Crazy English Speaker From March 2014

Ry Cooder’s multi-genre style mostly spans blues, country, gospel, folk, and calypso but ultimately knows no boundries. The late 60’s saw Ry as a session man and collaborator to many talents such as The Rolling Stones, Randy Newman, and Lowell George to name just a few. He is even rumored to have shown Keith Richards his 5-string open G tuning that Keith lives by now during these late 60’s sessions. The main portion of the disc was recorded at The Bottom Line in New York and features a solo performance that comes from an excellent crystal clear soundboard recording. A master of fingerstyle and downright dangerous with a slide, only his vocal lacks a bit but is good enough to accomplish exactly what he was after.

English Grammar: Grow your command of English grammar in writing and speaking with straightforward lessons and quizzes

Firma Melodiya presents concert recordings of J.S. Bach's compositions performed by Grigory Sokolov, arguably the most intellectual of all modern Russian pianists. At the age of 16, he became a winner of the 3rd International Tchaikovsky Competition and has been an active concert performer for more than forty years. There are just few musicians now who are described as "He lives for the sake of music. Only music". Sokolov's biography is not rich in external events as he is not a public figure. However, those who have heard him in concert or on records will never be able to forget his play. Sokolov prefers deeply considered "music of mind" to virtuosic lustre. He is mostly known as an interpreter of Bach's works, late Beethoven and Brahms. "He is often compared with Gould. But Sokolov has a Bach of his own. He is more of a philosopher", a critic wrote about his performance in the Literaturnaya Gazeta. But unlike the Canadian intellectual genius of pianism, Sokolov has preferred concerts to recordings. "The biggest gap is the one between the microphone and a man", the musician believes. The Goldberg Variations, Bach's most complicated cycle from the performing point of view, was recorded by Grigory Sokolov in concert in 1982. The album also includes Partita in C minor and English Suite in A minor recorded in various years.

National Geographic and NASA are sending you into space - live! For the first time ever, board the International Space Station and take a complete orbit of Earth in real time.