Adio Silence

4CD / 90 track set exploring the work of female artists in the decade following the punk explosion. From household names and legends – Alison Moyet, Toyah, Kirsty MacColl, Nico, Tracey Thorn, Chrissie Hynde, Neneh Cherry, Pauline Murray, Sinead O’Connor, Tracey Ullman, Cosey Fanni Tutti – to underground figureheads and unsung pioneers. Spanning the genres – from the punk howl of X-Ray Spex and the NWOBHM stylings of Girlschool to Cosey Fanni Tutti’s post-TG electronica, the experimental dub of Vivien Goldman and the the High Street pop of Bananarama.

In 1718 Vivaldi entered the employment of Prince Philip of Hesse-Darmstadt who had been appointed governor of Mantua, then part of the Austrian Empire. His responsibilities seem to have been varied but probably the most important of them was to provide operas for his employer’s court. One of these was Tito Manlio, which was produced for the Mantuan Carnival season in 1719; and, if we are to believe a note by Vivaldi himself at the head of the score, written in the space of five days.

The first pleasant surprise here is the brightness and clarity of the radio broadcast sound; indeed, it is a bit too bright and harsh but better that than muddiness. There is evidently an audience who applaud at the end but otherwise there is no extraneous noise throughout. Secondly, there is the spring and bounce of the English Chamber Orchestra, alertly directed by Baroque specialist Sir Anthony Lewis. Thirdly we hear a first rate cast of splendid voices headed by Janet Baker, an array of voices unequalled in any of the other nine extant recordings.

This first volume invites you to relive the highlights of the label’s first thirty years and pays tribute to the artists who built harmonia mundi on the heights of Saint-Michel-de-Provence, in a passionate quest for excellence that caused a genuine revolution in the world of early music.

Smooth & gentle music by Enfant De Luxe, Stereolife, Laurent Babtiste, Heritage, Dubsessions, Moon & Benk, Walter Hallert, Venice, Trillian, Michel Petit, Benicio Del Cristo and many more.

Nothing could be more appropriate in celebrating Victoria de los Angeles’s 75th birthday than this extensive conspectus of her recordings of Spanish song over 40 years. It’s hardly possible in a brief review to do justice to such an astonishing achievement on the part of the Spanish soprano; indeed had she sung nothing else her place in recorded history would be assured.

Handel's operas–the center of his creative life before oratorios became the focus–have spent far too long in limbo awaiting rediscovery, which slowly started happening in the late '60s with works such as Giulio Cesare. But whether Handelian opera is still a novelty or you're already a rabid convert, this emotionally resonant, crisply played, superbly cast interpretation under William Christie and Les Arts Florissants is likely to shake up some of your ideas about the composer.