Mini World January 2018

GRAMOPHONE Magazine Editor's Choice. Stefan Temmingh is a member of the new young generation of world-class recorder players. Born in Cape Town, he comes from a Dutch-South-African family of musicians and now lives in Munich. Being an early music specialist, he plays internationally with his baroque ensemble at renowned festivals and concert series, and can also be heard as a member of ensembles of all sizes in Europe, Asia and Africa. His fine playing is regularly compared to the style of the legendary Frans Brüggen. On this collaboration with the Capricornus Consort Basel, he makes use of his wide array of technical and musical resources to render a reference version of Vivaldi’s Recorder Concertos.

On Govi’s fourth solo album, melodies flow freely from his many guitars. Bright steel string, elegant Spanish, and tasteful electric guitars are set to carefree tropical percussive rhythms. From the wide-eyed innocence of “In Wonder,” to the flamenco-spiced high spirits of “Abundance” and “Viva La Vida,” Passion & Grace overflows with a life-affirming joy and deeply felt sensitivity guaranteed to soothe the soul and uplift the spirit.

It is well known that Felix Mendelssohn’s sister Fanny was a highly talented musician, but fewer are familiar with the fact that there were two other musical siblings in the Mendelssohn family: Rebecka, a gifted singer, and Paul, a very competent amateur cellist. It is to Paul, a banker by profession, that we owe the existence of much of Felix’s music for the instrument, which in spite of Beethoven’s endeavours hadn’t yet become firmly established as a duo partner of the piano. Fitting comfortably on a single release, Mendelssohn’s works for cello and piano are here presented by Christian Poltera and Ronald Brautigam, who open with the Variations concertantes in D major, composed in 1829. Brautigam has recently released the composer’s Lieder ohne Worte, performing them on a copy of a piano by Pleyel from 1830, and plays the same instrument on the present disc. Meanwhile, Poltera has chosen to equip his 1711 Stradivarius cello with gut strings, and together the two musicians and their instruments create a sound which is both flexible, transparent and vigorous – ideal for Mendelssohn’s scores.

"Gladiator, gladiator, gladiator, Swords and Sandals, Gladiatorrrrr!"You grew up playing the legendary Swords and Sandals turn based combat game series. These games have been played over half a billion times. Swords and Sandals is nostalgia, Swords and Sandals is life.

"Gladiator, gladiator, gladiator, Swords and Sandals, Gladiatorrrrr!"You grew up playing the legendary Swords and Sandals turn based combat game series. These games have been played over half a billion times. Swords and Sandals is nostalgia, Swords and Sandals is life.

Collection includes 3 solo albums by percussionist and vibraphonist Marc Wagnon and also one collaboration with Mike Clark & Paul Jackson.

Bruce Springsteen once said he intended to make an album with words like Bob Dylan that sounded like Phil Spector where he sang like Roy Orbison, a nifty summary of many, but not all, of his artistic ambitions and a key to his appeal.

Universe (TV Mini Series 2021– Documentary )
Professor Brian Cox journeys across the vastness of time and space revealing epic moments of sheer drama that changed the universe forever.