Vida Halvcirkel

In the early part of his musical career, before he became one of the most revered conductors of his time, Bruno Walter saw himself as a conductor-composer much like his friend and rôle model, Gustav Mahler. His large-scale Piano Quintet, couched in the late-Romantic idiom, is a powerful expression of Walter’s consummate compositional skill. The Violin Sonata in A major, Walter’s last chamber work, offers a study in expressive contrasts, its unsettled moods reflective of the time in which it was written.

La vida breve is the first great work by Manuel de Falla, not only on account of the brilliance of his achievement, but also because in this score the powerful musical personality of the composer shines through. It introduces an orchestral scope that was previously unheard of in Hispanic musical theatre; there are direct references to folklore; there is the very remarkable role of the choir, and the incredible ability to evoke the magic of the Albaicín in Granada. The idea of the story came to Falla when he read, in the periodical Blanco y Negro, a short poem of clear social content, written by Carlos Fernández-Shaw, which would become the heart of the libretto. ‘I am filled with emotion at the prospect of releasing this disc, because for all Spanish conductors Manuel de Falla’s La vida breve is the highpoint of Spanish opera and a fundamental work in our repertoire.’ – Juanjo Mena

Nicola Stilo (born 1956 in Italy), is a jazz and pop instrumentalist, specialising in flute, guitar and piano. He worked extensively with Chet Baker during the 1980s. He has also worked with Toninho Horta, Luca Flores and Roland Kirk.

Iron Butterfly is an American rock band best known for the 1968 hit "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida", providing a dramatic sound that led the way towards the development of hard rock and heavy metal music. Formed in San Diego, California, among band members who used to be "arch enemies", their heyday was the late 1960s, but the band has been reincarnated with various members with varying levels of success, with no new recordings since 1975. The band's seminal 1968 album In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida is among the world's 40 best-selling albums, selling more than 30 million copies.

Osada Vida is one of the most interesting Polish bands on the Prog scene.
In the area of today's Benin, there's a small village. Its inhabitants live far from all civilisation, but in perfect harmony. Their newborn babies are given to pythons, which look after them and protect from dangerous bushes. This village is called Osada Vida. Two mates - Adam Podzimski and Lukasz Lisiak - both having the same music tastes, persuaded a third friend, Blazej Kubica, to join them. They did not choose one style of playing, everything was born itself. They accepted only one limit in music: no limits at all. The music meant pleasure of playing and joy of listening…

With its endless, droning minor-key riff and mumbled vocals, "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" is arguably the most notorious song of the acid rock era. According to legend, the group was so stoned when they recorded the track that they could neither pronounce the title "In the Garden of Eden" or end the track, so it rambles on for a full 17 minutes, which to some listeners sounds like eternity. But that's the essence of its appeal – it's the epitome of heavy psychedelic excess, encapsulating the most indulgent tendencies of the era. Iron Butterfly never matched the warped excesses of "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida," either on their debut album of the same name or the rest of their catalog, yet they occasionally made some enjoyable fuzz guitar-driven psychedelia that works as a period piece.

With its endless, droning minor-key riff and mumbled vocals, "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" is arguably the most notorious song of the acid rock era. According to legend, the group was so stoned when they recorded the track that they could neither pronounce the title "In the Garden of Eden" or end the track, so it rambles on for a full 17 minutes, which to some listeners sounds like eternity. But that's the essence of its appeal – it's the epitome of heavy psychedelic excess, encapsulating the most indulgent tendencies of the era.