Darrell

"Wielding a nasty blues harp, a smokin' band and a gutsy, soulful rock and roll vocal style, Darrell Mansfield can go toe-to-toe with the best of them – and if you don't believe me, let your ears prove it to you with The Darrell Mansfield Ultimate Series Collection. In the annals of 'Christian rock' there aren't a whole lot of artists who can go up against the big boys from the other side of the fence and come away wiping the blood off their hands and smiling. You know what I mean – we're not talking about Bill Gaither here. Wielding a nasty blues harp, a smokin' band and a gutsy, soulful rock and roll vocal style, Darrell Mansfield can go toe-to-toe with the best of them – and if you don't believe me, let your ears prove it to you with The Darrell Mansfield Ultimate Series Collection.

Composer, conductor and organist Gabriel Pierné wrote in a wide variety of genres, from operas to pieces for solo piano. His orchestral music for the stage shows the utmost refinement and clarity as well as wit and charm in the finest French tradition. His colourful and evocative score for Ramuntcho is rich in Basque flavour with zortzico dance rhythms and village dances, all beautifully textured. Set in the 18th century, the ballet Cydalise et le Chèvre-pied reveals the full range of his inventive scoring, which remains chamber music-like in its finesse.

"Wielding a nasty blues harp, a smokin' band and a gutsy, soulful rock and roll vocal style, Darrell Mansfield can go toe-to-toe with the best of them – and if you don't believe me, let your ears prove it to you with The Darrell Mansfield Ultimate Series Collection. In the annals of 'Christian rock' there aren't a whole lot of artists who can go up against the big boys from the other side of the fence and come away wiping the blood off their hands and smiling. You know what I mean – we're not talking about Bill Gaither here. Wielding a nasty blues harp, a smokin' band and a gutsy, soulful rock and roll vocal style, Darrell Mansfield can go toe-to-toe with the best of them – and if you don't believe me, let your ears prove it to you with The Darrell Mansfield Ultimate Series Collection.

A composition pupil of Jules Massenet, Alfred Bruneau was largely responsible for introducing realism into French opera. His friendship with the writer Emile Zola, who shared his desire for theatrical naturalism, strongly informed his work, not least L’Attaque du Moulin (The Attack on the Mill) a ‘drame lyrique.’ The suite includes rustic elements, but also Mascagni-like verismo beauty tempered by a Gallic palette. Bruneau was a deft orchestrator with a taste for exotic color, and the excerpts from Messidor show the influence of Wagner on one of the most important but overlooked figures in turn-of-the-century French musical life. A Marco Polo release in 1994 has the same repertoire as this new recording from the Barcelona Symphony and Darrell Ang, however that album is no longer available, so this new release is a perfect opportunity to reintroduce these works.

A composition pupil of Jules Massenet, Alfred Bruneau was largely responsible for introducing realism into French opera. His friendship with the writer Emile Zola, who shared his desire for theatrical naturalism, strongly informed his work, not least L’Attaque du Moulin (The Attack on the Mill) a ‘drame lyrique.’ The suite includes rustic elements, but also Mascagni-like verismo beauty tempered by a Gallic palette. Bruneau was a deft orchestrator with a taste for exotic color, and the excerpts from Messidor show the influence of Wagner on one of the most important but overlooked figures in turn-of-the-century French musical life. A Marco Polo release in 1994 has the same repertoire as this new recording from the Barcelona Symphony and Darrell Ang, however that album is no longer available, so this new release is a perfect opportunity to reintroduce these works.