Valleyheart Justin Rutledge

In December the trailblazing American-French conductor and harpsichordist William Christie celebrates his 80th birthday. Leading up to this major milestone will be a series of new releases and reissues celebrating Christie’s life and work. “Conversations” highlights Christie’s work as a mentor to the younger generation, with star player Justin Taylor playing duets of music by the unique compositional voice of Gaspard Le Roux.

Johann Sebastian Bach hardly ever left his native Saxony, yet he was always up to date on what was going on elsewhere in Europe. Naturally, he paid close attention to innovations from Italy, the cradle of the concertante style, and instilled transalpine sparkle in his brilliant counterpoint, especially in his keyboard works. Proof of this may be found in the pieces based on originals by the Venetians Antonio Vivaldi and Benedetto Marcello, in which Bach transcends everything with his polyphonic genius. In the large-scale Italian Concerto, the future composer of the Goldberg Variations revisits Corelli and, once again, Vivaldi. After several solo recordings devoted to musical dynasties (La Famille Forqueray, La Famille Rameau and Les Freres Francoeur), Justin Taylor sets off on a voyage of exploration of Bach and Italy.

Justin Townes Earle released Kids In The Street, his first record on New West Records, in May of 2017. The album received critical acclaim and further cemented Justin’s legacy as one of the best active songwriters in music. Songs like “Champagne Corolla” showcased his wry sense of humor as well as his deft ability to build upon the music that came before him while at the same time creating something unique and new. Familiar, inventive, creative, and clever.

In December the trailblazing American-French conductor and harpsichordist William Christie celebrates his 80th birthday. Leading up to this major milestone will be a series of new releases and reissues celebrating Christie’s life and work. “Conversations” highlights Christie’s work as a mentor to the younger generation, with star player Justin Taylor playing duets of music by the unique compositional voice of Gaspard Le Roux.

Justin Townes Earle released Kids In The Street, his first record on New West Records, in May of 2017. The album received critical acclaim and further cemented Justin’s legacy as one of the best active songwriters in music. Songs like “Champagne Corolla” showcased his wry sense of humor as well as his deft ability to build upon the music that came before him while at the same time creating something unique and new. Familiar, inventive, creative, and clever.

Justin Hayward's Night Flight was never too impressive in its original LP release – the pressing was noisy and the sound was just different enough from his prior records to be off-putting. The quarter century since its release has allowed the recording to age well; additionally, the 2004 remastered edition finally shows off the finer points of producer Jeff Wayne's approach to serious advantage – the music comes off as lean and spacious, and Hayward's singing displays the power and richness in this reissue to carry the album properly. Additionally, one of the two bonus tracks, a live version of "Forever Autumn" from a concert at San Juan Capistrano, extends the value of the CD considerably, as a previously unreleased version of the song that started Hayward's professional relationship with Wayne and led to the recording of the original LP (in addition to being one of the prettiest songs with which Hayward has ever been associated).

Thanks to Julien Chauvin and his ensemble La Loge, the programs of the Concert Spirituel’s evenings in the late 18th century Paris come back to life. The so called Haydn’s “symphonies parisiennes” are the core of their musical project which also features contemporary composers, some of them are still unknown.

The RIAS-Kammerchor Berlin and its chief conductor Justin Doyle present Handel’s Messiah, together with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and an all-British quartet of outstanding soloists, consisting of Julia Doyle (soprano), Tim Mead (countertenor), Thomas Hobbs (tenor) and Roderick Williams (bass). Messiah (1742) is not only Handel’s most famous work, but equally one of the cornerstones of British choral culture. Over the years, a tradition of mass performances full of pomp and circumstance took root, with the "Hallelujah" as a showstopper. This new period-instruments recording, however, aims to bring the piece back to the size and intimacy of the earliest performances.