Jo, The Van Goghs’ Widow

Beethoven Piano Concertos are amongst the most often performed and recorded works in the repertoire. However, the arrangement for string orchestra by Vincenz Lachner is a surprisingly rare find in recording history, even more so on period instruments.

Beethoven Piano Concertos are amongst the most often performed and recorded works in the repertoire. However, the arrangement for string orchestra by Vincenz Lachner is a surprisingly rare find in recording history, even more so on period instruments.

Beethoven Piano Concertos are amongst the most often performed and recorded works in the repertoire. However, the arrangement for string orchestra by Vincenz Lachner is a surprisingly rare find in recording history, even more so on period instruments.

Box set containing a compilation of works for the Erato label performed by the soprano Sumi Jo. As well as the tracks listed it also includes 'Gualtier Mald…Caro Nome' from 'Rigoletto' by Giuseppe Verdi, 'No, No, Che Non Sei Capace, K419' By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 'Son Vergin Vezzosa' from 'I Puritani' by Vincenzo Bellini, 'Qual Farfalletta Amante' by Domenico Scarlatti, 'C'est bien L'Air Que Chaque Matin' from 'L'toile du Nord Scribe' by Giacomo Meyerbeer, 'Overture' from 'Die Fledermaus' by Johann Strauss, 'Unusual Way' By Maury Yeston, 'Amazing Grace', 'Cantata Pastorale Per La Nascita di Nostro Signore' by Alessandro Scarlatti and 'As Steals The Morn Upon The Night' by George Frideric Handel, amongst others.

‘On The Widow’s Walk’ is the new studio album from The White Buffalo, the touring / recording persona of Jake Smith – singer, songwriter, guitarist, teller of tales; the Emmy nominee whose voice, a timber-shakin’ baritone, seems fuelled by a greater truth. Of the half-dozen albums released under The White Buffalo banner, this latest 11-tracker – a loosely linked collection of dark thrills produced by Shooter Jennings, who also provides piano and keys – is the most collaborative and organic.

Black Widow's eponymous second album was a conscious attempt on the band's part to scale back the satanic trappings that had dominated its debut, and, in the process, redirect the media's focus away from the controversy and onto the group's music. Too bad their songwriting vision remained at worst unfocused, at best an enigma: a half-baked amalgam of progressive rock, folk music, British blues, and - least of all - a few very tenuous notions of hard rock and proto-metal that have since erroneously formed a common misconception of the band, due to their business ties to Black Sabbath and, of course, their on and off interest in the dark arts. The last is only really felt here in the creepy, gothic appeal of "Mary Clark," and the closest Black Widow come to really rocking out is with the refreshingly straightforward format of the driving "Wait Until Tomorrow"…

Black Widow's eponymous second album was a conscious attempt on the band's part to scale back the satanic trappings that had dominated its debut, and, in the process, redirect the media's focus away from the controversy and onto the group's music. Too bad their songwriting vision remained at worst unfocused, at best an enigma: a half-baked amalgam of progressive rock, folk music, British blues, and - least of all - a few very tenuous notions of hard rock and proto-metal that have since erroneously formed a common misconception of the band, due to their business ties to Black Sabbath and, of course, their on and off interest in the dark arts. The last is only really felt here in the creepy, gothic appeal of "Mary Clark," and the closest Black Widow come to really rocking out is with the refreshingly straightforward format of the driving "Wait Until Tomorrow"…