Two Brazilian artists pay tribute to Villa-Lobos and the Amazon rainforest… Sebastião Salgado is a world-renowned photographer who has been working since the 1990s to protect and restore the Atlantic forest and water resources of the Rio Doce valley in Brazil. The Italian-Brazilian conductor Simone Menezes is passionate about the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos and his symphonic poem Floresta do Amazonas, for which she created a suite for large orchestra and soprano. Together they travel the world to present an exhibition of Salgado's photographs, combined with concerts conducted by Simone in which the photographs are projected, the photographer having associated each musical phrase with one of his images… The music of this monumental project has been recorded with the Philharmonia Zürich and soprano Camila Provenzale. Ten photos by Salgado, each more striking than the last, are included in the booklet that accompanies this recording, which is completed by another tribute to Amazonian nature, by Philip Glass, with an extract from his Aguas da Amazonia.

Within the Italian polyphonic repertoire for Holy Week of the first half of the 16th century, a group of works that particularly stands out for its organic, comprehensive and unique qualities are the two books of four-voice Lamentations and responsories for the office of Tenebrae from the Triduum sacrum composed by Paolo Aretino (Paolo Antonio del Bivi, 1508-1584). They were published respectively in 1544 (the responsories: a first printed edition of its kind, to the best of our knowledge) and 1549 (the Lamentations). Both books were reprinted in 1563, a rare occurrence for a collection of this type.

Commissioned by the Comte d’Ogny for the Le Concert de la Loge Olympique, the ‘Paris’ Symphonies form a key milestone in Haydn’s output.

REFERENCE RECORDINGS is pleased to announce SPANISH IMPRESSIONS, our second album with this elite trio. The Hermitage Piano Trio consists of violinist Misha Keylin, cellist Sergey Antonov, and pianist Ilya Kazantsev. The trio has been praised for its “polished and spirited interpretations” (The Washington Post), “absolute rhythmic precision and dynamic exuberance” (Boston Musical Intelligencer), and “powerful, intelligent and deeply moving performances” (The Seattle Times). Their first album on our label, Rachmaninoff, was nominated for three 2020 GRAMMY® Awards in the categories of Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance, Best Engineered Album, Classical, and Producer Of The Year, Classical.

The French tenor, Cyrille Dubois, returns to his favourite period in music: Baroque. Pursuing his mission as a trailblazer, he has teamed up with the Hungarian conductor György Vashegyi and the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles to create a recital aimed at reviving little-known treasures of the Eighteenth Century French operatic repertoire - several of the pieces are recorded here for the first time.

Himmelsburg is the name of the former chapel of Wilhelmsburg Castle in Weimar; Johann Sebastian Bach's "workplace" during his time as court organist and chamber musician at the Weimar court. This chapel was irretrievably destroyed in the great castle fire of 6 May 1774. In Bach's time; a high musical culture prevailed at the Weimar court. The young Prince Johann Ernst; himself a good violinist and harpsichordist; was enthusiastic about Italian music; and Bach was inundated with the latest concerti from Italy; especially by Vivaldi. In addition; there was close contact with the violin virtuoso Johann Georg Pisendel; so it is no exaggeration to call Weimar the concertante and violinistic cradle of Bach. On her new CD; Lina Tur Bonet interprets "all" of Bach's four concertos for solo violin. All of them probably date from his Weimar period. The two original concertos BWV 1041 and 1042 contain many stylistic references to Vivaldi. In addition; Lina Tur Bonet presents the reconstructions of the concertos BWV 1052r and 1056r; two harpsichord concertos that were almost certainly originally intended for violin.

First official reissue of this legendary collector's item by this underground heavy progressive power trio from Hamburg. The album contained just four songs: 'Chub Chub Cherry' (a short heavy rock song like a freaky Cream), 'Brain Brain' (16 minutes of acid nightmares, continuously shifting tempo in amphetamine-driven mayhem), 'God' (a much more melodic attempt with powerful guitar arrangement, sounding like Black Sabbath meet Hendrix with a collective paranoia) and 'Head Tear Of The Drunken Sun' (finished at all with 12 minutes of hazardous power trio pyrotechnics). This is an extreme album in many ways: the raw power, the cranky vocals, the restless arrangements, not forgetting the ugly silver gnome on the front sleeve. For the first time the history of Silberbart is told by band leader Hajo Teschner and there are many rare photos of the group.

Remastered and expanded edition of Bronski Beat's 1984 debut album, released to celebrate the band's 35 year anniversary. The first CD includes the original studio album, along with four bonus tracks, while the second disc features a selection of demos, remixes, BBC sessions and unheard material. Also included are new sleeve notes from Jimmy Somerville, Mike Thorne and Paul Flynn.
To say The Age of Consent is a great album of dance-oriented synth-pop music is to sell it extremely short; this is simply a great album, period…

This CD is one of two Warner Classics recordings taped live during a series of concerts presented by the world renowned Chamber Orchestra of Europe during Easter Week 2003. The title for the concert series, presented in London, was Passions and Diversions as the works relate to different aspects of reflection and inspiration. In this program, Britten and Stokowski interpret works by Purcell in their own idioms; Britten draws on his English musical roots to inspire an original work, Lachrymae and Britten himself is the source of inspiration in Pärt’s Cantus. In the case of the Vaughan Williams, Tippett and Walton works, the inspirations are other composers and literature. The Chamber Orchestra of Europe has been described in The Financial Times as “the best orchestra in Europe.” The COE was founded in 1981 and has a membership of 50 musicians from 15 countries who perform together mainly in continental Europe and occasionally in the US and Japan. Since its inception, it has appeared with the world’s leading conductors and soloists, and its recordings have consistently won the highest praise and international prizes, including three Gramophone “Record of the Year” awards.

