Das amerikanische renommierte Fachmagazin „Fanfare“ sprach von „einem überzeugendern Einsatz für einige der glänzendsten Werke der Quartett-Literatur“, als unsere erste cpo-Produktion mit Streichquartetten von Gaetano Donizetti erschien.

Music of the period between the High Baroque of Bach and Vivaldi and the High Classical music of Haydn and Mozart has lately been the focus of energetic exploration by historical-instrument ensembles. Italy was in the stylistic forefront of what became the symphony, but experiments in putting together what we know as the exquisitely balanced forms of the late eighteenth century occurred in various parts of Europe. This disc offers a fair sampling of the music of Johann Melchior Molter, a composer active in the German cities of Eisenach and Karlsruhe. There are two pieces titled "Ouverture," essentially French dance suites that are starting to show the influence of the symphony and replace some of the dances with Classical-sounding fast movements.

Glazunov, a pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov, received encouragement also from Belyayev, an influential patron and publisher whose activities succeeded and largely replaced the earlier efforts of Balakirev to inspire the creation of national Russian music. Glazunov joined the teaching staff of the St Petersburg Conservatory in 1899 and after the student protests and turmoil of 1905 was elected director, a position he retained until 1930 (although from 1928 he remained abroad, chiefly in Paris, where he died in 1936). His music represents a synthesis between the Russian and the so-called German—the technical assurance introduced by the Rubinstein brothers in the Conservatories of St Petersburg and of Moscow in the middle of the century.

Elvis Costello recorded the 15 songs that comprised his covers album Kojak Variety in 1990, but the album sat in the vaults for five years, with some songs trickling out on soundtracks, with the entire album eventually leaking out as a bootleg prior to its release in 1995. Given this slow, steady crawl to release and the nature of bootlegs and B-sides, it's reasonable to assume from its slow unveiling that the album was a collection of covers that he recorded with different bands over different years, when quite the opposite was true – all 15 songs were the cut with the same band, all sequestered away in Barbados.

Best Selection captures great moments of Yellow Magic Orchestra during their golden period, between 1978 and 1981. The record is also a good way to discover the band as it is mainly composed of two parts: the first one is consecrated to punchy synth pop tracks from their first albums of the 70s, whereas the second part is dedicated to their darker 80s' cold wave pieces.

The Police never really broke up, they just stopped working together – largely because they just couldn't stand playing together anymore and partially because Sting was itching to establish himself as a serious musician/songwriter on his own terms. Anxious to shed the mantle of pop star, he camped out at Eddy Grant's studio, picked up the guitar, and raided Wynton Marsalis' band for his new combo – thereby instantly consigning his solo debut, The Dream of the Blue Turtles, to the critical shorthand of Sting's jazz record. Which is partially true (that's probably the best name for the meandering instrumental title track), but that gives the impression that this is really risky music, when he did, after all, rely on musicians who, at that stage, were revivalists just developing their own style, and then had them jam on mock-jazz grooves – or, in the case of Branford Marsalis, layer soprano sax lines on top of pop songs.

Contraction's second album captures the beauty, originality, and adventurous nature of a group recognized as one of Quebec's greatest progressive rock bands. This album, released in 1974, is dedicated to the late Franck Dervieux from whom the group took its inspiration. It features another long cycle of progressive songs highlighted by the 18-minute title track.

While mostly accurate, dismissing Never Mind the Bollocks as merely a series of loud, ragged midtempo rockers with a harsh, grating vocalist and not much melody would be a terrible error. Already anthemic songs are rendered positively transcendent by Johnny Rotten's rabid, foaming delivery. His bitterly sarcastic attacks on pretentious affectation and the very foundations of British society were all carried out in the most confrontational, impolite manner possible. Most imitators of the Pistols' angry nihilism missed the point: underneath the shock tactics and theatrical negativity were social critiques carefully designed for maximum impact.

Lake of Tears' fifth album, The Neonai, is also set to be their last, with singer/guitarist Daniel Brennare announcing that he will be moving in a different direction, possibly with a new project also named Neonai. And what a pity too, since many would argue that the band was still in its prime. Considering this is the end of the line makes Lake of Tears' trajectory all the more interesting to look back on - especially since their drastic evolution from depressive doom metal to spacy, post-Pink Floyd goth rock took place without compromising the quality of their music, something other respectable bands like Paradise Lost and Tiamat have failed miserably at. Brought home by the album's fantastical, psychedelic artwork (a bright, colorful, mirror-opposite of the dark collages often used by Cathedral), the truth is that there's little left in Lake of Tears' sound that even resembles heavy metal…

The sweat of the rainforest, the hostility of the mangrove did not suit him in the end. So he left his natural environment for the tranquility of a freshwater lake. Without the constant need to battle to assert its territory, the Tiger found there the ideal place for its instrumental stories. To tell the story of those journeys that took him from Asia to Africa, from soul jazz salons to the concrete streets of hip hop, and transformed his stripes into music sheets where Thai ranges and ethio-jazz arrangements were registered.

Nonesuch Records releases Pulitzer Prize and Grammy Award–winning composer Caroline Shaw’s Evergreen, featuring Shaw and Attacca Quartet, on September 23, 2022. Evergreen is five original works by Shaw: three pieces written for string quartet—Three Essays, Blueprint, and The Evergreen—and two songs written for string quartet and voice. It also includes an interpretation of a twelfth century French poem, which the Quartet performs with Shaw on vocals.

Music by Philip Glass and Steve Reich, played on accordion and modular synthesizer.

Avid Jazz presents four classic Charlie Byrd albums including original LP liner notes on a finely re-mastered and low priced double CD. “Jazz Recital”; “Blues For Night People”; “Byrd’s Word” and “The Guitar Artistry of Charlie Byrd”.
You might say Charlie Byrd was on a mission on his first album as a solo artist “Jazz Recital”, recorded in Hackensack, New Jersey in February 1957. A passionate believer in the guitar as an affective lead instrument in jazz, five of the ten cuts here are solo guitar pieces. With a background in classical guitar technique and having studied in Italy with the guitar maestro Segovia, Byrd lays out his ambition in the original liner notes “I’d like to see the guitarists of today using more of the vast store of knowledge…

"There’s the simple fact that the band members were old enough and experienced enough by now to be virtuosos on their instruments (what other group—rock or jazz or any other kind of music—could boast a trio of spectacularly singular talents such as Garcia, Lesh, and Weir?) but were still young enough to want to play and play and play some more, the happy, itchy inclination of youth. As a few of the shows in the Here Comes Sunshine boxed set attest, it wasn’t unusual for a 1973 concert to exceed four hours. And within the shows themselves, there are nearly nightly examples of hour-long orgies of tune-linked songcraft and juicy jamming.