Applemagazine From 22 January 2016

The English cellist Steven Isserlis has been a leading light on the international musical scene for more than three decades. His complete recordings for RCA Victor including concertos and chamber works by Haydn, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Liszt, Brahms, Grieg, Saint-Saens, Anton Rubinstein, Faure, Richard Strauss, Janacek, Bloch, Prokofiev, Shostakovich and John Tavener will now be available in a 12-CD box.

Although his music is rarely performed nowadays, Eugen Suchon was the most influential and respected Slovak composer of the twentieth century. Three of his greatest symphonic works are performed here by the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and its artistic director, Neeme Järvi. The works were composed during the years which Suchon spent in Bratislava, where he turned his interest to the origins of Slovak folk music and to extended tonality.

11th Studio Album from the German Heavy Power Metal Band. If you are talking about today’s top European heavy metal acts, then the discussion will head most certainly involve Germany’s Primal Fear. Former Gamma Ray vocalist Ralf Scheepers and bassist/vocalist Mat Sinner, two of the most respected German metal musicians, founded the band in late 1997. With ten studio albums released, two live releases and a Best Of compilation, Primal Fear are certainly one of the most beloved and respected Heavy Metal bands around the globe. Their last studio album “Delivering The Black” was their highest chart entry in Germany at Position 13 and charted in 8 other countries, incl. the US Billboard Heatseeker charts on Pos. 16.

30 years after the release of their debut album, ERASURE (Andy Bell and Vince Clarke) celebrate their incredible career and friendship with a 13 disc anthology box set charting their award-winning songwriting partnership. Mute / BMG are delighted to announce From Moscow To Mars – An Erasure Anthology. Curated by Vince and Andy it is a sumptuous box of memories of Erasure’s intergalactic journey through the pop and glitter and love that has defined their story so far. The BRIT and Ivor Novello winning pop duo have released a staggering number of albums, including 5 UK Number 1’s and 17 top 10 singles (35 singles charted in the UK Top 40) and their recent best of, Always, saw the band entering the Top 10 album charts once again. From Moscow To Mars is a 13-disc box set that includes all of the band’s 50 singles, a CD from both Vince and Andy compiling their favourite tracks, CDs of remixes (from Martyn Ware, William Orbit, Little Boots, Youth, Shep Pettibone, Chris & Cosey, to name but a few), b-sides, live material and rarities PLUS a radio documentary about the band and the Wild! concert, available on DVD for the first time.

After three fine quartet albums that culminated in 2014's excellent Extended Circle, Norwegian pianist and composer Tord Gustavsen returns to the trio format of his earliest ECM outing. What Was Said isn't a look back at the standard piano trio format. German-Afghan vocalist Simin Tander joins the pianist and drummer Jarle Vespestad. Gustavsen's instantly recognizable sound ripples in ever widening circles around melodies often based in traditional Norwegian hymns, folk songs, and gospel music. This band incorporates improvisational elements into the core of each composition, and the singer is a co-conspirator in the moment of creation. Tander sings in Pashto, Norwegian, and English. In most cases, lyrics have been translated from their origins into another tongue. Tander's delivery, an expressive and disciplined, slightly smoky contralto, is full of mystery…

"Après « Brother Stoon », « Interférences » le deuxième album en leader de Baptiste Herbin qui paraît chez Just Looking, confirme son exceptionnel talent. Le son de son alto a encore pris de l’ampleur, de la profondeur. Son phrasé, plus limpide s’il en était besoin, vous embarque irrésistiblement dans une histoire passionnante à chacun des quatorze morceaux. Du moderne Pour la mie, au vertigineux neobop Parker 51 de Jimmy Raney, de la belle ballade Malala au soprano au Ask Me Now de Thelonious Monk, en passant par l’incursion free de Interférences, Baptiste Herbin nous prend fermement par la main et nous emmène dans sa vision du jazz et au-delà…

Death Metal meets Hard Rock on the new Debauchery vs. Blood God album! Welcome to the world of Blood Gods! Debauchery has always been unique. Those who couldn't or wouldn't accept and understand it, were kindly asked to **** off. There's one thing the band offers for everyone who's still there: Death Metal straight in your face! Blood God is the Heavy Metal/Hard Rock offshoot of Debauchery. Judas Priest, Accept, Iron Maiden, Motörhead, AC/DC - these bands were the reason why the Blood Gods started playing music. Blood God have a Debauchery feel to them, but everything's still a bit more different: a little bit more Heavy Metal and a lot more Rock 'n' Roll!

Johann Sebastian Bach trained his many sons to be the finest organists of their time, yet hardly any organ music survives from them. Through transcription, improvisation, and other acts of imaginative re-creation this recording reunites Bach and his boys for a program that recaptures the virtuosic panache, commanding counterpoint, impressive poise, and exuberant excess of this first family on the organ. Played by award-winning Bach scholar and organist David Yearsley on Cornell University's reconstruction of a Berlin organ from 1706, known to at least one of the Bach sons, this program explores new dimensions not only of Johann Sebastian's towering achievement but also of the kinds of now-lost contributions the next Bach generation might have made to their family instrument's long and glorious history.

After the very successful Live document “Magic Moments” (it went to #1 in the German and Swedish DVD charts, #4 in Switzerland, #7 in Austria, and #17 in the Netherlands) it was about time for a new studio album! Steamhammer/SPV will release our new album “Game Of Sins” worldwide on January 15th, USA on January 22nd!