D&s Vol. 43

With Harmonic Ascendant, released in 1979, Robert Schroeder has stamped electronic music (EM) with his own particular sound, a flowing synth with strident and melodious laments on a progressive minimalist rhythmic movement. At that time the musician from Aachen was building his own equipment, hence the singularity of his harmonies. This was followed by Floating Music, Mosaique and the sublime Galaxy Cygnus-A. A period strongly influenced by the Berlin School à la Klaus Schulze. And for some, it was his best phase. D.MO Vol.1, for demo, is a collection of unreleased tracks that retraces this era of the German synthesist who from 1978 to 1982 was experimenting with his new devices. And this is the spirit behind this compilation which is mainly addressed to the fans of this period…

With Harmonic Ascendant, released in 1979, Robert Schroeder has stamped electronic music (EM) with his own particular sound, a flowing synth with strident and melodious laments on a progressive minimalist rhythmic movement. At that time the musician from Aachen was building his own equipment, hence the singularity of his harmonies. This was followed by Floating Music, Mosaique and the sublime Galaxy Cygnus-A. A period strongly influenced by the Berlin School à la Klaus Schulze. And for some, it was his best phase. D.MO Vol.1, for demo, is a collection of unreleased tracks that retraces this era of the German synthesist who from 1978 to 1982 was experimenting with his new devices. And this is the spirit behind this compilation which is mainly addressed to the fans of this period…

With Harmonic Ascendant, released in 1979, Robert Schroeder has stamped electronic music (EM) with his own particular sound, a flowing synth with strident and melodious laments on a progressive minimalist rhythmic movement. At that time the musician from Aachen was building his own equipment, hence the singularity of his harmonies. This was followed by Floating Music, Mosaique and the sublime Galaxy Cygnus-A. A period strongly influenced by the Berlin School à la Klaus Schulze. And for some, it was his best phase. D.MO Vol.1, for demo, is a collection of unreleased tracks that retraces this era of the German synthesist who from 1978 to 1982 was experimenting with his new devices. And this is the spirit behind this compilation which is mainly addressed to the fans of this period…

French artist MICHEL ZACHA was a colourful addition to the roster of French artists that was active in the 1970's, his output incorporating elements from a vast number of different stylistic expressions from both sides of the dividing line between mainstream rock and art rock. His creative highlight was the years 1972 - 1977, when he released the concept album trilogy Promesses d'Atlantides, consisting of La Nuit des Cigales (1972), Le Vol D'Icare (1974) and Inutile (1977). Little else is known about this composer and musician today.

The Collector's Edition - Celebrating a groundbreaking label - The true legacy of a legendary label. Long hailed as an audiophile's label, Mercury represents an important milestone in the history of classical recordings. A s The New York Times described, 'One feels oneself in the living presence of the orchestra'. 60 years after the landmark first recording, Mercury Living Presence: The Collector's Edition celebrates this special anniversary.

RCO - Anthology of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Vol 3, 1960-1970 (2005) {14CD Box Set RCO 05001, Limited Edition}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 4.67 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 2.40 Gb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 230 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1960-70, 2005 Radio Netherlands Music / RCO LIve | RCO 05001
Classical / Orchestral

Despite rumors some months ago that the RCOA series might be discontinued (fortunately unfounded), here we have Volume III, a 14-CD set that contains much of interest, but surely—for this collector—doesn't live up to its potential. For me, ideally that would concist of some of the outstanding performances of great symphonic music played by this magnificent orchestra, recorded in the extraordinary acoustics of the Concertgebouw with the usual Radio Nederland sonic expertise. During the decade represented in this set (1960-1970) the Concertgebouw Orchestra's programming often emphasized contemporary music and that surely is reflected in this album. We have well over five hours of music by Martin, Varèse, Berg, Webern, Henze, Lutoslawski, Nono and Dallapiccola as well as Dutch composers Ketting, Escher, and Vermeulen, and Polish composer Grazyna Bacewicz's Music for Strings, Trumpets and Percussion, an 18-minute three-movement work of imagination and vivid scoring.

The recordings released in this series are devoted to the music of Bach, never a specialty among Russians, and they have the feeling of something extreme, developed in isolation. Feinberg plays Bach, perhaps, as Liszt might have heard Bach and played him – with maximum use of the pedals, a full range of dynamics, and an approach that in every way transforms Bach into an arch-Romantic. This disc, in the label's Feinberg series, is perhaps the most extreme of all, for here the artist tackles not only piano works but those for organ – the listener is treated not only to Feinberg's interpretations but also to his transcriptions. Sample the booming bass lines of the group of chorale preludes in the middle of the program. Of course, the line between transcription and interpretation in this case is not terribly clear. Taken as a whole, the Chromatic fantasia and fugue, BWV 903, leaves the impression that the music has been pushed nearly as far as in Busoni's Bach transcriptions; it's not Bach, really, but it's quite a thrill.

Masaaki Suzuki was an organist before he was a conductor, and his recordings of Bach's organ works have made a delightful coda to his magisterial survey of Bach cantatas with his Bach Collegium Japan. This selection, the second in a series appearing on the BIS label, gives a good idea of the gems available. You get a good mix of pieces, including a pair of Bach's Vivaldi transcriptions. Fans of Suzuki's cantata series will be pleased to note the similarities in his style between his conducting and his organ playing: there's a certain precise yet deliberate and lush quality common to both. And he has a real co-star here: the organ of the Kobe Shoin Women's University Chapel, built in 1983 by French maker Marc Garnier. The realizations of Bach's transcriptions of Vivaldi concertos fare especially well here, with a panoply of subtle colors in the organ. Sample the first movement of the Concerto in D minor, BWV 596, with its mellow yet transcendently mysterious tones in the string ripieni. BIS backs Suzuki up with marvelously clear engineering in the small Japanese chapel, and all in all, this is a Bach organ recording that stands out from the crowd. Highly recommended.