Tiempo de Hoy From 26 Febrero 2016

João de Sousa Carvalho was one of the most important Portuguese composers of his generation. L’Angelica was his first opportunity to write a courtly drama after being appointed as music master to the royal princesses, and impressing these noble patrons was a top priority. Setting a libretto by the great poet Metastasio, Carvalho brings out every ounce of dramatic intensity in his richly expressive score, the story of how the beautiful Angelica uses and misuses her seductive charms told in music so captivating that Queen Maria entrusted her composer with key royal commissions thereafter.

Carlo Gesualdo might get all the attention when it comes to colourful composer biographies but Alessandro Stradella (1639-82) gives the murderer-composer more than a run for his money. A fraudster, playboy and serial seducer (wimples no object), Stradella was the subject of at least one failed murder plot and was eventually stabbed to death by an unknown killer. If his music can’t quite live up to the thrills of his life, it’s still got plenty to recommend it, as this latest recording from Ensemble Mare Nostrum demonstrates.

Jordi Savall examines 500 years of history in this portrait of a city that symbolises like no other the fruitful, and at the same time, conflictual encounter of the three monotheistic religions. The succession of the Zirid, Almoravid, Almohad and Nasrid dynasties, their relationship with the neighbouring Christian kingdoms and the often precarious situation of the Jews (the first inhabitants of this area) are reflected in this wide musical fresco, in which each culture displays its most advanced refinement.

The seventeenth century was a very dark century for the peninsular kingdoms. Famine, epidemics, and all kinds of miseries seized upon a diminishing and very fragmented population. In spite of the continuous social economical and epistemological crisis and of the imposition of an ideology of domination, Spanish culture had flashes of brilliance. And music was a very important part of that culture, particularly vocal music. It was a vehicle of expression for restrained passions, a music that, at times, sang to disillusionment and deception of the senses, just like the tono that lends its title to this recording. The Tonos selected for this recording coincide with this period, in which theatre performances enjoyed a new boost.

‘Sharon…’ is an eclectic soundtrack for the early ‘80s covering post punk, mod revival, ‘60s revival, independent scene, rockabilly/cowpunk, garage, London soul/funk, reggae dub and commercial pop, pre C86 with its looking back and looking forward, and what it isn’t, the extremes of the SAW production line of the late ‘80s and another era entirely.

In 1972, Lou Reed was a minor cult hero to a handful of rock critics and left-of-center music fans who championed his former band, the Velvet Underground, but he was unknown to the mainstream music audience. By 1986, Reed was a rock & roll icon, widely hailed as a master songwriter and one of the founding fathers of punk, glam, noise rock, and any number of other vital rock subgenres; he even scored a few hits along the way. If you want to know what happened during those 14 years to make such a difference, the answer can be found in The RCA & Arista Album Collection, a 17-disc box set that brings together nearly all of Reed's recorded work from this period…

Complex re-release of the most remarkable and worldwide sought afterSeries The Dark Side Of The Moog by German electronic pioneers Klaus Schulze and Pete Namlook (aka Peter Kuhlmann) in three slip lid boxsets, each with 5 CDs, incl. bonus material and new linernotes. The second box contains Vol. 5 to Vol. 8 and the Bonus CD. Their relationship between Klaus and Pete and the exchange of ideas was unorthodox from the beginning of their co-operation, in that they rarely met personally. The most remarkable contacts they had were outside of their studios, for instance their concert of April 1999 at the Jazz Festival in Hamburg , which was released as an edited version on 'Dark Side Of The Moog, Vol.8' (will be released in the second Boxset) - the interplay and chemistry between them is clearly evident, and it becomes even clearer on the un-edited version of the concert (which will be released as bonus CS on the third boxset).

Ray Lema and Laurent de Wilde, two piano drivers.
One celebrates its seventy years this year and continues to display a trajectory of tremendous richness. Curious about everything, he paced the planet and opened very early his Congolese culture to the thousand winds of the music of the world, China, Brazil, Bulgaria, North Africa, America, Europe, to trigger each time fertile encounters.
Since the beginning of his career as a jazz pianist, he has since 2000 multiplied the paths of traverse, electro, slam, reggae, theater , Documentary, twisting each time his instrument with a communicative energy and success.