J Axonville Death TO Contractors (vi Meritate LA Crisi)

The first ever album dedicated to the music of Ernest Shand, including several first recordings.

The playing of Adrian Chandler and his crack period-instrument band La Serenissima emulates the title of their eighth release for Avie, mining the treasures of Vivaldi’s vast output. Who are these Gods, Emperors and Angels in the title of the latest virtuoso vehicle for Adrian Chandler and his dazzling period-instrument band La Serenissima? Vivaldi was connected to many Highnesses on the European continent, foremost among them the widely cultured Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV to whom Vivaldi dedicated his set of concertos titled La Cetra, meaning “The Lyre,” hence likening the emperor to the lyre playing god Apollo.

When the French court moved into the magnificent residence of Versailles on May 6, 1682, France was at the zenith of its power. The king, no longer a young man in his mid-forties by the standards of the time, was increasingly coming under the influence of Madame de Maintenon, who had risen from the position of governess to his illegitimate children to become the Sun King's maitresse and later wife. The pious lady brought the king back into the arms of the church, which was not without influence on the musical entertainment of his majesty. In addition to chamber music, which Louis always appreciated, sacred cantatas in French were now in demand for the court's devotions.

Hello, fans of genuine 70's Italian Prog… Rejoice! Fabio Zuffanti (Finisterre) came out with his new side project, La Maschera di Cera. The music mounts back to the best Mellotron / Moog driven symphonic prog performed by bands like Museo Rosenbach or IL Balleto Di Bronzo. All the ingredients are in place: distorted basses, accoustic guitars, an excellent vocalist and very inspired flute passages complete the set. The result is a nostalgic flash-back to the roots of the italian prog. A must for fans of this country's very best!

The Haydn series continues with the Paris Symphony no 87. Julien Chauvin and his orchestra keep shaking us up with historical instruments listening Haydn’s works and several other forgotten scores from the same period. All of them were commissioned for the Concert de la Loge Olympique - ancestor and model for Julien Chauvin and his musicians - and all of them sank into oblivion during the 19th century, except for Haydn’s symphonies. The release offers an opportunity to experience some rare works of Grétry, Lemoyne and Ragué and to revive the success that they once knew.

This is the best recording so far of Partenope. Krisztina Laki is splendid in the lead role as is Helga Muller-Molinari as Rosmira and John York Skinner as Armindo. Rene Jacobs in the counter-tenor role of Arsace does a fine job considering the date of this recording. The orchestra plays with great vitality. This is the recommended recording of this opera.

These two last symphonies by Haydn (beautifully performed here) crown a lifetime of musical experimentation and orchestral mastery. No. 103, as the title implies, begins with a drum solo–a shocking innovation at the time, and one which "excited the deepest attention" in contemporary audiences. The creepy introduction reappears just before the end of the first movement, and it's a strategy that Haydn's pupil Beethoven immediately copied in his famous Pathetique Piano Sonata. The London Symphony had a longer reach still: The finale of Brahms' Second Symphony pays affectionate homage to one famous passage, but all of this music is just as valuable for itself as for its impact on later generations.