One of the pillars of film scoring and the most popular film composer of his era, John Williams has created music for some of the most successful motion pictures in Hollywood history – Star Wars, E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, Jurassic Park, and Harry Potter are just a handful of selections from an extensive catalog that has included over 50 Academy Awards nominations. After getting his start in television in the late '50s, Williams worked more steadily on feature films by the early '70s, impressing with his stirring orchestral scores for blockbuster disaster films like The Poseidon Adventure (1972), Earthquake (1974), and The Towering Inferno (1974), as well as through his work with such emerging directors as Robert Altman (1973's The Long Goodbye) and Steven Spielberg (1974's The Sugarland Express).

Amazon Review by Donald E. Gilliland
I take exception with the other review; the songs on this CD are magical and memorable; splendid examples of 70s soul music. These are all tracks from the Invictus and Hot Wax labels, most written by the team of Holland-Dozier-Holland, the guys who used to churn out so many hits at Motown in the 60s. These songs are from the early 70s, and are very potent, powerful, and catchy as hell. I can't rave about this CD enough; the 20 tracks on here are ALL fabulous, not a weak one in the bunch. You get 3 great tunes by an early lineup of George Clinton's Parliament; the hilarious and funky numbers "My Automobile" and "I Call My Baby Pussycat," plus the hypnotically lovely "The Silent Boatman," complete with bagpipe solo! Really, if you haven't heard this one, it's positively haunting. This CD also contains pop-soul gems by Glass House, Laura Lee, Chairman of the Board, General Johnson, 100 Proof Aged in Soul, and much more. If you aren't familiar with the Invictus label or some of these artists, this is a great place to get acquainted. Essential 70s soul music!

Manhunter: Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack Review by Doug Stone
Crack filmmaker Michael Mann set the standard for combining slick music with slick visuals on the small screen with Miami Vice. Manhunter marked his triumphant return to the big screen, sporting a tense, atmospheric, and totally '80s soundtrack as chilling as the movie it accompanies. Some criticized the contributions from outside artists, claiming these cuts broke the tension. The Motion Picture Guide Annual claims the Prime Movers' "Strong as I Am" hurts the scene wherein the deluded and psychotic villain sees his girlfriend with another man, but in fact, Mann's skill with atmosphere is never in question. One of the few '80s auteurs, he combines the cold, robotic sterility of spine-tingling tracks by Shriekback perfectly with similarly chilling images, be it Brian Cox's terrifying Lecter or Tom Noonan's unhinged Tooth Fairy. Red 7 flares behind the flawless final shot of the protagonist on the beach, the threat of evil lingering perfectly in the score and scene. The Michel Rubini music expressly made for the movie is as cold as Mann's cobalt-blue sets. "In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida" (In a Garden of Eden), already a classic, plays during the film's denouement, seamlessly synchronized with the antagonist's final ritual of evil and his ultimate downfall; once you've seen the movie, its images are forever etched to this immortal rock standard. Although both stand as consummate works of art, it's impossible to separate the soundtrack from the actual film because of the insular scope of Michael Mann's visionary visuals and tense tunes.

Few Russian musicians in the second half of the nineteenth century could match the eminence of Anton Rubinstein. As a piano virtuoso he was internationally admired, as a progressive educator he had profound influence, and as a composer he was both significant and successful. The Symphony No. 6 in A minor, Op. 111 was his last symphony, composed in 1866, and fully revealing those qualities of grace and energy, as well as clever scoring, that make his works so appealing.

Anton Rubinstein was one of the towering figures of nineteenth-century music, a great piano virtuoso, conductor and influential teacher. The fifth of his six Symphonies is thoroughly Russian in its melodies, and is often compared to his student Tchaikovsky's First Symphony. The overture to Rubinstein's first opera Dmitry Donsky is based on a similarly national Russian theme, while Faust, written in Leipzig in 1854, is the sole surviving movement of an abandoned Faust symphony.

Limited edition 5-CD box set containing five classic, influential John Coltrane albums from his Impulse discography.
Each album newly remastered from the original master tapes.

