Julia Special 7

When Julia Hülsmann was little, there was a memorable concert on the television. A man was sitting alone at the piano singing wonderful things with a uniquely appalling voice. Julia Hülsmann found it particularly appealing… And she was especially delighted that, by coincidence, her parents had bought this very man’s sheet music. This encouraged her to sit down at the piano at home and practise for the first time her classical studies. They were of course the songs of Randy Newman. It was the beginning of a long love affair.
Julia Hülsmann has herself in the mean time become a well-known pianist. In 2003 she made the recording "Scattering Poems" with her own trio and Norwegian singer Rebekka Bakken. The release was a special success with public and critics alike…

The conventional view of Niccolò Paganini's 24 Caprices puts them among the encores and etudes violinists use to hone their skills and show off their prowess. But Julia Fischer regards them primarily as expressive works that are as rich in lyricism and emotional color as they are in advanced techniques, and her 2010 Decca album shows her considered approach to the music. There's no doubt about Fischer's impressive abilities, which are apparent from hearing the first Caprice, and all the trickiest double- and triple-stops, bowing styles, and various means of articulation that are included in this fantastic work reveal her phenomenal gifts. But as amazing as Fischer's performance is for sheer technique, it is highly pleasurable because of her polished musicality and firm control of every nuance that is either overt or suggested in the music. The notoriously difficult Caprice No. 6, which Fischer plays con sordino, has a special ghostly quality that makes it much more ethereal and Romantic in character than an exercise in playing trills. Even the ever-popular Caprice No. 9, and that favorite of composers of variations, the Caprice No. 24, have a freshness and vitality that come directly from Fischer's genuine feelings, not merely her dazzling skills. Decca's sound is crisp and clean, so the full range of the violin's timbres and dynamics come through without studio boosting. Highly recommended.

Julia Kadel recorded Kaskaden – her latest trio work to date – at the historic MPS studio in Villingen in 2019, where jazz legends, such as Oscar Peterson and Friedrich Gulda recorded in the sixties and seventies. Not long after the release of the album, Julia Kadel was awarded the Essener Jazz Pott 2020 for her innovative musical work. The upcoming trio album Powerful Vulnerability was recorded at the not less legendary Hansa Studios in Berlin. The album presents highly exciting, stylistically idiosyncratic and deeply personal music.

Smooth jazz outfit with a distinctive Latin/African vibe. Formed in 1982 by guitarist Chieli Minucci and drummer/percussionist George Jinda. Having recorded 13 albums they split amicably in 1995 after releasing 'Body Language'. George Jinda retained the use of the Special EFX name and recorded the album 'Here To Stay' before being incapaciated after suffering a stroke in 1997. The Special EFX name was handed back to Chieli Minucci who has since recorded and toured as Chieli Minucci and Special EFX.

This stunning box set was released by Julia Fordham, strictly limited to 500 pieces, to be ordered at her website only, already sold out, no re-release… Julia Fordham will, later this month, issue Lock & Key, a special six-CD box set that collects some of her more recent studio albums (with extra tracks) and offers her new record Cutting Room Floor.
This collection features China Blue (2008), Unusual Suspects (with Paul Reiser – 2010), Under The Rainbow (2013), the first UK release of 2014’s The Language of Love, last year’s Magic and Julia’s brand new album Cutting Room Floor. All of the albums offer exclusive bonus tracks, which 14 in total across the six CDs.

Compared to the Italian centres of power – Milan, Florence and Rome – the Lombardian city of Mantua in the Po Valley is small in size. All the more prestigious was the commitment to the arts by the ruling Gonzaga dynasty: artists such as Andrea Mantegna, Giulio Romano and Leon Battista Alberti created lasting master-pieces in their paintings and architecture for them, whilst musicians such as Giaches de Wert and Claudio Monteverdi consolidated Mantua’s reputation throughout Europe.