In honor of the 150th anniversary of Richard Strauss' birth, DG gives us this collection featuring the composer as conductor. While on the surface this would seem a wonderful opportunity to hear his music as Strauss intended it, this set winds up being something else: an examination of what happened when 19th century conducting styles met 20th century technology. For while Strauss is regularly feted as being one of the great conductors of his era, those who know also emphasize the fact that he didn't like recording all that much. Thus, this Strauss set is fascinating evidence of how recording technology can alter our perceptions of music.
Strauss sits alongside Mahler as a leading conductor – as well as composer - of his age, winning plaudits and support even before the age of 20 from contemporaneous luminaries such as Hans von Bülow. In fact between them, Mahler and Strauss controlled the two most powerful opera houses in the world in their mid-Thirties, with Strauss in Berlin and Mahler in Vienna.
Elvis sang about a mess of blues here's a stack of 'em, this 3CD set features some classic blues cuts with searing guitar lines and scorching hot solos. We have the masters John Lee Hooker, Albert King, Muddy Waters et al rubbing shoulders with some modern day blues masters such as Kirk Fletcher and Deborah Coleman. So tune up, plug in and turn that dial all the way to 11.
As part of the celebrations of the 40th Anniversary of ABBA wining the Eurovision Song Contest, Universal Music are proud to present a new 3CD 40th anniversary ABBA Gold release. Disc 1 and 2 is a comprehensive collection of ABBAs hits, including the likes of Waterloo, Dancing Queen and The Winner Takes It All; whilst disc 3 includes a selection of Golden rarities.
The Prestige label is a byword in jazz circles, founded in 1948 by Bob Weinstock he launched a series of subsidiary labels buoyed by its unprecedented success. One of the more successful of those sister labels was Bluesville, which proceeded to release some truly legendary blues artists in the shape of Lightnin' Hopkins, Victoria Spivey and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. Sometimes in acoustic settings and in others with full accompaniment the labels' roster shone brightly no matter how they were presented…