Et Taake

Little do most people know that Hoest and V. Einride has worked together for nearly a decade, and still to this day are bonded by blood and chained through hearts. It was a natural thing to do this split, aptly named ‘Pakt’, a title they agreed upon whilst touring in South America. At the table a young gentleman named Jose Gabriel Alegría Sabogal found himself drawn towards the project, as he has done nearly all Whoredom Rife artworks to date. Both bands feature two tracks each, Taake with an exclusive track plus a cover of none other than Sisters of Mercy. Whoredom Rife continues to trample down the classic Norwegian Black Metal-path, delivering two exclusive tracks which will make you taste the Norwegian mountains and fjords through violent Black Metal of the highest order.

The blackest and definitely most blasphemous split-release ever to emerge from the city between the seven mountains of Bergen, Norway: Taake / Deathcult "Jaertegn". This manifestation of Norwegian Black Metal features brand new material from both bands and will be released mid June

As the year 2020 has been quite unusual, Taake has also done things differently. This year the band has done two split-10” with Whoredom Rife and Deathcult on different labels. So, this is the third and last installment of these split-10”s, and this time it’s together with labelmates Helheim. For this split release, Taake has recorded two new tracks: “Brotne Bein og Mannefall” and “Ein Baat I Foss”, with lyrics from the old Norwegian writer Arne Garborg (approximately 1895). This is the true Norwegian black metal that we all crave for. Gritty, dark and cold as father winter of dread himself. Helheim’s contributions are two cover songs: A cover of Emperor’s “Heksesabbat / Witches Sabbath”, originally released on the tribute album “A Tribute to Emperor – In Honour of Icon E” from 2012 (now remastered) - and a quite different and original version of the Taake song “Orkan” from the album Noregs Vaapen. “Henholdsvis” is both a tribute to the old and showing new paths for Taake and concludes Taakes split-10” trilogy series.

The figure of George Frideric Handel cast a long shadow over musical London in the first half of the eighteenth century, condemning many of his contemporaries – fine composers themselves – to long years of obscurity. This recording throws light into forgotten corners and discovers some glittering gems, some of them demanding dazzling vocal fireworks from their performers. Several of these composers set scenes from Classical mythology or Old Testament narratives – but they also explore the underside of the Baroque psyche in one of David’s darkest psalms and in a representation of Arcadian madness.

Of all Berlioz’s Shakespeare-inspired works, Roméo et Juliette is unquestionably his masterpiece. It is also cast in an innovative new form, a kind of ‘super-symphony’ that incorporates elements of symphony, opera and oratorio. Berlioz composed no singing roles for the central characters, but allowed others to comment or narrate, giving latitude to incarnate the lovers in a musical language of extraordinary delicacy and passion. The vivid Ball Scene and Romeo at the Capulet tomb are intensely dramatic but the heart of the work is the Love Scene, a long symphonic poem which Richard Wagner called ‘the melody of the 19th century’.

Undoubtedly our interest and passion for the works composed throughout the 20th century have informed the choice of repertoire proposed in this record – the result of a long period of study and artistic collaboration. This repertoire has been part of our concert programmes for many years and represents four major milestones of the chamber music repertoire for the flute and guitar. Each work proposes a different compositional style – peculiar musical grammars and language with a varied and contrasting artistic vision delivered by each composer.

When the historic Theatre du Chatelet in Paris re-opened after a period of extensive refurbishment, the first two productions mounted in the theatre were Gluck’s Alceste and Orphée et Eurydice. Both operas were sung in their French versions and were mounted and designed by Robert Wilson and conducted by John Eliot Gardiner. This was the first time Wilson and Gardiner had collaborated and their individual credentials combined to produce an exceptional result.

Gardiner here follows up his previous Philips Berlioz recordings with the Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique – the Symphonie fantastique (6/93) and the rediscovered Messe solennelle (4/94) – with a searingly dramatic account of the later programme symphony, Harold in Italy. If anything this performance is even more biting in its impact, with textures transparent yet with plenty of weight, not least in the heavy brass. In a commentary on Berlioz and the conductor – shown recently on television – Gardiner puts as the first two of the conductor’s functions “to set the emotional temperature of the piece” and “to indicate the kaleidoscopic changes of mood that so characterize the music of Berlioz”.

Sir John Eliot Gardiner conducts the Monteverdi Choir, Choeur du Théâtre du Châtelet and Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique in a landmark recording of Berlioz's towering opera. A tragic tale of love and fate, war and peace and the intertwined destinies of two cities, the opera is based on Virgil's imperial vision of the founding myth of Rome. The American tenor Gregory Kunde as Aeneas and the Italian soprano Anna Caterina Antonacci lead an international cast in this stunning production.

The second release from Katia and Marielle Labèque's own KML label largely revisits Debussy and Stravinsky works that the duo previously essayed for Philips. Their newer versions are preferable, and may well represent the Labèque sisters' finest recordings to date. Whereas a driving, steel-edged literalism characterizes their earlier Debussy En blanc et noir, the duo now imbues the score with greater rhythmic leeway.