A Winter Journey (2023)

Silent Songs - the fascinating collection of songs by the eminent Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov - enchants with its incomparable atmosphere of silence in a new, impressive interpretation. Elene Gvritishvili and Alexey Pudinov's selection of Silent Songs celebrates the subtle beauty of the music, the contemplative lyricism and the sound of their words.

This five-disc, 116-track box set presents a sweeping history of the blues from its emergence in the early 1900s clear through to its various contemporary guises, and includes samples of country blues in all of its regional variations, as well as cuts from string bands, jug bands, jazz combos, gritty Chicago blues outfits, and a look at how rock artists like Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix incorporated the blues into their distinctive styles. Intelligently gathered and arranged, it treats the blues both from a historical perspective and from a working assumption that the form is still alive and well, continually morphing and transforming itself. There simply isn't a better or deeper survey of the blues on the market.