Genre 33 1 3

The inevitable follow-up to Anne Gastinel and François-Frederic Guy's earlier recording of three of Beethoven's Sonatas for Cello and Piano is their recording of Beethoven's other two Sonatas plus his three sets of variations for cello and piano. Like their earlier recording, this disc by Gastinel and Guy is deeply individualistic and amazingly virtuosic. Gastinel has an expressive tone and a powerful technique, and Guy is a full partner and sympathetic accompanist.

Tracking down the ultimate woman blues guitar hero is problematic because woman blues singers seldom recorded as guitar players and woman guitar players (such as Rosetta Tharpe and Sister O.M. Terrell) were seldom recorded playing blues. Excluding contemporary artists, the most notable exception to this pattern was Memphis Minnie. The most popular and prolific blueswoman outside the vaudeville tradition, she earned the respect of critics, the support of record-buying fans, and the unqualified praise of the blues artists she worked with throughout her long career. Despite her Southern roots and popularity, she was as much a Chicago blues artist as anyone in her day. Big Bill Broonzy recalls her beating both him and Tampa Red in a guitar contest and claims she was the best woman guitarist he had ever heard…

3 Compilation albums from the Soul Brother Label featuring a fine collection of Soul, Funk, Jazz & Disco tracks.

Véronique Gens is one of the most acclaimed French soprano. ü She has recorded in 2005, 2008 and 2011 three recitals of operatic arias for soprano from the French tragic operas of the late 17th, 18th and 19th centuries from Lully to Saint-Saëns. Véronique Gens embodies the tragic heroines of the Antiquity such as Dido, Circe, Medea or Cassandra… ü Véronique Gens is accompanied by renowned French director Christophe Rousset and his ensemble les Talens Lyriques. ü These three recitals are the most successful she has recorded, with Les Nuits d’été by Berlioz. Véronique Gens has recently received again very good critics (such as the Gramophone Editor's choice) for her latest recital, Visions, released on Alpha Classics

United State Of Ambience (1994). The first of the United State of Ambience series probably features a more stylistically diverse collection of tracks than either of the follow-ups. In fact, at many times the collection seems to veer off into the worldbeat genre, where sampled chants and hand drums take the place of synth pads and computerized sound effects. Other times, it hovers perilously close to new age. The compilation was released in 1994, when electronica was still a very new genre - and it shows. Both the Eastern-influenced "Goa: Season of the Monsoon" and the uplifting "Creation" are underscored with fairly up-tempo drum tracks - something you would never find on a more recent ambient work…