Frescobaldi And The South Francesco Cordi

In 1594 Carlo Gesualdo, Prince of Venosa, arrived in Ferrara for his marriage to Donna Eleonora d’Este. His meeting with the musical circles of Ferrara, and in particular with Luzzasco Luzzaschi, was to make an important impact on the musical development of the young Girolamo Frescobaldi. In his maturity Frescobaldi arrived at a deeply personal fusion between the musical forms of North Italian (and more specifically Venetian) derivation and the musical experimentation of the southern school.

Girolamo Frescobaldi is one of the most extraordinary figures in the history of music for harpsichord and organ, and had an enormous influence on other composers up until Bach. His brilliant toccatas reveal an inner world that fascinates today's listener. Frescobaldi's inspiration was born at the court of Ferrara and reached maturity in Rome, where the composer found himself among the major artists of the time who were actively creating a new artistic language.

The influence of the music by Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643) on contemporaneous composers and on those who worked even between the seventeenth and eighteenth century was truly important. For the necessarily synthetic itinerary delineated in this CD I was inspired by four exemplary compositions excerpted from “Fiori Musicali”. This collection was printed in 1635. In it, the composer proposes works conceived for liturgical use (plus two pieces without a precise collocation within the Mass). These pieces are excerpted from the so-called “Messa della Madonna”, and are a Toccata avanti la Messa, Canzon dopo l’Epistola, Recercar dopo il Credo, Toccata per la Levatione.

A brief history of 20th-century American music and a valuable, offbeat addition to the comprehensive Brilliant Classics library of guitar music.

”…And no Stress for the Wicked” – that's a memorable title for the album.

”…And no Stress for the Wicked” – that's a memorable title for the album.

Beginning as the backing band for the soul duo Simtec & Wylie, The Southside Movement issued their self-titled debut in 1973 which featured the breakbeat favourite I've Been Watching You, a song that went on to be sampled by a slew of famed contemporary artists including the Beastie Boys, Jadakiss, Erykah Badu, Beck and Hieroglyphics. This digital reissue gives new, high-res life to a soul classic.

Blending jazz improvisation, post-John Cage modernism, funk and the occasional touch of rock, the Art Ensemble of Chicago and its co-founder, Roscoe Mitchell, made good on the ambition of its motto: "Great Black Music, Ancient to the Future". Mr. Mitchell formed that group in the wake of his involvement in the 1965 founding of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, a pathbreaking collective of black artists known as the A.A.C.M.

Vladimir Ashkenazy, who was appointed principal conductor of the Sydney Symphony in 2009, puts his orchestra through its paces in this vibrant Exton album. This third volume of Edward Elgar's series features Enigma Variations & In The South overture. The people at Exton, a Japanese audiophile label, have once again produced an impressive recording with plenty of headroom. The imaging is so natural that you can almost visualize the space between the instruments, but yet the orchestral sound is rich and full of impact. The strings shimmer in the high notes, and the bass drums, rather than being heard, are felt like distant thunder. Highly recommended.