Esoteric Antenna is delighted to announce the release of a new 2 CD and DVD live album by Djabe & Steve Hackett; “The Journey Continues”. This wonderful concert recording was mainly recorded in Nyiregyhaza, Hungary in August 2019. The concert continued a series of live performances that followed the release of the acclaimed collaboration between Djabe (one of Hungary’s most acclaimed Jazz groups) and former Genesis guitarist and acclaimed solo artist Steve Hackett; “Life is a Journey: The Sardinia Tapes”, an album which was the result of improvised sessions that took place in a church on the island of Sardinia.

It was in 1985 that Philippe Herreweghe made his first recording of the St. Matthew Passion, following a public performance that created a deep impression. Thirty years later, this trailblazing interpretation is still among the top recommendations.

Weber’s genius is most succinctly and most engagingly represented in his overtures. He was an inspired melodist, a brilliant orchestrator and a consummate designer of single-movement structures which – although their primary function was to create the appropriate atmosphere in the theatre or opera house – are entirely convincing as separate items in the concert hall. Brought up in a theatrical family and heir to many disappointments, Weber was acutely aware of the risks involved in mounting any kind of stage production: a well written overture, presenting the best of the musical material in a self-contained form, was an insurance against total failure.

Michel Reis, Marc Demuth and Paul Wiltgen are three of Luxembourg’s most prominent jazz musicians. They formed the Reis-Demuth-Wiltgen Trio in 1998 while still in high school and performed on a regular basis in and around Luxembourg for a couple of years. The trio reunited in 2011 and released their first album to widespread critical acclaim. Since then, the band has released two more albums and has toured extensively and has appeared at major jazz festivals throughout the world. Their multiple collaborations with Joshua Redman in recent years have marked a major milestone in the trio’s career and have earned them the attention of the international music industry. SLY, the trio’s fourth album, is scheduled to be released by CAM Jazz in 2021.

Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater was extremely popular throughout Europe soon after it was composed in 1736. Countless printed and handwritten versions of this work, which was considered the stylistic ideal of sacred music in the 18th century, can be found in libraries all over the world. There are five manuscript copies of the Stabat Mater in the archives of Málaga Cathedral. This recording presents a version performed when Juan Francés de Iribarren was chapel master there. He did not copy the work exactly, but created a revision with substantial changes. Also included in the recording are some of Iribarren’s own works.

Mark Kroll is an American harpsichordist and fortepianist. He attended City University of New York, where he earned his bachelor's degree in musicology, and he received his master's degree in harpsichord from Yale University in 1971. He studied harpsichord with Scarlatti authority Ralph Kirkpatrick. Kroll was a recipient of a Senior Fulbright Award from the Council for International Exchange of Scholars, a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and various other fellowships, stipends, and awards. He made his first appearance at Carnegie Hall in 1975, and since then he has toured the United States, Canada, South America, and Europe, appearing as a guest artist at numerous music festivals around the world. He has performed in concert with Seiji Ozawa, James Levine, Kurt Masur, Simon Rattle, and Charles Dutoit, and since 1979 he has been the harpsichordist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. His repertoire includes Baroque and Classical music by Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frederick Handel, Domenico Scarlatti, François Couperin, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as well as contemporary American harpsichord works. He has written several books, including an authoritative biography on Johann Nepomuk Hummel, and co-edited with Lewis Lockwood the Violin Sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven.

A sequel of sorts to ABKCO’s three boxes of singles replicas from the mid-2000s, Universal’s The Singles: 1971-2006 is a gargantuan 45-disc box set that offers single replicas of every 45 the Rolling Stones released between Sticky Fingers and A Bigger Bang…

Pianist Swetlana Meermann-Muret takes us on a journey through the heights and depths of the Russian soul in her new GENUIN CD. The prizewinner of international competitions devotes herself to gems of piano literature—the rarely recorded miniatures by Anatoly Lyadov and Anton Arensky. Lyadov's Préludes, in particular, are more than just precursors of well-known works by Rachmaninoff and Scriabin! Swetlana Meermann-Muret, a native Russian pianist, devotes herself to these treasures with an attention to detail and a warm sound. Moving testimonies of a lost culture!

Oddly, there is no listing of instruments in the CD leaflet, but the core group is a trio of electric guitar, bass, and drums, with "guest" flutist Stefano Benini added on several numbers. This is a concept album, what leader Carlo Ceriani calls "a new reading" of "music of [his] generation." Ceriani contributed tunes of his own in addition to ones written by or associated with 1960s icons Jerry Garcia, the Grateful Dead, King Crimson, and others of that era. The guitarist generally takes all the pieces at a relaxed pace, treating them respectfully as jazz heads, focusing on the essence of the themes, and reminding us just how beautiful some of these classic rock melodies can be.

The star of the young Hungarian violinist Kristóf Baráti is quickly rising. Having won several important international competitions (the most recent first prize at the prestigious Paganini Competition in Moscow) he plays with important orchestras and conductors, like Charles Dutoit, Kurt Masur, Iván Fischer, Yuri Temirkanov and Marek Janowski. His recent recording of Beethoven’s complete violin sonatas with Klára Würtz received rave reviews: “5 stars…a great duo, comparable with Perlman/Ashkenazy, Grumiaux/Haskil, Ferras/Barbizet’ (Diapason), “A talent that comes along once in a decade, perhaps once in a generation, I don’t say it lightly, but once you’ve heard Baráti and Würtz you’ll never listen to anyone else again” (Fanfare). This recording of the great solo Bach was issued on Berlin Classics in 2009, and shows the sovereign command over the matter, and a deep understanding of the spirit of these masterworks.

In a change of pace, for this recording vibraphonist Cal Tjader recorded cool-toned bop without a Latin rhythm section. Half of the ten songs (mostly jazz standards) feature Tjader switching to drums (his original instrument) in a quartet also including the obscure trombonist Bob Collins, guitarist Eddie Duran and bassist Al McKibbon. Tjader is back on vibes for the quintet selections with tenor saxophonist Brew Moore, pianist Sonny Clark, bassist Eugene Wright and drummer Bobby White. He sounds right at home in both formats and the swinging quintet numbers in particular are a good reason to search for this valuable album.

Rielism presents Songs For Captain Tom - The Heroes Collection contains the definitive Artists & Easy Listening, Jazz, Soundtracks, Pop, Rock. The Best hits from Al Bowlly, George Formby, Vera Lynn, Donald Peers and many more.

Blue Note Plays Cole Porter is a solid single-disc collection of Cole Porter standards culled from various Blue Note jazz releases. Included are such vintage cuts as trumpeter Lee Morgan's 1957 version of "Just One of Those Things" off The Cooker and tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson's 1964 take on "Night and Day" from Inner Urge.

On these best-selling CDs many classical masterpieces are given an original interpretation for choir. The Accentus Chamber Choir, under the direction of Laurence Equilbey, is unanimously recognised as one of the world’s finest vocal ensembles.

Excellent second efford by this interesting neo-prog band from Greece - and a huge step forward from their first. Their music is very much influenced by early Marillion, Arena and IQ, but they also have a very greek folk flavor in their sound as well. Singer Ima's clear and pure vocals can remind of that of Virginia Astley. Kostas Savvides's guitar sounds like David Gilmour's whereas Alix's keyboards weave quiet layers that marvellously complete precious and melancholic themes. As for the rhythm section, assured by drummer Nick Kassavetis and bassist Hyde, it is definitely solid.