Fantastic Performance

Grandfather Courage contains 11 songs in total and brings a new perspective to White Jesus Black Problems, which was based on the true story of his seventh-generation white Scottish grandmother, an indentured servant who lived in 1750s colonial Virginia in a common law marriage with his seventh-generation Black enslaved grandfather.

The steady increase in recordings of his music has now established Suk as one of the great musical poets of the early 20th century. Too much is made of his affinities with his teacher and father-in-law, Dvorák; for his own part, Dvorák never imposed his personality on his pupils and Suk's mature music owes him little more than a respect for craft and an extraordinarily well developed ear for orchestral colour. His affinities in the five-movement A Summer's Tale, completed in 1909 – a magnificent successor to his profound Asrael Symphony – reflect Debussy and parallel the music of his friend Sibelius and Holst, but underpinning the musical language is a profound originality energising both form and timbre. Mackerras's recording joins a select band: Šejna's vintage performance on Supraphon and Pešek's inspired rendition with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic; his is an equal to them both and the Czech Philharmonic's playing is both aspiring and inspiring. While their reading is suffused with a feeling for the work's myriad orchestral colours, they recognise that Suk's music is much more than atmosphere. In particular they excel in their handling of the drama and overwhelming emotional urgency of this remarkable, big-boned symphonic poem.

TRIX was formed in 2004, led by drummer Noriaki Kumagai (ex-Casiopea), with bassist Mitsuru Sutoh (ex-T-Square) and now guitarist Yuya Komoguchi and keyboardist AYAKI has joined the group. Their very ear-catcy music with thrilling techniques, and entertaining stage performance have been widely accepted among fans. Some of their songs are featured as the main theme of TV programs.

"Performance" - 2010 UK 12-track CD released exclusively with "The Mail On Sunday" newspaper on 19th September 2010; comprises 10 hits hand-picked by Kylie from her first ever North American tour last Autumn. Recorded at the legendary Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, Ms Minogue treats us to vibrant renditions of "In Your Eyes", "Slow", "In My Arms" and a medley of "Boombox / Can't Get Blue Monday Out Of My Head"; plus studio recordings of "Wow" (taken from "X") and the fantastic "Too Much" (from "Aphrodite").

Led by classically trained drummer Christian Vander, the Paris-based Magma have been, in their way, perhaps the ultimate progressive rock group; while other artists have achieved greater commercial success and critical acclaim, Magma have typified the many ambitions and excesses of the genre that won them as many detractors as fans, even going so far as to invent their own lyrical and musical language in order to bring their unique vision to life…