[share_ebook] Actia Multi Diag V22.03.0218 (01.2011)

The eighteenth century is probably the most extraordinary period of transformation Europe has known since antiquity. Political upheavals kept pace with the innumerable inventions and discoveries of the age; every sector of the arts and of intellectual and material life was turned upside down. Between the end of the reign of Louis XIV and the revolution of 1789, music in its turn underwent a radical mutation that struck at the very heart of a well-established musical language. In this domain too, we are all children of the Age of Enlightenment: our conception of music and the way we ‘consume’ it still follows in many respects the agenda set by the eighteenth century. And it is not entirely by chance that harmonia mundi has chosen to offer you in 2011 a survey of this musical revolution which, without claiming to be exhaustive, will enable you to grasp the principal outlines of musical creation between the twilight of the Baroque and the dawn of Romanticism.

Dana Fuchs is a throwback to another time: the late '60s and early '70s, when blues-based shouters like Janis Joplin and Robert Plant (in a somewhat different style) were capturing the attention of a generation. Her debt to Joplin is unapologetic – she starred in the off-Broadway musical Love, Janis – and at times maybe a bit too slavish. That's not to say that she brings no other elements to her interpretation of blues and soul-rock styles, only that there are moments on Love to Beg when one might be forgiven for wondering why one would listen to Fuchs when Joplin recordings are still so easily available.

A new band from Venice, Egonon combines the best of the Italian progressive tradition with modern sensibilities and eclectic influences. Their first album was released in 2011, surprisingly self-produced, partly recorded in Libya. The band continues in the grand Italian tradition of incorporating Mediterranean (including Middle Eastern) influences, sounds, melodies, and instruments into their songs. The result is a wonderful blend of old and new, exotic and familiar, melodic and jarring - in short an excellent Rock Progressivo Italiano adventure. Fabio Calo' lists musical influences as quite diverse, including Ornette Coleman, Frank Zappa, Igor Stravinsky, King Crimson, and Middle Eastern music.

Paul Oakenfold has always been a DJ who has refused to give himself exclusively to one genre. Throughout his career his sets have always been musically varied but consistently melodic and energetic…