Merlin - Bard Of The Unseen is a rock-opera by the Dutch progressive rock band Kayak. This concept-album is a new version of side 1 of their 1981 album Merlin, with nine new songs added. At concerts in 2003, the band played this rock-opera in its entirety. Singer Cindy Oudshoorn was credited as special guest on the album, but became a permanent member of the band after the tour. Recorded on 3rd of May 2003 in the Orpheus Theatre. Apeldoorn, The Netherlands. DVD 1 contains the complete rock opera Merlin - The Bard of the Unseen. DVD 2 contains the second part of the concert, performing their greatest hits. It's unique official DVD of Kayak.

After two unabashed pop releases, this Kayak album marks a return to the progressive edge that was the foundation of the band's early success. Although this was the third release featuring lead vocalist Edward Reekers, who took over for Max Werner after Starlight Dancer, Merlin most closely resembles Kayak's pre-Reekers period. Considering the steadily declining quality exhibited on Phantom of the Night (1978) and Periscope Life (1980), it was surprising that, amid the new wave craze, this band would return to its earlier form. That's a credit to songwriter and keyboardist Ton Scherpenzeel, who recognized the condition Kayak was in and virtually single-handedly resuscitated the band, fully realizing that its demise was still inevitable.

2010 UK issue 5-CD album set comprising of the best selling and critically acclaimed album releases 'Blow My Fuse', 'Cool Kids', 'Hot Wire', 'Kix' and 'Midnite Dynamite'; each album is housed in a mini LP-style card picture sleeve with the complete set presented in a sealed card slipcase.

The stature of Johannes Brahms among classical composers is best illustrated by his inclusion among the "Three Bs" triumvirate of Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms. Of all the major composers of the late Romantic era, Brahms was the one most attached to the Classical ideal as manifested in the music of Haydn, Mozart, and especially Beethoven; indeed, Hans von Bülow once characterized Brahms' Symphony No. 1 (1855-1876) as "Beethoven's Tenth." As a youth, Brahms was championed by Robert Schumann as music's greatest hope for the future; as a mature composer, Brahms became the most potent symbol of musical tradition for conservative musical journalists, a stalwart against the "degeneration" represented by the music of Wagner and his school.

Carl Orff (German:[ɔʁf]; 10 July 1895 – 29 March 1982) was a German composer and music educator, best known for his cantata Carmina Burana (1937). The concepts of his Schulwerk were influential for children's music education.
Orff studied at the Munich Academy of Music and with the German composer Heinrich Kaminski and later conducted in Munich, Mannheim, and Darmstadt. His Schulwerk, a manual describing his method of conducting, was first published in 1930. Orff edited some 17th-century operas and in 1937 produced his secular oratorio Carmina Burana. Intended to be staged with dance, it was based on a manuscript of medieval poems. This work led to others inspired by Greek theatre and by medieval mystery plays, notably Catulli carmina (1943; Songs of Catullus) and Trionfo di Afrodite (1953; The Triumph of Aphrodite), which form a trilogy with Carmina Burana. His other works include an Easter cantata, Comoedia de Christi Resurrectione (1956); a nativity play, Ludus de nato infante mirificus (1960); and a trilogy of “music dramas”—Antigonae (1949), Oedipus der Tyrann (1959), and Prometheus (1966). Orff’s system of music education for children, largely based on developing a sense of rhythm through group exercise and performance with percussion instruments, has been widely adopted. In 1924 in Munich he founded, with the German gymnast Dorothee Günther, the Günther School for gymnastics, dance, and music.

Come Go With Me: The Stax Collection presents all of The Staple Singers’ studio albums released on the iconic Stax label, spanning 1968-1974. The final, seventh disc offers rarities, non-album singles, and several live recordings from the legendary 1972 Wattstax music festival. Housed in a slipcase, the collection also includes a deluxe booklet with archival photos and new liner notes from American music specialist and curator Levon Williams (formerly of the Stax Museum and the National Museum of African American Music), and folklorist, ethnomusicologist and writer Dr. Langston Wilkins.

It's September 1981 and it's matter of weeks away from the release of I'm A Rainbow, the second album Donna Summer had recorded for Geffen Records, which had been produced by Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte. At the time that the album was being recorded, the musical landscape had changed and production techniques were developing further. Geffen also wanted a more R&B-influenced album, despite the album having a more R&B feel than The Wanderer had done. The songs and their lyrical content were very strong and Donna's voice had never sounded better, which was always a tough comparison against previous albums. A decision was taken by the label to withdraw I'm A Rainbow just prior to it's release.

