IO Bit

In Africa, many years ago, Slim and Tom don't like it when a German tyrant, starts selling all of the African wildlife to Canadian Zoo's! Slim and Tom must teach this guy a lesson by beating the hell out of him and his gang, left and right!

In the Italian society of the early eighteenth century, the musical genre of the chamber cantata was popular as a refined form of entertainment. The chamber cantata is a relatively short composition, consisting of a couple of arias with the addition of one or two recitatives. They were performed in the private ambiances of the noble circles.

The new recording features an uncut edition including all the repetitions, original cadenzas and variations written by the singers, as well as the rarely performed finaletto.

A young ensemble of instrumentalists and singers revives the precious historical practice of singers accompanying themselves (already brought back into currency by the soloist VivaBiancaLuna Biffi), thus producing a wholly new sound in music usually assigned to unaccompanied voices.

Under the direction of Philip Cave, Magnificat embarks on a three-volume journey exploring the ingenuity of Orlandus Lassus. In this rich collection of Magnificats based on polyphonic models, Lassus - 'The Alchemist' - demonstrates an unsurpassed ability to reimagine existing material in the creation of his own works. This first volume of the series presents Lassus's Magnificats based on madrigals, featuring models by Philippe Verdelot, Cipriano de Rore, and Alessandro Striggio among others. The second album will comprise Lassus's canticles based on motets, and the third will conclude with those inspired by chansons. In celebrating Lassus as 'The Alchemist', Magnificat reveals the creative process and skill he employed in re-working the original music and illuminates a significant repertory that is underrepresented in contemporary liturgical or concert settings.

Under the label Alia Vox Diversa , Jordi Savall invites the ensemble Tasto Solo, founded in 2006, whose first albums were critically acclaimed : Diapason d’or, Amadeus “CD du Mois”, Ritmo & Audio Clásica “Excellent”, Pizzicato “Supersonic”, Scherzo “Exception- Nel”, France Musique “Coup de Coeur”… It brings us back to the Europe of the XVIIth Century , which experienced an unparalleled development of treatises about the art of instru- mental and vocal performance. Italy was the epic enter of a new style derived from the world of dance. This album revolves mainly around the work of composer Vincenzo Ruffo and his contemporaries.

Until she achieved a triumph in the delicate coloratura role of Elvira in I puritani - in Venice in 1949 under the tutelage of maestro Tullio Serafin - Maria Callas had been making her name in dramatic roles, such as the epically scaled title role in Die Walküre, which she had been singing just days before. Her success in Bellini's final opera set her firmly on the path to bel canto supremacy. Joining her as Arturo in this 1953 recording is one of her best-loved colleagues, the tenor Giuseppe di Stefano.

In 1731, at the height of his London fame, Handel created his 28th opera seria: a vocal pyrotechnic about the rivalry, in love and war, between Alexander the Great and the Indian King Porus.

Following the success of 'Arias for Nicolino', a musical portrait of the celebrated castrato of Handel's era (A427), Carlo Vistoli turns his attention to Venetian opera of the seventeenth century. The Italian countertenor - 'a voice […] intrinsically beautiful, strong and powerful' (Opera Magazine) - has been delving into this repertory since the beginning of his international career with specialists such as Leonardo García Alarcón, William Christie and John Eliot Gardiner.