John Harle

It's a tall order to compile the best classical music of the twentieth century, but EMI has selected its top 100 classics for this six-disc set, and it's difficult to argue with most of the choices. Without taking sides in the great ideological debates of the modern era – traditionalist vs. avant-garde, tonal vs. atonal, styles vs. schools, and so on – the label has picked the composers whose reputations seem most secure at the turn of the twenty-first century and has chosen representative excerpts of their music. Certainly, the titans of modernism are here, such as Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Schoenberg, Béla Bartók, Dmitry Shostakovich, Sergey Prokofiev, Claude Debussy, and Benjamin Britten, to name just a few masters, but they don't cast such a large shadow that they eclipse either their more backward-looking predecessors or their more experimental successors.

The latter half of the twentieth century was a period of turbulence – both artistically and culturally – and produced a wealth of provocative and often divisive music; much of which we are still coming to terms with, and much which has hugely influenced today’s pop culture and its music. 20C: Shaping the Century Volume II surveys a musical landscape of what are sometimes disparate compositional styles, and makes the repertoire accessible to everyone with an interest in this rich musical heritage. Decca’s and DG’s exceptionally-balanced survey of the music of twentieth century features one masterpiece from each featured composer, five composers per decade.Together this presents iconic works by 25 of the most iconic composers of the years 1950-2000.

This 33-CD set stands as the most complete collection of recordings of Debussy’s music ever made: it comprises all his known works, including four pieces in world premiere recordings which were made especially for this edition. Compiled in collaboration with renowned Debussy expert Denis Herlin (responsible for several critical editions of Debussy’s music for Durand, the composer’s publisher), the box comprises recordings carefully chosen for their artistic quality and their authenticity of spirit. They span more than a century, even including recordings made by Debussy himself – he was a superb pianist. Many other distinguished names are among the performers, including a suitably impressive contingent from France.

Marc Almond - Shadows And Reflections (2017) {BMG Deluxe Edition 538310901}
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© 2017 BMG Rights Management (UK) Ltd. | 538310901
Alternative / American Popular Song / Torch Songs

Leave it to Marc Almond to bridge the gap between covers and concept albums. Shadows and Reflections is both. Its track list reveals iconic '60s-era pop songs of astonishing variety. There's Burt Bacharach's "Blue on Blue" and Johnny Mandel's "The Shadow of Your Smile," as well as the Herd's "From the Underworld," a gorgeous, daring read of the Yardbirds' "Still I'm Sad," and Bobby Darin's "Not for Me," to mention a few. Almond and his chief collaborator, British composer, arranger, and saxophonist John Harle (who wrote the set's "Overture" and "Interlude," and co-wrote the closer "No One to Say Good Night To" with the singer), used a guiding aural aesthetic in opting for expansive panoramic sound; they sought to emulate "a very late 1960s Italian cinema soundtrack…."

Moondog & The London Saxophonic - Sax Pax for a Sax (1994) {Kopf kd 943333}
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© 1994 Roof Music / Kopf Records | kd 94 33 33
Classical / Jazz / Avant-Garde / Modern Classical / Modern Composition / Saxophone

The composer calls his saxophone project Sax Pax, underlining that in this case the saxophones are not to be linked with military bands for which the instruments originally had been intended, but are used exclusively for peaceful purposes. Pax like peace or packs, meaning different sized groups within the ensemble, the first "pack" involves 4 saxes, as in Single Foot, the second one using 5 saxes, as in Sandalwood, then seven saxes, as in New Amsterdam, nine saxes in Novette No.1, and so on.

Moondog - Rare Material (2006) {2CD Set ROOF Music RD 2633272}
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© 2006 ROOF Music | RD 2633272
Classical / Jazz / Avant-Garde / Modern Classical / Minimalism

This double CD brings together two divergent strands from Moondog's career: early recordings from the 1950s, and big band sessions from the mid-1990s. Moondog, aka Louis Hardin, left the streets of New York City for Germany in 1974 (as the useful timeline in this package makes clear), but the image that sticks is of the blind Manhattan "street musician" with his Viking robes and home-made instruments.

Michael Nyman & Ute Lemper - Songbook (1991) {Decca 435 227-2}
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© 1991 Decca Records | 435 227-2
Vocal / Jazz / Cabaret / Classical / Modern / Neo-Classical

This has to be one of my favorite CD's. Michael Nyman is normally thought of an advance Phillip Glass like Movie Theme composer, "The Piano" being his most famous piece, but with this CD he joins forces with Ute Lemper a multi-language singer of Cabaret & Jazz ballads.