Fritz Reiner was one of the foremost conductors of his time. Crowning his long career in Europe and America was the decade from 1954 to 1963 as music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra – an illustrious partnership that ranks along such other historical tenures as Karajan’s in Berlin, Szell’s in Cleveland and Bernstein’s in New York.
Sketches of Spain is an album by Miles Davis, recorded between November 1959 and March 1960 at the Columbia 30th Street Studio in New York City. An extended version of the second movement of Joaquin Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez is included, as well as a song called "Will o' the Wisp", from the ballet El amor brujo by Manuel de Falla. Sketches of Spain is regarded as an exemplary recording of Third Stream, a musical fusion of jazz, European classical, and styles of world music.
Hotspot is Neil and Chris’ 14th studio album and is the follow-up to 2016’s Super. It was recorded mostly in Berlin’s legendary Hansa Studios and like the previous two albums it has been produced by Stuart Price. The Pet Shop Boys have stated that this is the last instalment of a trilogy of Price-produced albums, which suggests they’ll use someone else, next time. Japanese Edition of the album includes 2 bonus tracks - Dreamland (TWD Vocal Remix) & Monkey business (Prins Thomas Diskomiks).
As most readers familiar with Miles Davis' music will know, `Sketches of Spain' recorded in 1959-60 was his third and final collaborative project with orchestral arranger Gil Evans. The original album release, distilled from the recording sessions, explored the musical styles of the Iberian Peninsula and has a distinctive feel quite different from Miles' other work: listeners familiar with classical music who never previously connected with jazz often found SoS to be an accessible gateway to other innovative jazz compositions of the era.