Ori And The

The disc under review here is the fourth in a series, called ‘The Stradella Project’. I don't know which parts of Stradella's oeuvre will be included in this project. He was a prolific composer, and his extant output comprises music for the stage, liturgical and non-liturgical sacred music, madrigals and cantatas. It also includes six oratorios, and two of them were the subject of volumes 2 and 3. I am sure that the two best-known oratorios, San Giovanni Battista and Susanna, will be recorded at a later stage. As these are available in several performances, it was a good idea to start with those oratorios which are seldom performed. That also goes for Santa Pelagia.

In large part a reworking of Jerry Goldsmith's rejected score for the sci-fi thriller Alien Nation, The Russia House proves a far more potent effort than its mongrel pedigree may suggest. Despite the film's Soviet Union setting, Goldsmith largely eschews Russian musical conventions in favor of a taut, suspenseful approach utterly American in its orientation. Combining sleek electronics with a jazz trio led by saxophonist Branford Marsalis, the composer creates a series of mysterious, archly sophisticated themes simmering with tension. In short, with The Russia House Goldsmith effectively updates the classic espionage formula for the digital era, composing a score as vital and innovative as any in his long and distinguished career. It's an unexpected and under-recognized masterpiece.

Miles Davis - Porgy and Bess (1958) {2006 DSD Japan Mini LP Edition Analog Collection SICP 1205}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 297 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 122 Mb | Full Artwork
© 1958, 2006 Sony Music Japan / Columbia | SICP 1205 | DSD | HQD High Quality Disc
Jazz / Cool / Experimental Big Band / Trumpet

Of all Gil Evans' orchestral scores for soulmate Miles Davis, PORGY AND BESS is his richest and most ambitious–a watershed of modern jazz harmony which served to secure Davis' pop star stature and define his brooding mystique. Inevitably, even non-jazz listeners own a copy of PORGY AND BESS or SKETCHES OF SPAIN.

Some 15 years ago, the hitherto unknown "Carlo G Manuscript" was purchased at a Vienna jumble sale for the princely sum of 60 euros. Once a doctoral thesis has been prepared based on this document and it had been made available on the internet in the form of scanned images, the manuscript was sold by Sotheby's at auction to an anonymous buyer in 2007, as a consequence of which it has once again disappeared. The fact that the surname of its author had become illegible as a result of a smudge deepens the mystery surrounding the manuscript even further - however, although being from the same time as that of the famous Carlo Gesualdo, everything points to the fact the prince of Venosa was not the composer being searched for…

After two earlier Dvořák releases, the Trios nos.3 and 4 (Dumky) and the two Piano Quartets, Omri Epstein, Mathieu van Bellen and Ori Epstein are joined by one of their teachers at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, the violist Miguel da Silva (founder member of the famous Quatuor Ysaÿe) and the violinist Maria Milstein, who was also an artist in residence at the Music Chapel from 2011 to 2014. Together they continue this recording of the Czech composer’s complete chamber music with keyboard, this time in the two Piano Quintets and the Bagatelles.

The ensemble of “trio d’anches” featuring the oboe, clarinet, and bassoon was first established in the 1920s and features on this brand new recording on SACD with the glorious music of Mozart arranged by Ulf-Guido Schäfer. His trio has now been recorded on the big sound of this Super Audio CD - a revelation for specialists in the field of wind chamber music.