Harnoncourt hat mit dieser wunderbaren Aufnahme etwas nicht nur Ergreifendes, sondern auch ganz Wunderbares geschaffen. Die Johannes-Passion, die ja viel dramatischer ist als die vier Jahre später entstandene Matthäus-Passion, interpretiert er so packend und mitreißend, dass einem besonders bei den "Turbae"-Chören eine Gänsehaut über den Rücken läuft.

The music of the Court of Dresden is of special interest to Hans-Christoph Rademann and his two Dresden ensembles. Johann David Heinichen’s Missa No.11 is presented in a manner in which the musicians can display the entire majestic sound of this festive court music from the baroque era.

Although all of the quartet's original members with the exception of violist Josef Kluson have moved on since its 1972 founding, the Prazák Quartet has maintained many of its original traditions. For starters, the Prazák Quartet has long distinguished itself as an ensemble almost obsessed with technical precision. From its earliest recordings to the present, intonation, articulation, balance, phrasing, and even the matching of vibrato have been among its trademarks. All of these technical proficiencies have never come at the expense of musical integrity. Quite the contrary, in fact; the performances are typically quite passionate and musically sating.

Was (Not Was) is the debut album by art-funk ensemble Was (Not Was); it was released in 1981. The album was re-released with additional material in 2004 under the name Out Come the Freaks. The art direction was by Maverse Players.

‘Militant : Penitent : Triumphant’ was a rather impressive record, released by the Swedish one-man act Faidra in late 2023. Basing its atmospheric Black Metal on a straightforward but oh so effective midtempo mixture of captivating tremolo riffs and accentuating keys, the album managed to impress with its subtle simplicity and glorious atmosphere. That album is now followed up in early 2025 by the EP ‘Dies Irae’, the band’s latest output on Northern Silence Productions.
‘Dies Irae’ contains three tracks, and combines songs from several phases of the band. Starting off is ‘Dies Irae’, a new song recorded for the purpose of this EP. With clean folk based choirs introducing and ending the song, the Folky slant of Faidra is prominently present…

This two disc 41 track compilation features some of the biggest Pop/Rock hits recorded by some of Britain's most famous/infamous artists of all time, many of them taken from the esteemed EMI catalog. Absolutely massive hits from classically British artists including Queen, David Bowie, Elvis Costello, Paul McCartney and Wings, Mike Oldfield, John Lennon, Fleetwood Mac, 10cc, Elton John, The Animals, Phil Collins and many others.

History will undoubtedly enshrine this disc as a watershed the likes of which may never truly be appreciated. Giant Steps bore the double-edged sword of furthering the cause of the music as well as delivering it to an increasingly mainstream audience. Although this was John Coltrane's debut for Atlantic, he was concurrently performing and recording with Miles Davis. Within the space of less than three weeks, Coltrane would complete his work with Davis and company on another genre-defining disc, Kind of Blue, before commencing his efforts on this one. Coltrane (tenor sax) is flanked by essentially two different trios. Recording commenced in early May of 1959 with a pair of sessions that featured Tommy Flanagan (piano) and Art Taylor (drums), as well as Paul Chambers - who was the only bandmember other than Coltrane to have performed on every date…

Tonton Macoute was a British Progressive Rock band that released this self titled debut in 1971 and then disappeared! This is very unfortunate, as they were a very talented group of musicians. Perhaps naming a band after a Haitian paramilitary force may not have been the best choice, but they were truly a remarkable band. Their record is full of jazz-inspired prog rock with long instrumental interplay in even longer tracks. Their music oozes fun and good-natured moods and should please most everyone, even the ones wary of jazz-tinged music, as this is hardly their only inspiration. Highly recommended to the progheads that seek to deepen their knowledge of early 70's prog rock and looking for unknown gems such as this one. This got released on CD by Repertoire Records.

In 1973, Mike Oldfield burst onto the British music scene with his debut album Tubular Bells, two long instrumental suites in which Oldfield stitched together a series of melodies into a grandly scaled work in which he played the many instruments himself. The album was an audacious beginning to a career than saw him become one of the most respected artists in progressive rock, as well as a successful film composer. The Complete Mike Oldfield is a collection released in 1985 which features selections from his first ten solo albums, as well as highlights from his score for the film The Killing Fields.

Live at the Philharmonie was the Dave Pike Set's third record for MPS in the year 1969 alone; Noisy Silence-Gentle Noise (MPS 15215) and the stellar Four Reasons (MPS 15253) preceded it. One of the most interesting ideas about this amazing set of music concerns the notorious circumstances under which it was recorded, at the 1969 Berlin Jazz Days festival. The reason for this is the year itself: Miles Davis and his group had brought their fiery brand of electricity to jazz and its reverberations were being heard the world over. At the same time, prog rock and Krautrock were making their heads (considered ugly by jazz purists) known in the guises of Can, Neu!, Amon Düül, and Faust. Add to this Charlie Mariano's great band, the new hip embracing of rock culture by the Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band, Peter Herbolzheimer's Rhythm Combination & Brass, and any number of other groups, and Berlin was in a state of tension. The wild thing is, everybody agreed on Pike's group – it was the bridge between the jazz tradition, what was transpiring, and what was to come.