Francesco Gasparini was held in high esteem by his contemporaries, as can be easily seen from his curriculum vitae: In Rome he was in the service of the great patrons of the arts Cardinal Pamphili, Marchese Ruspoli and the Borghese family, and in between he was music director at the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice for twelve years, at the same time as Antonio Vivaldi. Gasparini wrote a total of almost 60 operas and nearly 30 oratorios, which were performed in many Italian cities. The countertenor Filippo Mineccia has cherry-picked the repertoire that suits his voice and presents a portrait of Gasparini's alto arias. He was very careful to select arias with different affects in order to present Gasparini's broad dramatic palette. Slow arias are interspersed with furioso pieces and contrapuntal pieces. Particularly brilliant are the rage arias, in which Mineccia is able to display all his vocal prowess. In the richly orchestrated and harmonically exciting arias from Gasparini's oratorios, the Orchestra Nazionale Barocca dei Conservatori Italiani can shine with its qualities.

Georg Philipp Telemann never missed the opportunity to delight those around him with countless compositions treating the subject of love and its consequences. The origins of his enormous achievement in this field are certainly to be sought in his personal disposition: in his exuberant joy in composition, combined with an open, optimistic attitude in his dealings with his environment, which in his works not rarely revealed his roguish sense of humor. And so he above all was very much in demand as a composer of wedding pieces.

"When the evening falls, when the sun sets, when the song of the violin is heard from the puszta …" or "I too was once a fine csárdás cavalier". The operetta and the Munich Radio Orchestra – now that is a passionate relationship that has grown over many years. Now we are releasing one of the most performed works in German-speaking Europe: Emmerich Kálmán’s successful operetta (with which he rounded off the dozen) Gräfin Mariza, which according to the German Music Information Center in 2016 was No. 10 on the operetta hit list. For the conductor’s job the Munich Radio Orchestra once again sought out a proven operetta specialist: Ernst Theis. The work tells the story of a countess who amidst much confusion finds her true love in an impoverished count. The music with hits like "Komm mit nach Varaźdin", "Komm Zigan, spiel mir was vor!", and "Wo wohnt die Liebe?" made the operetta famous and a favorite with the public.

The enterprising and successful composer Paër comes from the tradition of the Italian opera and finds his place at the beginning of the bel canto opera. Spirited recitatives, extended arias, cabalettas, and marvelously mellow duets occur in sequence in his works, including his opera Leonora, premiered in 1804. During the Napoleonic Wars what he presented here was a heroic liberation opera of French stamp. The action corresponds to the spirit of the times, and the faithful wife displays heroism in her rescue of her unjustly imprisoned husband from a self-complacent tyrant’s dungeon. Dark political intrigues are denounced, and honesty, uprightness, and pure love are glorified.

Joensuu, Finland-based melodic death metal band Insomnium have announced that they will issue four-song EP Argent Moon on September 17th, 2021 through Century Media Records. Frontman Niilo Sevänen commented: “When the Corona outbreak forced us to cancel all the tours and shows, we pretty soon adopted a mindset that we better do something and keep ourselves in motion. We wanted to try how the streaming shows might work. We wanted to see what kind of new music might grow in the darkness and misery of the quarantine. And soon these vibes were channeled into songs that came to be the Argent Moon EP. “We wanted to try something a bit different so all the four songs on this release represent the softer side of Insomnium. The ballads and the mellow tunes. Acoustic guitars and clean vocals. The sorrow and agony that creeps into your heart when the nights grow longer. But fear not, we haven’t changed our style. Next album will be something different again. We used all the ballad ideas here so maybe it will be pure blast beats. We shall see.

Ferocious and uncompromising in their execution, CARCASS’s ability to intricately dissect the innards of death metal, and display them for us to sonically understand has been their point of excellence for over three decades. Last December (2019) the band released their first single in over 5 years “Under The Scalpel Blade,” followed by a 4 song EP entitled Despicable (October 2020), setting a potent precedent for the full length album to come in 2021: TORN ARTERIES. With the album title itself referencing an old demo created by original drummer Ken Ownback in the 80’s, TORN ARTERIES sits as a bookend on the modern side of the CARCASS discography, connecting directly back to where everything began over 30 years ago. “I think as our 7th album, it does stand out from the others both sonically and stylistically,” explains Vocalist and Bassist Jeff Walker. “You can definitely tell that it’s CARCASS; when you drop that needle on the vinyl, when you hear that guitar tone, you can tell it’s Bill Steer, but each album is always a product of its time.” Most will find that the only real struggle when indulging in TORN ARTERIES is fighting the desire to start it over the second it finishes. It covers substantial new ground for a band with such a reputation, while still retaining that addictive, time honoured CARCASS sound that has come to represent the face of true death metal.

Before Midland became a household name in country music, the Texas-based trio were just three friends writing music and playing small gigs for fun. The documentary Midland: The Sonic Ranch chronicles those early years, using footage from one of the band’s first recording sessions at the famed Texas studio. This accompanying soundtrack pulls together 12 songs from across the band’s career, including an alternate version of the Let It Roll track “Fourteen Gears” and unreleased fan favorites like “Texas Is the Last Stop” and “Champagne for the Pain.” Other gems include two versions of the band’s original tune “Cowgirl Blues,” the latter of which features guitarist Jess Carson on lead vocal. While The Sonic Ranch may lack the cohesion and road-tested chops of Midland’s two proper studio releases, it’s a fun and fascinating portrait of a young band just on the cusp of striking gold.

