Allt Om Historia From Nr.3, 2015

Canned Heat are celebrating in 2015 their 50th birthday. Since 1967 Adolfo Fito de la Parra is the drummer and Larry The Mole Taylor on bass and guitar was in periods always in the line-up. Together they are the force and musicians who keep The Heat alive; on tour and by recordings…

Born on the island of Rügen off Germany’s Baltic coast, Joachim Nikolas Eggert arrived in Sweden in 1803, soon establishing himself as a progressive conductor and introducing Beethoven to Stockholm audiences. Welcomed overwhelmingly on its première, Eggert’s large-scale FirstSymphony hints at Mozart and Haydn but foreshadows Mendelssohn in its wind textures and rich harmonies. The Third Symphony is kaleidoscopic in its moments of light and shade and unusual in its gigantic fugal finale. First of a two-volume set, these two symphonies alone demonstrate that Eggert should be considered one of the more important composers of his era.

In 1827, when writing his Quartet in A minor, Op.13, the 18-year-old Felix Mendelssohn was especially interested in Beethovens late quartets at a time when these works were generally written off as confused fantasies of a deaf musician. Mendelssohn's debt to Beethoven is evident in the important role of polyphonic techniques, particularly in the focus on cyclical connections between movements. Ten years on, Mendelssohn composed the three quartets, Op. 44, the D major quartet that closes the present disc the last of these to be completed; on publication, however, Mendelssohn placed it first in the set. Besides the seven complete quartets, Mendelssohn also wrote four individual string quartet movements. These were gathered together and published posthumously as op. 81, and on this second volume of their complete Mendelssohn cycle the Escher Quartet perform two of these pieces, both conceived in August 1847, shortly before the composers death.

Award-winning composer and music theoretician Roman Berger is widely respected for his stand against political repression in Eastern Europe during the last century. Most of the works on this recording are dedicated to the members of The Berger Trio, one of Slovakia’s leading ensembles. They include a commemoration of the composer’s late wife and other aspects of parting. The composer himself has written ‘…for me expressionism is neither a style nor an aesthetic, nor an “anachronistic” fashion: it is the result of life experience. The drama of existence leads to drama in art.’

Manifold Records presents Summer Time Vol. 3. 22 excellent Chillout tracks compiled by DJ Maretimo.

They may have recorded three albums of crisp riff-rock in the studio, but it s onstage that the chemistry between Robin Trower and Jack Bruce really comes alive For this 2009 live DVD, they perform tracks from their album Seven Moons with telepathic intensity, locking into each other s playing ( So Far to Yesterday ) or hanging back to allow the other to shine…