Matej Jestrovic

Memento Mori (Anthology 1978-2018), is a 40th anniversary release charting the artist’s writing and recording career. It charts Adamson’s career from 1978’s Magazine track, “Parade” (co-written by Adamson, from their debut album Real Life); to his work as founding member, alongside Nick Cave, of the Bad Seeds (“From Her To Eternity,” co-written by Adamson); through his nine solo albums, from 1988’s Moss Side Story to the latest Love Sick Dick EPs, bringing everything up to date with a brand new unreleased track, “The Hummingbird.”

The Beethoven 250th anniversary on 17 December 2020 is an event of national significance in Germany. It even finds its way into the text of the Federal Government's coalition agreement, where it is stated that the anniversary "offers outstanding opportunities for Germany as a cultural nation both at home and abroad. That is why the preparations for this important anniversary are task for the nation." Jazzrausch Bigband got the memo straight away. With their album "Beethoven's Breakdown" the band is honouring the pioneering composer in its own way. Not by being historically authentic or by preserving him in aspic, but in a manner that befits Beethoven the radical innovator. Just as he revolutionized the history of music, the equally forward-looking JRBB has pushed ahead with its bold concept of orchestral techno-jazz.

The mezzo-soprano Dagmar Pecková is giving a very personal gift in the form of this Christmas album. The listener is treated to Bohemian and Moravian carols and to the tender poetry of Christmas songs from seventeenth-century Bohemian Baroque hymnals (Michna's Chtíc, aby spat is included in the collection, naturally). Dagmar Pecková has, of course, also turned her gaze beyond the hills on her homeland's borders. Ultimately, whether it is carp or turkey on the festive dinner table, it is the birth of the Saviour that is celebrated all over Europe. Good King Wenceslas is sung in England and Lulajże Jezuniu in Poland, while Stille Nacht and Adeste fideles are sung in many places in a variety of translations. But what about in Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, or Italy? The musical treasures of those countries are found here as well.

Admirers of Luciano Berio's Sequenzas have long wished for an affordable, high-quality collection of these masterpieces for solo instruments, considered by some to be the core works in the composer's oeuvre. Deutsche Grammophon released Ensemble InterContemporain's fabulous set in 1994, but its relatively high price and incompleteness make it a second choice when compared with the 2006 set on Naxos, which is both reasonably priced and complete, now that Sequenza XIV for cello appears on CD for the first time. Of course, bargaining over cost and completeness is one thing, but artistic quality is another important consideration: how does the Naxos edition fare in its performances and sound quality? While Ensemble InterContemporain's terrific compilation practically guarantees accuracy and authenticity – many of Berio's original musicians were involved in the project – the performances on this triple-disc set are quite comparable and wholly convincing in virtuosic skills, lustrous timbres, and splendid recording quality; only an adept student of these pieces could note any discrepancies, and those would be minor.