On the face of it, pianist Oscar Peterson (whose virtuosity always allowed him to play an infinite amount of notes) and Count Basie (who made inventive use of silence and space by emphasizing single rhythmic sounds) would seem to have had little in common. However they both swing, and there was a definite overlapping in their repertoire. Peterson's Basie tribute is a near-masterpiece. With guitarist Herb Ellis, bassist Ray Brown, and guest drummer Buddy Rich all playing quite sympathetically, Peterson's arrangements make the nine Basie-associated songs (along with Peterson's original "Blues for Basie") all sound quite fresh and lightly swinging. Quite a few of these renditions (particularly "Easy Does It," "9:20 Special," "Broadway," and "One O'Clock Jump") are instantly memorable.

The story of Campo di Marte (named after an area of Florence) is a familiar one in the annals of Italian progressive rock. Like many of their fellow countrymen they released one album and due to a lack of interest and record company promotion split up. In fact the band had already called it a day before the album was released. Nevertheless it remains an important release and well worth seeking out for anyone with more than a passing interest in the genre.
Musically the band played classical influenced symphonic prog alternating with a heavy rock style. Fans of PFM should find much to their liking and parallels can be drawn with De De Lind on the heavier sections. A high standard of musicianship is present and the albums subject matter deals with the futility of war. Confusion may arise with the sequencing of the album…

Greatest Hits (& Some That Will Be) was released in the fall of 1981, summarizing a remarkable seven-year stretch of extraordinary success that began when the iconoclastic Red Headed Stranger, Willie Nelson's first album for Columbia, became a smash hit not long after its 1975 release. From that point on, Nelson became an American popular music icon and a fixture at the top of the country charts, something that was all the more remarkable because he rarely played it safe: he sang pop standards, jammed like the Grateful Dead, recorded tributes to heroes like Lefty Frizzell, and did duet albums with both mentor Ray Price and fellow maverick Leon Russell.

This album is inspired by the history of the Hundred Years' War in the 15th Century, in which the brave and - in modern terms - emancipated young woman Jeanne D'Arc, the Virgin of Orléans, played an important key role. It is a musical hommage to the brave of this world and the principle of revolutionary thoughts and acts.
Jeanne D'Arc - the French heroine immortalized and appreciated in electronic music. This studio album was recorded shortly before the live concert in the Friedrichstadtkirche (French Cathedral) in Berlin in July 2005. Enjoy this exciting musical tribute.

Giuseppe Cambini has had a bad press for almost two centuries: Mozart told tales of his jealousy and intrigue, and the sheer size of his output – at least 600 instrumental works, a dozen operas, and more – has prompted further suspicion (there is nothing worse than being facile). He composed almost as many string quintets as Boccherini (with whom he played as a young man) and even more quartets, and he wrote nearly 100 works in the fashionable Parisian form of the time, the symphonie concertante.

This recording of Richard Strauss's opera Elektra by De Nederlandse Opera (The Netherlands Opera) was made in November 2011 at the Amsterdam Music Theatre. In addition to an impressive cast, it features the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and the Toonkunst Choir Amsterdam conducted by Marc Albrecht.

The transcription on this CD was prepared by the eminent Polish-Jewish composer from Lvov, Józef Koffler, who arranged the Variations for a chamber orchestra (flute, oboe, English horn, bassoon and string quintet). This transcription, completely unknown until only recently, is undoubtedly one of the best 20th-century transcriptions of Bach's music.

On 'Vivaldi and Friends', Apollo’s Fire, directed by Jeannette Sorrell, serve up an album of baroque concertos with a twist, just ahead of their UK debut at London’s Wigmore Hall in November. The Cleveland-based baroque orchestra Apollo’s Fire, with their founder/ director Jeannette Sorrell, has made an indelible impression on the international music market since launching on Avie with recordings of Bach, Mozart and Monteverdi.

A marquee name among classical pianists since the 1970s, Maurizio Pollini has been noted for performances of some of the most monumental of contemporary music, and for pairing such works with standard repertory of the 19th century. Pollini's decades-long relationship as a recording artist with the Deutsche Grammophon label has been among the most stable in years. Pollini was born January 5, 1942, in Milan. His father was modernist architect and educator Gino Pollini. In 1957, in Milan, he performed a concert of Chopin Etudes that drew wide attention.

Having bought this cd as a complete blind purchase [usually not, i have to admit, a successful venture] i was pleasantly surprised. it is a daring, envelope-pushing guitar cd, and mats bergström's executes the difficult repertoire with finesse and panache. The music is all 20th century [none of your romantic spanish guitar here…], including steve reich's 'electric counterpoint' [originally written for pat metheny and reproduced here in all its chattering, cascading glory] and toru takemitsu's characteristically difficult but rewarding 'all in twilight'.

Leif Ove Andsnes has long been renowned for his powerfully emotive and disciplined performances of Rachmaninov: attributes prized by the supreme composer-pianist himself. This set brings together for the first time the complete cycle of acclaimed concerto recordings, including the perennially loved Second in an award-winning live performance, acclaimed by Gramophone as ‘a Rolls-Royce reading.’

This double CD set of Schumann’s Complete Works for Piano Trio is a welcome addition to the chamber music catalogue. The trio prove to be fine ensemble giving both stirring and satisfying performances. There is a something very natural about the musicianship on show here.

Deep Purple - Deep Purple in Rock (1970). In 1970 heavy metal was just beginning and it was Deep Purple that combined the heaviness and the speed to form what we now know as heavy metal. "In Rock" is one of those seminal albums. Deep Purple's fourth studio album, and the first with the classic Mk II lineup was their breakthrough album. Heavy guitar riffs from Ritchie Blackmore and heavily fuzzed organ from Jon Lord were now the order of the day. The opening track, the fully restored, un-edited, complete, full-length 5:55 version of "Speed King" shows no mercy as it instantly blasts out of the speakers with a raw, unbridled hard rock sound. Also included is the 10-minute epic and all-time concert favorite, "Child in Time"…