Digital Retirement

Bridge Records is pleased to issue guitarist David Starobin's final studio recording, W.T. Matiegka's Six Sonatas, op. 31, performed on a Viennese style guitar. Starobin regards Matiegka's sonatas as "in their time, the pinnacle of expression on the guitar, offering the most detailed notation of both articulation and character–a clear window onto performance style in the era of Beethoven and Schubert."

Vlastimir Trajković (1947), for many years professor of composition, orchestration and Head of the Department (the Belgrade Faculty of Music) — now in retirement.

Leon Böellmann (1862-1897) was born in the Alsatian town of Ensisheim. He moved to Paris after the Franco-Prussian War after which Alsace became part of Germany. In Paris, he studied organ, piano and composition at the Classical Music School, graduating from it with honors. After graduation, he worked as a teacher at school. His compositions brought him considerable recognition, and he would almost certainly have made a bigger name for himself if he had not died at the young age of 35. Presented on this album is his remarkable Cello Sonata Op.40, hailing from the late French Romantic period.

Netflix releases RETURN TO SPACE (SOUNDTRACK FROM THE NETFLIX FILM) with music by acclaimed composers Mychael Danna and Harry Gregson-Williams.

BBE Music are proud to reissue one of the most elusive and sought-after Afro-Funk LPs of all time: Son of Africa, by Remi Kabaka.

Stylistic diversity and openness to new things characterize the compositional work in Graz, so that the institute for composition at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz has an excellent international reputation. For the retirement of Gerd Kühr, who has helped shape this path over the years with his commitment and his composition class, an album of short piano pieces was created, which the composers of the institute wrote for Gerd Kühr. Gerd Kühr's piano cycle »Praeludium – eight interludes – postlude« appears for the first time. With aphoristic accuracy, the short pieces each throw their spotlight on a special gesture of playing the piano.

After a prolonged retirement, Patti Smith returned to action in 1996 with Gone Again. It was recorded after she suffered the loss of both her brother and her husband, Fred "Sonic" Smith, two losses so great that it's not surprising she is still exploring that pain on Peace and Noise, which quickly followed Gone Again in 1997.

Celebrating its fiftieth anniversary this year, the Brodsky Quartet has performed more than 3000 concerts on the major concert stages of the world and has released more than seventy recordings.

Francis Albert Sinatra (December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer, actor, and producer who was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 150 million records worldwide.