“Revel in Time”, the third album from ARJEN ANTHONY LUCASSEN'S STAR ONE, is as much of a reaction as it is a contrast to Arjen Lucassen’s previous album, “Transitus” from Ayreon. While “Transitus” is a cinematic experience that you may almost call a musical, “Revel in Time” is a heavy album that is very riff driven and there is more focus on virtuoso musicianship. Similar to its predecessors, “Revel In Time” works as a concept album. All tracks are inspired by different movies that deal with some kind of manipulation of time. There is one thing this time around that is quite different compared to the earlier STAR ONE albums: The first two had the same cast of four singers: Floor Jansen, Russell Allen, Damian Wilson and Dan Swano. However, this time Arjen decided to generally have mainly one singer per track, and a different for almost each track. This shows especially on CD 2, the “Same Songs, Different Singers”-CD as Arjen likes to call it. The guide vocals that were recorded (for the other singers) were way too good to just be guide vocals. Thus, Arjen decided to release a second version of the songs with the guide vocals on them as CD2.

A 67-minute composition by Eva-Maria Houben with the GBSR Duo, recorded live in concert at the work's premiere at the 2021 Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.

Il duo composto dal violoncellista Nicolò Nigrelli e dalla fisarmonicista Margherita Berlanda da vita ad un disco che fa della ricerca sonora e musicale il proprio centro. Da una parte propone una lettura inedita, innovativa ed assolutamente unica delle tre Sonate per viola da gamba di Johann Sebastian Bach, dall'altra completa il lavoro con due composizioni ispirate proprio a Bach del compositore Ignaz Moscheles, anch'esse nella versione violoncello e fisarmonica (in luogo dell'originale pianoforte). La ragione di un progetto che a prima vista potrebbe sorprendere è da ricercarsi nell'inedito e perfetto sposalizio sonoro di questi due strumenti che oltre che prestarsi magnificamente alla scelta musicale, crea una sonorità mai ascoltata prima d'ora, in grado di trasportare l'ascoltatore alla riscoperta di tre capolavori del Kantor di Lipsia come mai prima è stato fatto.

The organ sonatas of Josef Rheinberger still feature large in the repertoire of church organists everywhere, thanks to their attractive melodies and fluent writing for the instrument. Rheinberger’s industry and his skill as a teacher have overshadowed his gifts as a composer in other genres, which this new release helps to redress with suites and tone-pictures for the combination of strings and organ. Oboist Cristina Monticoli also joins her Italian colleagues for two arrangements which sympathetically transfer the main melodies of movements from the organ sonatas to the oboe.

In March 2007, Lost & Found is released including twelve new songs in a CD, three of which are sung by Devon Allman, and a DVD with two hours’ worth of videoclips and live material from the European and Canadian tours. Some of the most important songs are “Get Funky”, “Man on the Run”, “Open your Eyes”, “Lost & Found” (the album title song) and a version of Derek and the Dominos’ ‘Layla’, sung by Devon.

Located between chamber music and orchestra, the Carinthian-based ensemble minui has dedicated itself to the musical possibilities for large chamber music ensembles with elegance and finesse since its founding in 2016. While simple reductions of large orchestral works were initially on the program, opera music gradually became the great passion of ensemble minui.In the arrangements of clarinettist Stefan Potzmann, the nine versatile orchestral musicians offer listeners with their second album recording stylish new perspectives on three large-scale opera works, reduced to what is essential for them: the music!

L'Ensemble Gli Invaghiti, con alla testa Fabio Furnari, per questo secondo disco sceglie un repertorio che attinge a piene mani dall'ancora inesplorata Collezione Gaspari di Bologna, portando alla luce, accanto a capolavori di Corelli e Alessandro Scarlatti, prime assolute di Aldrovandini, Beccatelli, Cattaneo e Capacelli, compositori rimasti a lungo nell'oblio e che ritrovano grazie a questa pubblicazione la luce del suono. L'esecuzione proposta è tra le più vibranti che il giovane ensemble barocco possa offrire, ne sono un esempio l'eccezionale resa della Sonata I Op. V inedita di Aldrovandini che colloca l'autore tra i più interessanti operanti a Bologna (in compagnia di Manfredini) o la toccante e commovente cantabilità della Sonata I dai Divertimenti per camera Op. II di Boni.