Matthijs Van Der Moolen

Van der Graaf Generator were one of the most original and inspiring bands of the 1970s. This boxed set celebrates this second era of Van der Graaf Generator with all of the albums issued by the band between 2005 and 2016. Including the albums Present, Real Time, Trisector, Live At The Paradiso, A Grounding In Numbers, Alt, Merlin Atmos and the long deleted live double album and concert DVD ‘Live At Paradiso’ and the rare additional live CD previously issued only on the limited Japanese release of ‘Real Time’.

Naples was in the mid-18th century the third largest European city and one of the greatest centres of political, commercial and cultural influence. The conservatoires there were founded by religious orders and were originally intended as charitable institutions for the accommodation and education of orphans, but soon became real centres of musical education and performance; many leading composers were pupils and teachers there and so contributed to the founding of the Neapolitan School. Porpora and Hasse are the greatest representatives of the Neapolitan style and both settled in Venice before rising to international fame. Their writing was strongly influenced by opera and reflects the Italian taste of the time; it is also present in their religious compositions. Les Muffatti and the South-African countertenor Clint van der Linde present works of exceptional expressive power, with Hasse’s Hostes Averni and Porpora’s Nisi Dominus being recorded here for the first time.

Van Der Graaf Generator is an English eclectic progressive rock band with front man Peter Hammill from 'the classic period' that has proven be one of the most important bands of the progressive genre. An eye-opening trip to San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury during the summer of 1967 inspired British-born drummer Chris Judge Smith to compose a list of possible names for the rock group he wished to form. Upon his return to Manchester University, he began performing with singer/songwriter Peter Hammill and keyboardist Nick Peame; employing one of the names from Judge Smith's list, the band dubbed itself Van der Graaf Generator (after a machine that creates static electricity), eventually earning an intense cult following as one of the era's preeminent art rock groups…

This is an exceptionally accomplished debut recording from cellist Laura van der Heijden, winner of BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2012. It includes Soviet composers’ irritated and defiant responses to the Communist regime’s 1948 decree on what they could write. Prokofiev’s 1949 Sonata is a blistering, angry work, performed here with passion and guts. Myaskovsky’s 1948 Sonata, which, ironically, went on to win the Stalin Prize, harks back to the Romantic age—the richness and depth of van der Heijden’s tone is a thing to behold. The final, melancholy Lyadov Prelude is an aching portrait of Russian despair.

Following the release of Pawn Hearts, bandleader Peter Hammill took time out to develop a solo career, choosing to focus his energy on darkly introspective works that seemed to be intended to examine the personal consequences of his life. When it came time for reuniting the members of Van Der Graaf, this change in direction had its effect on the band's post-1975 music…