Richard Lindgren 2011 Memento

Western Spaces is a collaborative album by the American ambient musicians Steve Roach, Kevin Braheny and Richard Burmer. This album is the first of Steve Roach’s many musical tributes to the Southwestern Desert. This recording conjures up the desert vistas and the vast stark beauty of the American southwest through a collection of pieces that play like a soundtrack to a road trip through the Mojave Desert, Death Valley and Joshua Tree, California. All of these locales were the inspiration for the musicians during the creation of the music.

For this super audio disc from Channel Classics, Dejan Lazic's live performance of Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major is programmed with his solo recordings of the Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor, "Moonlight," and the Sonata No. 31 in A flat major. Ostensibly, this is a sonic showcase for Lazic and the Australian Chamber Orchestra, under Richard Tognetti, and the state-of-the-art technology brings out the best in the musicians, giving the pianist an intimate presence without crowding him or artificially boosting his volume, while at the same time lending the orchestra a spaciousness that really opens it up.

One of the great overlooked albums of the 1970s, Time Actor was the result of a collaboration between legendary Crazy World & Kingdom Come visionary Arthur Brown and German Synthesiser and Ambient genius Klaus Schulze, recording under the pseudonym of his alter-ego Richard Wahnfried. The resulting record was a unique fusion of Brown’s amazing vocals and eccentric musical visions and Schulze’s innovative keyboard playing. Originally released on the German Innovative Communication label, Time Actor also features special guest Vincent Crane (who recorded a collaborative album with Arthur Brown for the label during this period). This newly re-mastered reissue restores the original album artwork and includes a new essay.