Bang! Records announces Thinking Of Another Place, Lou Reed´s first triple-live vinyl LP from 1976's Rock´n´Roll Heart USA tour. A superb performance recorded for radio broadcast, restored and remastered, Reed plays seven tracks from that album alongside songs from Transformer (1972), Berlin (1973), Sally Can´t Dance (1974, and Coney Island Baby (1975), as well as some excellent Velvet Underground thrown in for good measure. Absolutely killer live performance with high sound quality, released in a trifold jacket with extensive liner notes by Jaime Gonzalo and Nina Antonia, including previously unseen photography courtesy of Bob Bery and rare live posters and magazine covers from those days courtesy of Gonzalo. Recorded at Civic Theatre, Akron, Ohio (USA), October 23rd, 1976. Edition of 500, released under license from Easy Action Records. Personnel: Lou Reed - vocals and guitar; Michael Fonfara - keyboards; Bruce Yaw - bass; Marty Fogel - sax; Michael Suchorsky - drums.

Like drum 'n' bass, ambient is a genre which relies on making a little go a very long way; the resultant glut of weedy minimalist pastiches barely bears a cursory listen for the most part, but this collaboration between Harold Budd and Hector Zazou demonstrates better than any recent offering how the spaces between the sounds can be made pregnant with possibility. On "Pandas in Tandem", the ghost of Erik Satie treads lightly over a shuffle breakbeat; the result is fragile and crystalline, as tentatively pristine as snowflakes. Elsewhere, heavy rhythmic breathing carries "Around the Corner from Everywhere"; slivers of what sounds like hammered dulcimer undulate through "Johnny Cake", and clarinets collude conspiratorially on "As Fast as I Could Look Away She was Still There".

The incandescent talent of David Ruffin was too big for even the Temptations to hold. As Smokey Robinson observed, The only way David could survive at Motown was as a solo artist. And so Ruffin left the Temptations in 1969 to strike out on his own with a series of releases that further established him as one of Motown s great voices. These two records, released in 1973 and 1974, respectively, did not spawn any hit singles but instead reflected Ruffin s growth as an artist away from the Motown formula and towards a life spent in the fast lane. David Ruffin, produced by Bobby Miller, whose writing credit appears on eight out of the 10 tracks, is a psychedelic soul masterpiece, and features the definitive version of Gamble and Huff s I Miss You (Part 1). Me N Rock N Roll Are Here to Stay, meanwhile, marked the fiery collision of Ruffin with the brilliant producer Norman Whitfield, with the creative sparks to prove it. Both records appear here on CD for the first time outside of a long out of print, limited edition set, with notes by Gene Sculatti.

By 2004, Pinetop Perkins may have entered his twilight years, and the fiery action he brought to the 88s in Muddy Waters's band in the 1960s may have mellowed to a smoother blues, but Ladies Man proves he's still got the juice. The idea behind the album was to pair Perkins with an assortment of female musicians, all of whom have cited the elder statesman as an influence. The guest stars, including Ruth Brown, Marcia Ball, and Susan Tedeschi, add texture and flavor to Pinetop's well-worn vocals and still vital boogie-woogie stylings.
The tunes Pinetop sings on, from the laid-back "Chicken Shack" to the rollicking "Big Fat Mama," sound as warm and familiar as old friends. But when Madeleine Peyroux takes the mic on "He's Got Me Goin'," unleashing a butter-smooth croon, or when Odetta lays down her deep alto on "Trouble in Mind," the session takes off…

A 1988 tour in which Bob Dylan, who had been released in recent years, gave a resurgence of screams, although it was very popular for enthusiasts. This time, after a long time of release, the Ultra Audience Album captures the early stages of the tour with superb sound quality. The beginning of this tour was part of the 88 year tour, where the quality of the performance was high on average, and it was fun for Dylan to stand on stage with his own renewal and the lively performance of the new band. A time when it can’t be helped. In addition, there was a surprise that Neil Young participated as a guest guitarist in the three shows since the tour started.

Jazz Hands is Bob James' third outing for evosound, following in the wake of 2018's Espressoand 2022's Feel Like Makin' LIVE. Produced by the pianist with his manager Sonny Abelardo, the ten-track album was mostly recorded during the months of the Covid pandemic and featured James in a number of different musical settings. It also features a stellar cameo from the ex-Gnarls Barkley singer CeeLo Green on the sensuous title track and includes production input from the legendary hip-hop turntablist DJ Jazzy Jeff, who rose to fame as half of the hit-making '80s/'90s rap duo, DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, early samplers of James' music. Blending cool jazz tropes with funky dance floor grooves, blues-tinged ballads, cinematic mood pieces, and sensuous slow jams, Jazz Hands is the Missouri pianist's most eclectic album of his long career. Simultaneously classic and contemporary, it's Bob James at his majestic, ground-breaking, and timeless best.