Anthony Grant

In as much as Alessandro Scarlatti's music is known at all, it is the large-scale operas and the chamber cantatas that have justifiably attracted the most attention. That the leading composer for the Neapolitan stage should also have turned his hand to madrigal composition, by then a distinctly outmoded and declining genre, is easily overlooked, yet a handful of such pieces have survived in manuscripts and, as this record persuasively argues, they certainly deserve a hearing. Perhaps even more surprising than their existence and survival is their style; Scarlatti eschews the possibilities of the basso continuo and opts instead for a language which at times echoes the techniques of the great age of madrigal-writing of some 100 years earlier, and above all the music of Monteverdi and Gesualdo.

For decades there has been only one recording of Admeto available: a quite splendid performance from 1977 (Virgin Records 5613692) directed by Alan Curtis with Il complesso barocco. One of the first baroque operas to be recorded with original instruments, it reflects the best of the historical performance movement. It is thus with considerable anticipation and curiosity that one approaches this new release of Handel’s Admeto, sung in English (to a fine translation by Geoffrey Dunn), directed by Sir Anthony Lewis, and recorded just nine years earlier in 1968. The cast for this recording is no less remarkable. Dame Janet Baker plays the self-sacrificing Alcestis; Admetus is sung elegantly and expressively by Maureen Lehane; Sheila Armstong is a brilliant and stylish Antigona, and the mezzo soprano Margaret Lensky provides a touching portrayal of the lovesick Thrasymedes.

While Anthony Newman has worn many hats on the musical stage, he is best known as an organist, especially for his interpretations of the works of Bach. In recent years, he has attracted considerable attention as a fortepianist; his 1989 recording of the Beethoven Third Piano Concerto received a Recording of the Year award from Stereo Review. He has concertized widely, often performing his own works, and has recorded for many labels, with about 140 total releases by the end of the twentieth century.

While Anthony Newman has worn many hats on the musical stage, he is best known as an organist, especially for his interpretations of the works of Bach. In recent years, he has attracted considerable attention as a fortepianist; his 1989 recording of the Beethoven Third Piano Concerto received a Recording of the Year award from Stereo Review. He has concertized widely, often performing his own works, and has recorded for many labels, with about 140 total releases by the end of the twentieth century.

With her almost supernaturally clear and agile soprano, Emma Kirkby has enchanted audiences ever since she first appeared on the Early Music scene in the 1970s. And as the art of historically informed performance has become more and more widely appreciated, so has her style of singing, to the extent that she in 2007 was included in a listing of ‘the 20 greatest sopranos ever’ made by the BBC Music Magazine. Throughout her career, Emma Kirkby has made a large number of recordings of a wide range of music. Released on the occasion of her 60th birthday, the present collection celebrates her collaboration with BIS, which has resulted in ten discs to date.

Grant Green - Carryin' On (1969) {Blue Note Rare Groove Series}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 232 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 91 Mb | Artwork | 5% repair rar
© 1969, 1995 Blue Note / Capitol Records | CDP 7243 8 31247 2 5
Jazz / Jazz Funk / Soul Jazz / Guitar

Reissued on CD as part of Blue Note's Rare Groove series, Carryin' On was Grant Green's first album for Blue Note since 1965, an absence of four years during which he recorded just two albums for other labels. Green's return was accompanied by a seismic shift in direction – Carryin' On was an album of commercially accessible jazz-funk with a heavy R&B influence, plus miles and miles of Fender Rhodes electric piano. It would typify Green's approach over the next few years, which later made him a hero among acid-jazz aficionados, even though it was the last thing purists wanted to hear from him.