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An Italian rock outfit Arcadelt have been founded in 1992 around Rome by 5 musicians - Pierfrancesco Drago (voices), Fabrizio Verzaschi (guitars), Giacomo Vitullo (keyboards), Sandro Piras (drums, percussion), and Fabio Cifani (bass). Apparently with being influenced by early Genesis with "Commedia dell'arte (theatre of the professional … masked improvised performances begun in the 16th century in Italy)". Following 25 years after after their debut album “Enjoy”, neo-progressive band Arcadelt released their new album “Arc8” on May 20, 2019 via Italian label Lizard Records. “ARC8” represents the closure of a circle born 25 years ago, a project where the passion for the progressive rock of the 70s and 80s gives way to a rock component with a considerable specific weight integrated in it’s style.

2nd release by British progressive rock group Grand Tour from Scotland, which features Hew Montgomery, formerly keyboard player with Glasgow’s Abel Ganz, current Comedy of Errors men Joe Cairney on vocals and Bruce Levick on drums, and former Errors guitarist Mark Spalding. For Grand Tour, 2005 was the year it all started…having played keyboards with Glasgow’s Abel Ganz since 1982, Hew Montgomery had begun to feel the need to take more direct control of his own material as the Ganz machine moved off in a slightly different musical direction from his. Grand Tour was born from a long held fascination with the cold war years and the nuclear stand-off between the super powers - the film “On the Beach” was a huge influence to the music as well, and many of the musical ideas flowed from the visual imagery of the movie.

Ballads play a very special role in the history of rock music. Firstly: They document the emotional side of the genre and show that behind (almost) every rocker`s hard chest beats a soft heart. Secondly: Those quieter songs are being played by radio stations without rock-affinity – and are loved by listeners for their emotional depth. And thirdly: In an increasingly hectic world, ballads offer brief moments of pause, of reflection on the essential things in life. So it`s no wonder that the ballad compilations of the Axel Rudi Pell Band are an absolute success. Over 250,000 copies have been sold of ‘The Ballads I’ (1993) to ‘The Ballads V’ (2017) alone.

Conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler already enjoyed a worldwide legendary standing during his lifetime he was considered the German conductor and performances were greeted with rapturous applause. Today, more than 50 years after his death, Wilhelm Furtwängler is still an icon and his work has become an integral part of the music scene.

Released in 2007, Nefelodhis is a concept album by Maurizio Bianchi in collaboration with the abstract impressionist post rockin’ ensemble Sparkle In Grey (featuring Matteo Uggeri on electronics, Alberto Carozzi on guitars, Cristiano Lupo on various instruments and Franz Krostopovic). In the Greek terminology Nefelodhis means “cloudiness”. The concept of the album opens on poetical-promethean-mercurian images in relation with vertiginous spiritual states and ascentional horizons. The sound experiments and the pleaseantly suspensfully instrumental melodies perfectly illustrate the conceptual background of the project…

Fantasy inspires, fantasy opens doors, fantasy allows changes of perspective: "With fantasy, you can shape a completely new world language-wise, intellectually and musically. The composer creates the basic framework; we musicians fill this with our interpretation and aspire to take the listeners with us into this wonderful and fantastic world of music“, says Georg Arzberger. "All the works on this album are so-called 'Romantic character pieces'; they were inspired by poetry, experiences in nature or simply the current emotional state of the composer. So for me, finding each individual 'language' and the corresponding musical message of the pieces is the main goal of our album“, says Julian Riem.