Gulfh Gulfh of Berlin

As a conductor, Sergiu Celibidache influenced as no other the musical life of Berlin, a metropolis still scarred by the war. The sound documents of this edition, most of which have not been previously released, for the first time paint a comprehensive picture of the conductor during the period between 1945 and 1957. These historic documents, providing new impressions of the legendary conductor, were revealed after intensive research.

This, the first ever release on CD of the 1980 cult futurist / synth-pop album ‘Berlin Blondes’, collects together all of the electronic band Berlin Blondes’ commercially released studio output. The band only ever made one, albeit landmark, album. Notably, it was produced by the legendary Mike Thorne as a de facto career bridge between his celebrated work with post-punk band Wire on their first three albums and his subsequent career defining synth- pop productions, shortly thereafter, with pioneering electronic pop acts Soft Cell, Bronski Beat and B-Movie.

The world’s greatest tenor presents an evening of melodies from a golden era + an engrossing documentary. NB German-language documentary. Accompanying the new album, the Blu-ray “Du bist die Welt für mich - Live Performance from Berlin”. Jonas dedicates an evening to the glorious tunes made famous by the tenor stars of Berlin’s legendary heyday.

The year 2012 marks the tercentenary of the birth of Frederick the Great, whose political and military glory has often relegated his musical talent to the status of a mere hobby. But Frederick II was not only the key personality of Berlin musical life for the whole of the 18th century – as is shown by the works of the composers presented on this CD, all of whom worked at his court at some point in their careers – but also an excellent flautist who left posterity a number of fine flute sonatas from his own pen.

Roger Waters' The Wall, Live In Berlin marks the second in a series of Pink Floyd related reviews I will be writing to commemorate the long awaited release of the band's Pulse DVD, which I reviewed last month. During the end of the 80's, after Roger Waters had left Pink Floyd, he began making plans to perform The Wall as a huge event, originally considering such grand places as the Sahara Desert, Monument Valley, The Grand Canyon, and Wall Street. Around this time, plans were also underway for the reunification of Germany, and the Berlin wall eventually fell in November of 1989.