Karajan reportedly felt so strongly about his recordings of the Second Viennese School that he agreed to finance them himself when DG balked at picking up the tab. These are great performances, to be sure. Indeed, there may be some others that are comparable, but none are superior. The Berg pieces never have sounded so decadently beautiful, nor the Webern so passionately intense, or the Schoenberg so, well, just plain listenable. The Berlin Philharmonic strings make their usual luscious sounds, but here the winds, brass, and even percussion rise to the occasion as well. And sonically these were always some of Karajan's best efforts. Essential, then, and a perfect way to get to know these three composers on a single disc.

Produced by wunderkind producer Mark Wirtz (Tomorrow, the mythical Teenage Opera, and guy who decided not to produce Syd Barrett era Floyd), and co-written by Kris Ife who called on his old bandmates from The Quiet Five for these studio creations. Most of these pieces of psychedelic bubble gum were packed as The Matchmakers, some chipper chiclets were initially issued under monikers such as Astronaut Alan & The Planets (“Fickle Lizzie Anne,” “Cellophane Mary Jane”), and The Guards (“Fantastic Fair”). This final pack of bubble blowers were finally issued together in 1970 by Vogue Schallplatten in Germany and a few other territories shortly after.

Countertenor performances of 19th century opera are a historical and, ultimately, true novelty. This said, for those who love the sound of the countertenor voice and want to give it a try, there are several factors that recommend this release by countertenor Franco Fagioli, with the small orchestra Armonia Atenea under George Petrou. First is that castrati were still around in Rossini's time, although on the decline, and the composer was reportedly intrigued by their voices. Second, Fagioli, unlike the vast majority of other countertenors, studied bel canto singing rather than Baroque repertory exclusively, and a certain distance present in the work of other countertenors is absent here. And third, and most important, is Fagioli's voice itself. Of the countertenors active today, he's the one with the range, the power, the attitude to make you suspend disbelief and think for a moment that you're actually listening to a castrato. He enters into the various Rossini roles represented on this recording, several of which were mezzo-soprano "pants" roles; this adds to the layers of identity-switching happening, and the parts hit Fagioli's vocal sweet spot. A bonus is that several of these are from Rossini opere serie that are little played or recorded.

A great early session from a vastly underrated guitarist - the great Sal Salvador, a heck of a single note player with a really wonderful sound. The session's a small group one, and features Salvador on both guitar and a bit of vibes - working with players that include Eddie Costa, Jimmy Campbell, and Jimmy Gannon. The tunes are nothing fancy, but do have a slightly off-kilter feel that we really appreciate - with just the right touches of modern to keep things from being in that sleepier camp of 50s guitar jazz.

Atalanta Fugiens is considered by many to be the most beautiful and the most thought-provoking emblem book of all time, with an author in Michael Maier (1568-1622) who was a celebrated alchemist and physician at the court of the Emperor Rudolf II in Prague. In the final eight years of an eventful and much-travelled life, Maier created a series of illustrated alchemist works, among which Atalanta Fugiens is undoubtedly the most important.

The final volume of Paul Hindemiths (1895-1963) youthful and fresh Kammermusik series from the 1920s includes Kammermusik Nos. 47 performed by Kronberg Academy Soloists and the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra under a true Hindemith specialist, Christoph Eschenbach, who has won a Grammy for a previous Hindemith album on Ondine. These four works by Hindemith can be considered as full-bodied concertos for violin, viola, viola damore and organ. These work feature four young talented soloists, Stephen Waarts, Rimothy Ridout, Ziyu Shenand Christian Schmitt.

Wounderfull recording by Paola Erdas of the Intavolatura of Valente, first music book exclusively dedicated to harpsichord, played on two XVIth century Napolitan instrument of an extraordinary beauty.

The Choir of the West is the premier choral ensemble of the Department of Music at Pacific Lutheran University, located in Tacoma, Washington. The choir was founded in 1926, and was the third Lutheran college choir to tour extensively throughout the United States. Choir of the West has toured to Europe, Scandinavia, Japan and China, and has been selected to appear at several regional and national conferences of the National Association for Music Education and the American Choral Directors Association.

For the 20th anniversary, Arjen Lucassen remixed the audio to 21st century standards. He made it clear that it's a 'remix', not a 'remaster', saying "Remastering takes 2 hours, this remix took me 2 months!".
Into the Electric Castle is an epic prog rock opera from Dutch guitarist Arjen Lucassen. The sci-fi story centers around eight strangers brought together into a dimension of no space and no time. The characters in the story are played by varying lead singers, including former Marillion frontman Fish. The supporting cast is a who's who of proggers, which translates into superb musicianship. The story is standard sci-fi fare, but winds up being quite effective with the accompanying score. The massive coordination of such a large project is admirable, but to pull it off with such impressive results is stunning…

Inspired by electronic classics like Jean-Michel Jarre, Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk, Christopher von Deylen (Schiller) creates visionary sounds in a genre of its own kind, that are way ahead of their time.
On his Colors album, the visionary sound artist turns his attention to the piano for the first time and explores musical worlds that move easily between melodic piano miniatures and electronic sound panoramas.
The "Schiller-sound" blends past and present in an amazing way. Impressively emotional electronic music, enthusiastically celebrated by fans and the press around the world as "global pop". "Music that moves you really deep inside", is what Mike Oldfield said about Von Deylen's compositions.

The various bands led by harmonica player and singer George "Mojo" Buford hark back to the classic Chicago blues sounds of the early '60s. Among harmonica players, Buford has the distinction of being the only musician to have played with various bands led by the late Muddy Waters in the 1950s, '60s, '70s, and '80s. (Waters died in April 1981.) Buford left Mississippi for Memphis in his teens and honed his chops around Memphis before heading to Chicago in 1952. He began playing with Waters in Chicago in the late '50s, but by 1962 Buford relocated to Minneapolis, where he recorded several obscure albums for the Vernon and Folk-Art labels. He rejoined Waters' band in 1967 for a full year and then toured with him again in the early '70s, after harmonica player Jerry Portnoy left to form the Legendary Blues Band…