La Camera Delle Lacrime & Bruno Bonhoure

Our hero, Peirol d’Auvergne, inhabits a theatre of the imagination somewhere between the epic and the everyday, the real and the supernatural. It was during the summer of 2007, on the roads of Xinjiang and more especially in Kashgar, that we gave free rein to our own imaginations and finally decided to share the inner life of this troubadour over the next few months.

Le cinquième opus discographique de l'ensemble La Camera delle Lacrime (direction Bruno Bonhoure et Khaï-dong Luong) invite à suivre les pas du moine franciscain Guillaume de Rubrouck, envoyé de Saint-Louis à la rencontre du Grand Khan. Au moyen d'un instrumentarium varié (vièle chinoise erhu, kamanche, cornemuse, vielle à roue, etc …) Bruno Bonhoure et ses musiciens évoquent en musique les paysages et les populations rencontrées par le moine et ses accompagnateurs à travers les plaines de l'Asie Centrale, jusqu'à leur arrivée à Karakorum.

Following four successful recordings released on the Ricercar, Alpha and Arcana labels, Rome-based Andrea De Carlo and his Ensemble Mare Nostrum continue their exploration of the Roman repertoire and inaugurate here a new series of recordings, with its own distinctive artwork, devoted to the vast and multifaceted musical heritage of the Eternal City.

A pretty good comeback album from this Italian band who haven't released a studio recording in over 40 years. Although 'La Fabbrica delle Nuvole' doesn't often sound like their much-loved self-titled 1975 debut and only singer Alberto Ravasini and keyboardist Sergio Lattuada remain from the original line-up (although utilising the same talented new musicians that performed on their 2014 'Live in Tokyo' release), it's a varied and lavish assortment of rock pieces grafted to fancy classical-flavoured symphonic pomp that remains melodic and approachable without being overly simple.

The duo of modern Italian prog notables Fabio Zuffanti (Finisterre, Höstsonaten, La Maschera Di Cera and his own solo works) and Stefano Agnini (La Coscienza Di Zeno) collaborate on the new Italian progressive super-project La Curva Di Lesmo. Inspired by the first story of the surreal, erotic and sci-fi comic books `Valentina' created in 1965 by artist/writer Guido Crepax, the pair wished to combine that shared interest with elements of the most mysterious and esoteric progressive releases, both Italian and worldwide…