Pierre Boulez (b. 1925), French composer, conductor, and music theorist, is regarded as a leading composer of the post-Webern serialist movement who also embraced elements of aleatory and electronics. As a child Boulez demonstrated a formidable aptitude in mathematics, but left for Paris in 1942 to enroll in the Paris Conservatoire. His studies there often ran into difficulties, as he was rapidly developing revolutionary – "Praise be to amnesia" – attitudes towards all things traditional. But two decisive influences during those years helped to shape his musical personality.

2022 release from the acclaimed saxophonist. "I recorded this album as the world shut down around us in March 2020. It features Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Raul Malo, Steve Perry, and Rick Braun. The songs are personal and heartfelt. This album represents a coming back to myself as a solo artist and feeling this sense of belonging, of knowing who I am and what I stand for. It feels like a chant.. a statement of power like 'Mindi Abair Forever!' I hope you hear the heart and soul in it."

Liam Gallagher’s third solo studio album C’MON YOU KNOW looks set to be one of the biggest album events of the year. Anticipation for the album was ignited with the lead single “Everything’s Electric,” which powered into the UK Top 20 as Liam’s biggest solo hit so far. Now Liam unleashes the album’s title track, “C’MON YOU KNOW” – featuring Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig on saxophone – which is out now on Warner Records. While “C’MON YOU KNOW” pulsates with the traits that have made Liam such an iconic figure – a raucous rock ‘n’ roll anthem topped by his signature snarl – it’s also a strong step forward in terms of both attitude and audio. Musically it’s layered with unexpected sonic touches: surging Motown-tinged gospel backing vocals, shrieking saxophone from Ezra Koenig, and vintage Moog synths heightening the sonic maelstrom.

Originally streamed on December 5, 2020, the show became one of the most memorable performances of the lockdown era. Liam followed the precedent set by the Sex Pistols and The Clash, and decided to hit the River Thames, armed with a boatload of attitude, a phenomenal live band (including Bonehead) and an arsenal of classic songs. Acclaim included a four-star review from i, who declared the show to be, “A reminder of why the younger Gallagher is now the fans’ favourite.”

With its third CD on the GENUIN label, the dynamic chamber orchestra I TEMPI brings an unjustly forgotten Swiss composer into the limelight. Rudolf Moser, the pupil of Max Reger and teacher and artistic partner of Paul Sacher, created a manifold oeuvre in numerous genres. I TEMPI, an ensemble that performs each work using appropriate, authentic instruments, now presents works by Moser for strings, including pieces featuring the oboe and the harpsichord. Both combinations lead to distinctive timbres, and conductor Gevorg Gharabekyan leads his musicians with prudence and delicacy. Moreover, the orchestra has an equal partner and soloist with the young, multiple award-winning oboist Marc Lachat!

No figure in 20th century American classical music had as prominent or controversial a career – or did more to sell classical music to the general public as something genuinely exciting, and worth getting into a sweat over – than Leonard Bernstein. For more than 30 years, from his assumption of the post of Music Director of the New York Philharmonic in 1958 until the final concerts that he conducted in obviously failing health near the end of his life in 1990, he was the most prominent and widely recognized American-born conductor in the world, and the dominant personality in American classical music as both a conductor and, to a lesser degree, a composer.

Mariss Jansons rehearses Ludwig van Beethoven´s Symphony No. 5 with the BRSO.

Claudio Abbado was one of the leading conductors of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. He held a number of prestigious posts, any one of which would be a crowning achievement for a conductor, and his musical presence in both concert and recordings left an undeniable legacy of excellence. His family traced its roots to a prominent Moorish family expelled from Spain in 1492 and is said to include the architect of the Alhambra.

Herbert von Karajan was the most renowned conductor to emerge from Europe in the post-World War II era – and through fortuitous timing throughout his career, and in spite of controversy that dogged his early years, he was the most recorded conductor of the 20th century, and is likely to remain one of the most visible (and biggest-selling) conductors well into the 21st century. Born in Salzburg and descended from a family of Greek origin with deep roots in Austria – including scholars and physicians in Vienna and Salzburg – he was a music prodigy, playing the piano at three and playing his first recital a year later.