Anima Majid

Habibi Funk is happy to present a selection of works by Algerian-born, Amazigh artist Majid Soula. With synths, driving drums, prominent repetitive guitar lines, Majid’s music blends the best of Kabyle sounds, disco, highlife and groovy funk into something wholly unique. At the same time for Majid Soula music is a vessel for his political message.

The 2022 Jazzfest Berlin performance by revered, iconoclastic reedist Peter Brötzmann, Moroccan Gnaoua adept Majid Bekkas playing the two-stringed, camelskin-backed guembre, and Chicago-bred drummer Hamid Drake, documented as Catching Ghosts, is historic.

George Gershwin composed his Rhapsody in Blue in 1924. In the same year, he launched his collaboration with his brother Ira, which produced countless songs. He never achieved his ambition of studying with Maurice Ravel, but was always enthralled by the symphonic poem and the concerto. His masterpieces, such as An American in Paris and the opera Porgy and Bess, greatly enriched the American musical heritage. Jos van Immerseel has always been fascinated by Gershwin, but it was the appearance of a new edition of the scores that prompted the pianist and conductor to record this extensive homage. Thanks to the very latest research undertaken by the University of Michigan, the Library of Congress and the Gershwin Estate, he and his companions in Anima Eterna have got closer than ever before to the composer’s intentions, making use of the appropriate instruments.

Jos van Immerseel: “While since its foundation in 1987 Anima Eterna Brugge has grown organically into a symphonic orchestra, chamber music once again forms an important part of our repertory today. We will continue our journey through orchestral music, but want to broaden our base by including chamber music as well.”

Ein Garant für spannende Aufnahmen mit hohem Authentizitätsfaktor sind Anima Eterna und Jos van Immerseel. Fern von effekthascherischen Äußerlichkeiten präsentiert Immerseel ein durchweg erfrischendes Hörerlebnis, dem man sich gerne hingibt.

Astor Piazzolla’s “Four Seasons of Buenos Aires” reimagines Vivaldi’s masterpiece, “The Four Seasons,” within the context of the Argentine tango. Originally written as four separate pieces between 1965 and 1970, Piazzolla’s interpretation infuses Vivaldi’s Baroque elegance with the passionate and rhythmic essence of tango, creating a fusion of classical and contemporary musical styles. Each season, represented by a separate movement, vividly captures the changing moods and dynamics of Buenos Aires throughout the year. Piazzolla’s “Four Seasons” is a testament to his extraordinary talent for pushing the boundaries of traditional tango music and creating a modern, evocative work that remains a cherished gem in the world of classical and tango music.

Jos van Immerseel aime le son ou plutôt les sons… Il est capable de se passionner pour un pianoforte Walter (ca 1795-1800) comme pour les Erard 1897 ou 1904 du disque " Pièces à deux pianos " ou pour un Bechstein, ou Tröndlin… toujours à la recherche de la diversité et du singulier. C'est également cette passion du " sonner juste " qui l'a poussé à créer Anima Eterna, véritable laboratoire des acoustiques du XVIII au XX.

This very well recorded disc from 2003 is yet another fine disc from Immerseel and his orchestra once more extending his 'period' interests well beyond the Baroque and Classical areas of musical history. In this case Immerseel turns his attention to music by Liszt which he will have been familiar with as solo piano music but which also exists in its orchestral guise supplied by Liszt. These are not transcriptions but are real alternative versions for orchestra. The one exception is the tone poem, From the Cradle to the Grave' which was a late work, never performed during Liszt's life and only available as an orchestral composition.

Giovanni Mossi and Antonio Montanari, two of the most esteemed violin virtuosi of eighteenth-century Rome, can finally take centre stage, away from the crowded panorama of Corelli's pupils and imitators; their works can be fully appreciated in this new recording devoted to their sonatas for violin. Three sonatas by Mossi for violin and continuo from his op. 5 and op. 6 are presented here; these collections remain lesser-known and lesser-recorded even today. The three violin sonatas by Montanari that the celebrated virtuoso Johann Pisendel brought from Rome to Dresden in 1717, after having taken lessons from Montanari himself, are recorded here together for the first time.