches upon how the lines of communication between people are diminishing, and how we as a society grow more spiritually isolated and antisocial. But aside from the philosophical concepts prevalent in the lyrics, it is the music on this album that comes to the forefront.

The second work by Ralph Alessi on CAM Jazz, after the successful debut of “Cognitive Dissonance”. This time the trumpet player shares the honor of appearing on the cover with Fred Hersch, a pianist of great class, who is in perfect accord with his partner in adventure. “Only Many” is prevalently a CD for four hands, proof of the great complicity created in the studio at the time of the recording.

Bill Nelson - The Dreamshire Chronicles (2012) {2CD Set, Sonoluxe CD024}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 812 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 292 Mb
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© 2012 Sonoluxe / Bill Nelson | CD024
Rock / Alternative / Ambient / Experimental / Modern Instrumental / Guitar

'The Dreamshire Chronicles' is a double album, written and recorded in a sort of waking trance. I wasn't quite sure, when I began work on the project, what the concept of 'Dreamshire' might mean. Now, with hindsight, it seems to be about a haunted realm filled with beautiful ghosts. It's a place built on memory and fantasy, sometimes brightly lit, sometimes pale and flickering, shadowy. The two discs feature solid arrangements, but with nebulous overtones, big walls of sound that are also fragile and delicately transparent. 'Dreamshire' exists in a time and space somewhere between twilight and dawn.

Gil Evans - Svengali (1973) {2012 Japan Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series WPCR-27049}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 274 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 97 Mb
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© 1973, 2012 Warner Japan / Atlantic / WEA / Rhino | WPCR-27049 / 8122- 79693-3
Jazz / Modern Big Band / Fusion / Post Bop / Progressive Jazz

Features 24 bit remastering and comes with a mini-description. This is one of Gil Evans's finest recordings of the 1970s. He expertly blended together acoustic and electronic instruments, particularly on an exciting rendition of "Blues in Orbit" (which includes among its soloists a young altoist named David Sanborn). All six selections have their memorable moments (even a one-and-a-half minute version of "Eleven"); colorful solos are contributed by guitarist Ted Dunbar, Howard Johnson on tuba and flügelhorn, the passionate tenor of Billy Harper, and bassist Herb Bushler, among others; and Evans's arrangements are quite inventive and innovative. Rarely would he be so successful in balancing written and improvised sections in his later years.

The group is call Billy Cobham’s Art of 5 and features Donald Harrison, Guy Barker, Julian Joseph, and Robert Hurst. I could tell from the line-up not to expect any Mahavishnu covers or “out there” fusion excursions, and what I got was what I expected: well-rendered post-bop with tasteful flourishes courtesy of Cobham. He really is a superb technician, and he follows soloists in ways I had yet to hear other drummers even attempt. He also seems to have incorporated the vocabulary of his “fusion” drumming into that of his “jazz” drumming, as evidenced by his fiery, unexpected press rolls and his rapid, quick-as-lightning kick drum hits.

Cissy Houston - Presenting Cissy Houston (1970) {2012 Remastered & Expanded - Soul Music Records SMCR5054}
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© 1970, 2012 Janus Records / Soul Music Records | SMCR 5054
R'n'B / Soul / Retro Soul

Cissy Houston's solo debut album from 1970 ("Presenting Cissy Houston") alone would be flirting with five stars, but with this "expanded edition"'s 12 added tracks, including all six of her singles issued over the following five years (including the original single version of "Midnight Train to Georgia," adapted from Jim Weatherly's "Midnight Train to Houston"), what we have here is truly definitive. If I overused the word "including," it's only because so much is included!

It’s evident within the initial seconds of BPMD’s American Made, as the legendary Bobby Blitz (Overkill) chants the introductory lyrics to Ted Nugent’s “Wang Dang Sweet Poontang” in his signature skyscraper-high howl, that he and his equally iconic bandmates — drummer Mike Portnoy (The Winery Dogs, Sons of Apollo), bassist Mark Menghi (Metal Allegiance) and guitarist Phil Demmel (Vio-lence, ex-Machine Head) — are here to have a damn good time. Featuring 10 unforgettable rock classics reimagined as heavy bangers, American Made is a party on wax. Tracks such as the raucous “Toys in the Attic” (Aerosmith) and rager-ready “Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers” (ZZ Top) prove that BPMD not only manages to capture the essence of each original track on the album, but skillfully transforms each classic into an unforgettable metallic anthem for a new age. The seasoned quartet flex their musical muscles on renowned classics such as “Saturday Night Special” (Lynyrd Skynyrd), “We’re an American Band” (Grand Funk) and “Walk Away” (James Gang), and introduce a whole new heavy generation to deeper cuts like blues standard “Evil” and “Never In My Life” (Mountain). Channeling nostalgia while maintaining a fresh attitude, American Made is a summer soundtrack for all ages!

Bill Evans - The Solo Sessions, Volume 2 (1963) {Milestone MCD-9195-2 rel 1992}
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© 1963, 1989 Milestone Records / Fantasy | MCD-9195-2
Jazz / Post Bop / Modal Music / Piano

This CD's booklet liner notes written by Gene Lees tell as much – if not more – of the story about the circumstances surrounding this session as the music itself. Though in retrospect Lees hears added value in these solo piano works from Bill Evans, there is a palpable and recognizable deterioration in the great pianist's ability to perform at his optimal genius level. In trouble with heroin addiction during 1963 when these tracks were documented, Evans both struggles and prevails through his drug-induced haze to produce an effort that is at many times expectedly brilliant – the prerequisite and operative word being effort.

Wagner’s enchanting Nürnberg has perhaps never looked as marvelous as in this production by Otto Schenk, with sets designed by Günther Schneider-Siemssen. James Levine’s conducting is as authoritative as it is affectionate, and the orchestra, the chorus, and the all-star cast which could not be equaled anywhere else in the world—respond with a riveting performance. James Morris is a wise, avuncular Hans Sachs; Ben Heppner’s beautifully sung Walther is a perfect match for Karita Mattila’s radiant Eva; and René Pape and Thomas Allen turn in stellar performances.