Dropkick Murphys release their 10th full-length studio album, Turn Up That Dial, via the band-owned Born and Bred Records. The album was produced by Ted Hutt. With the 11 tracks on Turn Up That Dial, Dropkick Murphys celebrate the simple pleasure of music, the relief and release from worry that comes when you “turn up that dial” and blast your troubles away.

Having been cleared earlier in the year in another lawsuit concerning the supposedly suicide-inducing subject matter of his music, Ozzy Osbourne reinvigorated his sound and expanded his following with his sixth studio album, No More Tears, in the fall of 1991. Finding more sympathetic producers in Duane Baron and John Purdell to replace Roy Thomas Baker (who had helmed his last effort, 1988's No Rest for the Wicked), collaborating with Lemmy Kilmister of Motörhead on four songs, and retaining the services of guitarist Zakk Wylde, Osbourne brought his music into the '90s. Songs like "Desire" and "S.I.N." had an energetic, contemporary metal sound, and Osbourne effectively changed gears to turn out gentle ballads like "Mama, I'm Coming Home," which gave him his first U.S. Top 40 hit on his own. Not cowed by his court cases, he wrote songs about child abuse ("Mr. Tinkertrain") and serial murder ("No More Tears") from the point of view of the criminals. But he also considered his own place in the general scheme of things in the tribute to the rock & roll lifestyle "Hellraiser" and the reflective "Road to Nowhere." It all made for an unusually broad range of material, and the album returned him to the Top Ten and multi-platinum status.

Emerging from the depths of Covid are some of the freshest ideas we have seen in years. Here, a newly formed string quartet takes a 2012 score by the British composer Thomas Adès and intersects it with works of their own making, very old and very new. The Adès piece describes the earth’s 24-hour rotation on its own axis — neat, but not stunningly original in either concept or content.

Pilgrimage of the Soul is the 11th studio album in the 22-year career of Japanese experimental rock legends, MONO. Recorded and mixed – cautiously, anxiously, yet optimistically – during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in the summer of 2020, Pilgrimage of the Soul is aptly named as it not only represents the peaks and valleys where MONO are now as they enter their third decade, but also charts their long, steady journey to this time and place. Continuing the subtle but profound creative progression in the MONO canon that began with Nowhere Now Here (2019), Pilgrimage of the Soul is the most dynamic MONO album to date (and that’s saying a lot). But where MONO’s foundation was built on the well-established interplay of whisper quiet and devastatingly loud, Pilgrimage of the Soul crafts its magic with mesmerizing new electronic instrumentation and textures, and – perhaps most notably – faster tempos that are clearly influenced by disco and techno. It all galvanizes as the most unexpected MONO album to date – replete with surprises and as awash in splendor as anything this band has ever done.

A mythic and emotionally charged hero’s journey, “Dune” tells the story of Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet’s exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence—a commodity capable of unlocking humanity’s greatest potential—only those who can conquer their fear will survive.

Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. It is loosely based on the Gospels' accounts of the last week of Jesus's life, beginning with the preparation for the arrival of Jesus and his disciples in Jerusalem and ending with the crucifixion.
The work interprets the psychology of Jesus and other characters. Much of the plot centers on Judas, who is dissatisfied with the direction in which Jesus is steering his disciples. Contemporary attitudes, sensibilities and slang pervade the rock opera's lyrics, and ironic allusions to modern life are scattered throughout the depiction of political events. Stage and film productions accordingly contain many intentional anachronisms.
Initially unable to get backing for a stage production, the composers released it as a rock opera album musical. The success of the album led to the show's Broadway on-stage debut in 1971. By 1980, the musical had grossed more than $237 million worldwide. Running for over eight years in London between 1972 and 1980 it held the record for longest-running West End musical before it was overtaken by Cats in 1989.

"I wanted you to get the humidity of it, the heat, the ways we reach to the pits of hell and the heights of heaven," South Carolina native Adia Victoria has said of her third album. "I wanted this record to encapsulate the extremes of the South." Mission accomplished; listening to A Southern Gothic, there is no escaping that uneasy—truly, haunted—feeling of so much beauty and so much menace all in one place. The singer-songwriter gets right to it with "Magnolia Blues": "I'm going back South/ Down to Carolina/ I'm gonna plant myself/ Under a magnolia/ I'm gonna let that dirt/ Do its work." The magnolia tree is both a symbol of deep-South femininity and strength as well as horror, given its association with lynchings.

Nick Lowe's 2001 album The Convincer established him as an elder statesman of rock and roll, far removed from the ironic power popper he was in the 1970s. The album arrived in a different world than the day before, releasing on September 11, 2001. These were songs for troubled times ("I'm a Mess," "Lately I've Let Things Slide") and Nick's songwriting was never sharper, with Mojo Magazine saying "Nick Lowe has made the album of his career." For the album’s 20th anniversary, three bonus tracks are added to the album: a long-lost Lowe-original called “Different Kind of Blue,” an acoustic cover of The Shirelles’ “Mama Said,” and a stripped-back rendition of The Chi-lites’ “There Will Never Be Any Peace (Until God Is Seated at the Conference Table).”