Nautilus was a Swiss Band, that combined the talents of Urs Lerch on bass, Dieter Ruf on guitars, Peter Fibich on drums, Ralph Stucki on keyboards, and Christian Bauer on guitars. Ruf, Stucki, and Bauer all contributed to the vocals. They only released two albums (1978's "20,000 Miles Under the Sea" and 1980's "Space Storm"), and not much is actually known about them.
Space Storm is abruptly performed and gravely recorded and the vocals are, well, rough. It's one of those records so late to the party (and without any wine) that no one cared.

Pianist Ray Bryant remained very popular among Japanese jazz fans in the later stages of his career, and he made quite a few important albums for Japanese labels. Play The Blues, recorded in 1999 for M&I, is one of them. It's a collection of great blues performances and includes the past hit tunes made famous by Bryant such as "Gotta Travel On" and "Slow Freight." Backed by a superb rhythm section (Ray Drummond and Kenny Washington), Bryant shines with his expression of deep blues feeling and the unique style that fully utilizes both hands. Hugh McCracken, the famous studio musician who just passed away on March 28, 2013, plays harmonica on several tunes.

For the second installment in his Mahler cycle for harmonia mundi, Daniel Harding revisits a symphony which clearly represents a turning point in the composer’s output. The years following Mahler’s early period (marked by Des Knaben Wunderhorn) saw the production of works of ever greater complexity and sardonicism, which show no trace of naïveté. Within a framework of utmost intricacy, the themes, musical gestures, and building blocks (for instance, the interval of a minor third which opens the Fifth Symphony’s famous Adagietto) trace a journey from darkness to light which culminates in the striking modernity of the finale.

The Bouts Ensemble is a chamber music ensemble devoted to the repertoire of the "high" baroque and pre-classical periods - ca. 1725-1775. Through performance of works by both famous and unjustly neglected composers, the group aims to contribute to a greater appreciation and understanding of music from this endlessly fascinating period. The members of this young group use their extensive experience in historical performance practice on period instruments to bring to this repertoire the virtuosity, vitality and intelligence that it demands.

In campo operistico, il periodo storico tra Cavalli e Handel - quello, per capirci, che comprende giganti come Stradella, A. Scarlatti, Legrenzi… - è il più trascurato dalla discografia. Ed è un peccato, perché è il periodo nel quale si sviluppano le forme e gli stili che saranno tipici del Barocco maturo, come l'aria con il da-capo ed il virtuosismo belcantistico. Benvenuta quindi questa produzione dell'austriaca ORF, che documenta dal vivo l'esecuzione di questo rarissimo "Giulio Cesare in Egitto" del veneziano Antonio Sartorio, uno dei maggiori eredi di Cavalli nel florido operismo lagunare.