Quincy Jones followed up Smackwater Jack and his supervision of Donny Hathaway's Come Back Charleston Blue soundtrack with this, a mixed bag that saw him inching a little closer toward the R&B-dominated approach that reached full stride on the following Body Heat and peaked commercially with The Dude. That said, the album's most notorious cut is "The Streetbeater" - better known as the Sanford & Son theme, a novelty for most but also one of the greasiest, grimiest instrumental fusions of jazz and funk ever laid down - while its second most noteworthy component is a drastic recasting of "Summer in the City," as heard in the Pharcyde's "Passin' Me By," where the frantic, bug-eyed energy of the Lovin' Spoonful original is turned into a magnetically lazy drift driven by Eddie Louis' organ, Dave Grusin's electric piano, and Valerie Simpson's voice…

Ralf Nowy was a flute and saxophone player who died in 2007. Due to his classical education and proficiency he got jobs as a musical director and production manager already at an early age. And later he had a very successful carreer as a music producer for several popular acts. Inspired by the burgeoning Krautrock scene, Nowy formed his own supergroup with top musicians Paul Vincent, Keith Forsey and others from the Munich scene. Bass player Lothar Meid (Amon Duul II) contributes to one title, as well as Al Gromer (also Amon Duul II) on sitar. 'Lucifers Dream' thus became a melting pot of almost everything, with influences of psychedelic pop, subtle jazz, and with experimental and ethnic diversions A complex musical suite with a great deal of invention.

Die Triopartiten von Johann Joseph Fux gehören zweifellos zu den stärksten Werken des habsburgischen Hofkapellmeisters und wurden bereits zu seinen Lebzeiten weithin gerühmt. Gerade die Könnerschaft auf dem Gebiet der Triokomposition wog in der ersten Hälfte des 18. Jahrhunderts schwer, da – mit den Worten Johann Matthesons – „in einem Trio mehr Kunst stecke, als in vielstimmigen Sätzen“. Die Hochschätzung der Triokomposition lässt sich an der zunehmenden Zahl entsprechender Musikdrucke ablesen: Wer als Instrumentalkomponist überzeugen wollte, tat gut daran, schon als erstes Opus eigene Triowerke zu publizieren.

This recording transports us to Rome’s Chiesa Nuova, the Oratory Church where in 1600 the premiere took place of the first spiritual opera, La Rappresentatione di Anima e di Corpo by Cavalieri. That pioneering spirit has inspired this programme devised by InAlto. Among the manuscripts in the church’s library is an anonymous source, probably dating from the very beginning of the 17th century, containing a complete cycle of settings of those seven psalms that ever since the time of Saint Augustine have been called the ‘Penitenial Psalms’. This Roman score is absolutely unique of its kind, being monodic, and composed in the early operatic melodic narrative style of recitar cantando.

Composer and cellist Domenico Gabrielli, was born in Bologna on 15 April 1659. He only lived to be 31 and he is a composer probably only familiar to cellists, or rather Baroque cellists. His seven Ricercari for cello solo are indeed the first predecessors of Bach’s cello Suites, and his two cello sonatas and his Canon for two cellos are among the earliest examples of their genre. Much less well-known is the fact that Gabrielli was also a celebrated opera and oratorio composer and published several trio sonatas and (posthumously) a volume of secular cantatas for voice and basso continuo. The present release is completed by some works by Bartolomeo Monari (1662-1707). Emanuela Galli's ravishing voice leads us through these lesser known Baroque compositions revealing the beauty of that music.

Having re-released a large part of Tangerine Dream's back catalog in 2009, the Germany based Membran label released the box set The Electronic Journey in September 2010. It contains ten full-length albums from the Membran catalog, all repackaged in cardboard sleeves and put together in a cardboard box. Recording date 1982-2006.

For many years, Willi Boskovsky led the Vienna Philharmonic during the famous New Year's concerts. Violinist and conductor, he had this "Viennese Blood" essential to understand the music of Strauss and know how to mark the dynamics in the most accurate way. Although recorded many years ago (60' and 70') the recording was thoroughly remastered, giving us a fresh sound clarity as if it was recorded during last year's New Year's Concert. The CD includes the most famous waltzes by Johann Strauss (the Blue Danube, Emperor Waltz, Tales of the Vienna Woods…), along with 2 other ones written by his younger brother Joseph (Spharenklange and Dorschwalben aus Ostorreich).

Dohnányi's penchant for quality musical entertainment bore popular fruit with his perennially fresh Variations on a Nursery Theme. Howard Shelley's performance is a model of wit and style, blending in with the orchestra whenever the moment seems right and employing an ideal brand of rubato. Bamert's conducting is properly portentous in the Introduction and charming elsewhere, whether in the musicbox delights of the fifth variation, the animated bustle of the sixth or the seventh's novel scoring (plenty for the bassoons and bass drum).