In recognition of their growing fan base in Latin America, Metallica staged three nights of sold-out concerts at the 50,000-seat stadium Foro Sol in Mexico City, Mexico, on June 4, 6, and 7, 2009. These three concerts were recorded and compiled for release as the CD/DVD package Orgullo, Pasión, y Gloria: Tres Noches en la Ciudad de México (retitled for release in Brazil as Orgulho, Paixão, e Glória: Três Noites na Cidade do México). While Metallica did something similar for the French market with the DVD release Français Pour une Nuit (2009), which was recorded in Nimes, France, on July 7, 2009, and features more or less the same set list, Orgullo, Pasión, y Gloria is the better of the two packages on account of the enthusiasm evident in not only the crowd but also the band…
Wonderful musical expression! Sensitivity, art, knowledge make up this album
Le Peuple de l'Herbe is a French band playing electronic music, afrobeat and dub.
This collection of the complete chamber music of Poulenc shows the varying styles that he employed. From the jazzy, bitonal passages of the Sonata for Clarinet and Bassoon and the Sonata for Horn, Trumpet and Trombone which has been described as 'Pergolesi with his wig awry' (Roger Nichols, Grove) to the profound beauty of his last three sonatas for wind. All are extremely accessible. The Nash Ensemble gave a series of concerts of Poulenc's music at the Wigmore Hall earlier this year to great critical acclaim and Hyperion are delighted to be able to present this wonderful collection on this, Poulenc's centenary year.
Frank Bungarten has taken on a significant task: an entire album of works by legendary Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos. The composer's music is lush, complex, and richly textured, which is not a surprise given that Villa-Lobos was classically trained. But Villa-Lobos also incorporated inspiration from music of native Brazilian peoples and African cultures, so one cannot consider him purely a formal art music composer. Thus it takes a very skilled musician to be able to technically master the music and to convey the emotion and rhythms. Bungarten is perhaps most successful in the first set of works, Suite populaire brésilienne, which is a set of five dances.
This venerable recording by the Italian Quartet from 1965 was, for many years, the standard reference copy of both works either individually or as a coupling. One of the considerable virtues of this group of players was that they could always be relied upon to play in tune and to play with musicianship. The competition was not so strong as it is today as many of the alternative groups simply could not deliver accuracy in tuning (or even worse, the notes). This was rarely commented upon in review magazines at the time, a source of complete bemusement for me, but as one who was expected to play in tune I found listening to string chamber music almost beyond bearing for much of the time - except for this group.