"I prefer music that brings people together rather than politics that divides them…" This sentence could have sounded a bit cliché in the mouth of another, but in that of Kurt Masur, it took on a very concrete meaning, he who declined the offer made to him to play a political role in the construction of a reunified Germany… Born on July 18, 1927 in Brieg in Upper Silesia (today Brzeg in Poland but then German territory), Kurt Masur very young in Hitler's army. One of the 27 survivors of his company of 130 men, he enrolled at the Musikhochschule in Leipzig at the end of the war to study music. The direction is in fact not the first choice of the young Masur. Suffering from a genetic disease contracting the tendons of his fingers, he knew very early that a career as a pianist was not within his reach. This did not prevent him, after the war, from playing jazz (his great passion!), in clubs… In 1948, this fan of Furtwängler and Walter became chief rehearsal then conductor at the Théâtre de Hall. He continues as kappelmeister of the operas of Erfurt and Leipzig.

Eugen Jochum conducts the Amsterdam Concertgebouw in Bruckner's Symphony No.5, a gigantic musical cathedral and a masterpiece of counterpoint. Everything is prayer, everything is contemplation, everything is a state of grace. With this concert performance on May 30, 1964, Jochum set the bar for this ''Katholische Sinfonie." The recoding also includes his reading of the composer's Te Deum, leading the Berlin Philharmonic.

Two classic recordings by Karajan while he was in London as the imposed guest of Walter Legge, director of the Philharmonia Orchestra. The two symphonies form a lavish but unusual combination – Symphony no.2, the most popular of the seven created the composer of Valse Triste, and his curious Symphony no.4, a violent, arid, anti- Malherian dissertation infused with doubt and melancholy due to its baleful (augmented fourth) tritone interval, the hitherto spurned diabolus in musica. Two paradoxal masterworks.

Over a career, including extended tenures with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor Simon Rattle has become recognized as one of the world's top conductors. Mostly focusing on symphonic music, he has also conducted major operatic productions. A native of Liverpool, Rattle was born on January 19, 1955. He studied piano, violin, and percussion as a youngster, joining the Merseyside Youth Orchestra as a percussionist and later playing with Britain's National Youth Orchestra. He gravitated naturally toward conducting, taking up the baton in his early teens and founding his own orchestra, the Liverpool Sinfonia, when he was just 15.

Swedish House Mafia have revealed the release date for their debut album, ‘Paradise Again,’ which will land on 15th April via Republic Records.
The EDM trio, composed of DJs Axwell, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso, have also unleashed the video for their new single, ‘Redlight,’ which features a cameo from Sting. Check it out below.
‘Redlight’ follows previously released singles, 2021’s ‘It Gets Better’ and ‘Lifetime’ featuring Ty Dolla $ign & 070 Shake.
In January, the Weeknd dropped a remix of his album track ‘Sacrifice’ with Swedish House Mafia, who also co-produced the original.

Here's further proof that Edward Downes is an Elgarian to be reckoned with. This account of the Second Symphony is up there with the very best. In the first movement, Downes steers a clear-sighted course: here's the same unexaggerated, splendidly authoritative conception heard from this conductor in the concert hall. Unlike some rivals on record, Downes resists the temptation to give too much too soon, and this feeling of power in reserve lends an extra cumulative intensity to the proceedings; indeed, the coda here is absolutely thrilling. The ensuing Larghetto sees Downes striking a near-perfect balance between introspection and heart-warming passion. Both the Rondo and finale are ideally paced – the former not too hectic, the latter flowing to perfection, culminating in an epilogue of rare delicacy.

The Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin also demonstrates this on its new album for German harmomia mundi, which is dedicated to the symphonies of one of the most influential composers of the First Viennese School: Paul Wranitzky (1756-1808). The unjustly forgotten Moravian-Austrian composer, conductor and violinist was highly esteemed by Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven. His opera "Oberon, King of the Fairies", for example, was the model for Mozart's "Magic Flute". The overture to the opera can be heard on the album as well as Wranitzky's symphony in C minor op. 31 "Grande sinfonie caractéristique". The symphony, nicknamed "La Paix," is a captivating work that illustrates the wars following the French Revolution and recalls the march and battle music of the time

Franz Schubert (1797-1827) was an extremely prolific composer, but his entire output for violin and piano represents more than two hours of music. His bold use of tonalities is already evident in the early works from 1816 and 1817, which clearly reflect his admiration for Mozart. The first three are labelled "Sonatina", possibly intended to appeal to amateur musicians. However, they are highly complex works by the youthful composer. The late works, written in 1826 and 1827 shortly before his death, are characterised by an exuberant virtuosity, and sometimes the piano is treated like a substitute orchestra.Piet Kuijken and Naaman Sluchin have devoted more than ten years to the intensive study of the interpretation of these works and the question of appropriate period instruments, with the aim of doing optimal justice to the spirit of Schubert’s music in its profoundly human depth: "In these pieces, Schubert showcases every possible technical trick; invention is constantly applied to formal structure, the greatest simplicity is found alongside outrageous virtuosity, and an infinite variety of timbre can be found".

Composer Hans Zimmer's jaunty theme for Guy Ritchie's muscular 2009 re-imagining of the world's most recognizable super-detective, Sherlock Holmes, dutifully reflected the newly installed humor and 21st century action star pathos that the director brought to the character. For Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Zimmer once again infused the series with wit and wickedness, stacking his already established themes with an effusive Romanian flair, reflecting the addition of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo star Noomi Rapace's turn as a Gypsy fortune teller.

After two critically acclaimed but only moderately selling albums, los Lobos were hired to record songs for the film biography of Hispanic '50s rocker Ritchie Valens, resulting in this soundtrack album, which, in addition to eight los Lobos recordings, features tracks by Marshall Crenshaw, Brian Setzer, and others. los Lobos' remake of the title song topped the charts, as did this album, which went on to sell two million copies. The result has been something of a career dilemma for the band, who went back to being a critically acclaimed, modest seller afterward.

The Choralis Constantinus is one of the most important motets collections of the Renaissance period. Heinrich Isaac created it in 1508 as a commission from the Constance cathedral chapter. A large part of the 375 motets is largely unknown today. The ensemble cantissimo has been working intensively on the opus for many years. Under the direction of Markus Utz, a selection of festive motets are now presented here, which bear impressive witness to the first musical heyday of the Renaissance period. A truly magnificent rediscovery!

Filmed in the architectural splendour of Graz's Gothic-Baroque cathedral, leading Bach authority Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducts the famed Tölz Boys Choir and his Vienna Concentus Musicus, playing on period instruments, in the most dramatic of all Passion settings. "In this performance we have attempted to realize Bach's wishes in the most authentic manner possible" (Nikolaus Harnoncourt). "A unique occasion" (Kurier).

Swedish folk metal wolf pack MÅNEGARM take another stroll through ancient sagas and myths of long forgotten times on the successor of chart-breaking Fornaldarsagor (2019) – the upcoming 10th studio album Ynglingaättens Öde (Engl. the fate of the Ynglinga kin) – out April 15, 2022 via Napalm Records. In this multifaceted world of sound, MÅNEGARM incorporate Pagan inspired lyricism based on the old Norse poem Ynglingatal, that describes the fate of an old Norse dynasty - the house of Ynglinga. Ynglingaättens Öde offers balanced variety and atmosphere, breathing new life into ancient myths. With Ynglingaättens Öde, MÅNEGARM underline their standing as spearheads of the world of Viking metal once more and keep Pagan traditions alive, even after 25 years of existence.

Throughout his lifetime, Gustav Mahler's musical imagination got sparked by the Wunderhorn anthology of folk poetry compiled by Achim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano. Whether autonomous lieder or conscripted into symphonic service, Mahler’s Wunderhorn settings represent some of his most exotic, exhilarating, but also visionary music. The Wunderhorn songs evoke and celebrate a lost era but they also prefigure its demise. Mahler captures this ambiguity in uncompromisingly melodious and idyllic, but also satiric, relentless and cruel music.

On April 15th, 2022, Sub Pop will digitally release Flock of Dimes’ Head of Roses: Phantom Limb, a collection of unreleased tracks written around the same time as Head of Roses, previously unheard demos, favorite live performances, and covers.