Esoteric Recordings is pleased to announce the release of a remastered clamshell boxed set anthology by the legendary musician Snowy White. Lucky Star - Anthology 1983-1994 gathers together all of his solo albums and two albums recorded under the guise of Snowy White's Blues Agency.
After some years working as a much in demand guitarist for artists as diverse as Al Stewart, Pink Floyd and Thin Lizzy, Snowy White branched out as a solo artist with the release of his first solo album White Flames in 1983. The album spawned a major hit single in 'Bird Of Paradise' early the following year and subsequently enjoyed chart success. This was followed in the 1980s by two more fine albums; Snowy White and That Certain Thing. At the end of the decade White formed the band Snowy White's Blues Agency and the group recorded the albums Change My Life and Open For Business in quick succession…

Universally considered as one of the greatest violinists of our time, Anne-Sophie Mutter’s stunning and multi-faceted music-making extends across masterworks from the full breadth of the violin repertoire. Mutterissimo – The Art of Anne-Sophie Mutter is a selection of highlights from her discography, personally picked by Mutter herself, bringing together recordings that date for the most part from the last twenty years.

There are loads of pianists technically superior than this pianist, but the sheer musicality of his playing makes it captivating. Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra engages in a true partnership with the pianist. Tempest and Polonaise & Waltz are equally impressive. Like so many of other Eastern European orchestras, I get an impression that the music comes from their heart.

Iiro Rantala is a Finnish jazz pianist, and Lost Heroes is an album of solo piano pieces from 2011, all dedicated to musician “heroes”. For instance, Tears for Esbjorn was inspired by Esbjorn Svennson of the EST Trio, who died in a scuba diving accident in 2008). Like those EST records (such as Strange Place for Snow, 2002) it has a very resonant piano sound and a cool feel.

"We're the only band around that's playing rooted American music," Better Days vocalist and former folkie Geoff Muldaur told an interviewer when this album was first released in 1973, and with perhaps just a handful of exceptions he was right. The band's mix of various styles of blues, from rural (Robert Johnson), to cosmopolitan (Percy Mayfield), along with hints of New Orleans R&B, boogie woogie, and early rock and country, was tremendously out of step with the pop trends of its time.
These days, of course, there are many bands doing more or less the same thing (although rarely as well), but the fact that these guys couldn't have cared less about appearing trendy is one of the reasons why Better Days sounds timeless…

The very first release by the Concord label was a quartet set featuring guitarists Herb Ellis and Joe Pass, bassist Ray Brown, and drummer Jake Hanna. Ellis and Pass (the latter was just beginning to be discovered) always made for a perfectly complementary team, constantly challenging each other. The boppish music (which mixes together standards with "originals" based on the blues and a standard) is quite enjoyable with the more memorable tunes including "Look for the Silver Lining," "Honeysuckle Rose," "Georgia," "Good News Blues," and "Bad News Blues." This was a strong start for what would become the definitive mainstream jazz label.

The second studio album by early and historically important French progressive rock band. This album suffers somewhat from the dreaded "sophomore slump". Triangle branch away a little from the progressive elements found on their debut & begin incorporating a more mainstream approach into their sound.

This CD's main attraction for many will be Gil Shaham's velvety violin in gorgeous, largely off-beat music. Others will relish these Schubert works in arrangements that replace the piano with the expert guitar of Göran Söllscher, enhancing the impression of hearing Schubert's music in the intimate domestic setting for which it was written. Most of the works are short, melodically rich dance-based gems on which Shaham and Söllscher lavish a Romantic tonal fullness and freedom rarely heard these days. Sometimes that's a bit too much of a good thing, as works like the Violin Sonata in D veer close to the sentimental.

Erik Wøllo’s Solastalgia is a monumental two-hour double CD of expansive, entrancing electronic music. Utilizing the striking, elegant vocabulary Wøllo has honed over 53 previous releases, his is a melodic vision of ambient electronics with lush arrangements brimming with promise. The 21 tracks display dazzling rhythmic pulses, shimmering textures and memorable ethereal lines.
This beauty is in service of a deeper story. "Solastalgia" - a term coined by Australian philosopher Glenn Albrecht - combines the Latin word for “comfort” and the Greek root for “pain, suffering, grief.” It describes the homesickness you experience when still at home as your environment undergoes significant change or degradation due to ecological damage and the loss of a connection to the natural world…

A sampler as a taster for latest releases of a label are nothing unusual. ACT boss Siegfried Loch has however the ambition with his own label’s sampler to "get the information about new releases across in a manner which also provides pleasure to the listener". A sound adventure with a high chance of new discoveries are always key to ACT World Jazz anthologies - but they must give enjoyment to the listener.

One of the supreme monuments of western sacred music, the Mass in B minor has been constantly reexamined by successive generations of performers. The questions it raises for musicologists and conductors are many and varied; each of them strives to give his or her own reading with the necessary humility. It was in this frame of mind that William Christie tackled the work in the course of a memorable tour in 2016.

The “Sonate da Camera”, Op. 4, one of eight consecutive opuses (1-8) of published chamber works by Turin-based Giovanni Battista Somis, is a work for solo violin, cello or harpsichord. The seven 3-movement sonatas basically eliminate the slow “Corellian” third movement, thus changing the traditional alternation. Some of the harmonic sequences also recall Vivaldi and the Venetian school in general. Founded 1995, the Ensemble Guidantus and their principal violinist Marco Pedrona, noted for score mastery and clear, individual interpretations, play a lively part in the Italian music scene.

Gibson’s virile, plain-speaking account of Elgar’s glorious Second Symphony refreshes in its directness and honesty. Included also is a sumptuous rendering of the rare Crown of India suite.