The Secret Policeman's Concert

The Vrijthof concerts have been going for ten years and this anniversary was all the excuse André Rieu needed to make things extra festive and put on a fantastic, unforgettable anniversary concert with his new DVD, ‘Love In Venice’ – a selection of favourites from the concert. For this tenth concert series he had the Vrijthof square specially decorated in Venetian style, complete with a Doge’s Palace, Rialto Bridge, a fabulous Italian fountain and a colourful Venetian masquerade and it was a party from start to end.

Released on the heels of the stilted, static Cahoots, the double-album Rock of Ages occupies a curious yet important place in Band history. Recorded at a spectacular New Years Eve 1971 gig, the show and album were intended to be a farewell of sorts before the Band took an extended break in 1972, but it turned out to be a last hurrah in many different ways, closing the chapter on the first stage of their career, when they were among the biggest and most important rock & roll bands. That sense of importance had started to creep into their music, turning their studio albums after The Band into self-conscious affairs, and even the wildly acclaimed first two albums seemed to float out of time, existing in a sphere of their own and never having the kick of a rock & roll band.

The Wild West meets the soulful sound of Italy. Fearless New York gangsters meet cowboys from the dusty prairie. Godfather meets Taxi Driver. And the magic of cinema meets the rich sound of a first-class symphony orchestra.

The Verbier Festival is one of classical musics greatest events. In celebration of the festivals 25th anniversary, this unique concert brings together 36 classical stars in an unprecedented evening of ingenious programming and captivating performances. The line-up includes the worlds greatest violinists, violists, cellists and pianists as well as other leading performers conducted by Valery Gergiev and Gabor Takacs-Nagy. Founder and director Martin T:son Engstroem writes: We started this incredible adventure in 1994, and 25 years on, our Festival has become one of the worlds most important cultural events. But it is not just another festival; our vision right from the beginning was to build something which combined important musicians with a very visible youth and learning element. This is what we set out to do and this is what we achieved.

In Concert is the successor CD set to the individual releases of Absolutely Live (which remains in print as a single CD), Alive, She Cried, and Live at the Hollywood Bowl – as none of them presented more than a single angle or two of the group's sound and each confined itself to only a portion of the group's repertoire, the three-in-one release makes perfect sense and is a decent bargain…