Unique! That is how the CD-box ‘Orgels in Nederland | Dutch organs’ can be described. An extensive project containing a book and some CDs, put together by Okke Dijkhuizen who participated in the organ recordings for EO radio many years. One hundred recordings of monumental big organs and also of some smaller and less known instruments. The book (both in Dutch and English) contains a general introduction of the organs, as well as some historical facts and the disposition of the recorded instruments. The editor has aimed at a diversity of organ-builders as big as possible and a balanced regional representation. The result is a fascinating selection, for lovers of organs a ‘partner for life’. Book (Dutch and English), 288 pages incl. 20 CDs.
When people are affected by a disaster, they often seek comfort. There is a long tradition of disaster songs: by singing together people sought support from each other.
The Japanese lutenist Toyohiko Satoh (佐藤豊彦) is one of the most influential lute players of the last century. Born in 1943, he is now looking back on a career of over 40 years of lute playing, including 35 years teaching as a professor for lute at the Royal Conservatory of Den Haag, the Netherlands. Besides being a performer, he is also composing music for chamber ensembles and solo lute, as well as researching and writing about music.
As the years go by, miracles become a rare commodity even to dream about , let alone witness, whether in politics (no messiahs anywhere!), in romance (a seemingly prehistoric concept) or in the arts (boring!!!!!). But , somehow in Progland (where fairytales often coalesce with legends), there is still the spark. Who would of ever imagined that this once-seminal band of the timeless Italian School of Progressive Music, after decades of poppish dirge (by opposition to their earlier monuments), would one day , 30 years later, deliver such a riveting recording!..
Richard Wagner and Pyotr Ill'yich Tchaikovsky: these two composers seem to represent two musical extremes on the one CD, with their only connection being the orchestra and the conductor who here perform their works. Wagner had proclaimed himself as the saviour of German Romantic music, the master who would raise opera and its performance to a higher level; Tchaikovsky was a tormented Russian Romantic composer who was considered to be too focused on Italian music to be truly Russian and yet whose music was regarded as being too Russian to ever sound truly European…
This 50 CD Box Set was released in 1996 by BMG Netherland. The set comes with a 94-page-book and a certificate of authenticity which says: " The Original Elvis Presley Collection has been compiled by BMG Nederland BV, authorized by RCA Records, the exclusive worldwide owner of Elvis Presley's sound recordings. - Elvis Presley is the greatest recording artist of all time." The box includes previously released original CD albums, only the cover art is different. This collector item was not sold in music stores. It was only available through a dutch book club.
This huge set is "an initiative of Radio Netherlands (the Dutch World Service) and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra…" presented to Bernard Haitink on his seventieth birthday as a tribute to his consummate musicmaking." Haitink, born in Amsterdam in 1929, became joint chief Conductor of the Concertebouw in 1961, along with Eugen Jochum, and was its chief conductor from 1963 to 1988. Like his predecessor, Eduard van Beinum, Haitink also was principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, from 1967 to 1979, and in 1978 became musical Director of the Glyndebourne Opera. Ten years later he became musical director of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. Haitink guest conducted most of the major orchestras of the world and has received numerous awards for his services to music. In January 1999 Haitink was named "Honorary Conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra."