German September 2007

Handel's "nine German arias" (he wrote other arias in German, but this is a discrete group) were written in the mid-1720s, long after the composer left his native Germany for Italy and then booming Great Britain. It is not known why he should have written music in German at that late date, and the pieces have a quietly contented tone that sets them somewhat apart from almost everything else in Handel's oeuvre. The texts are by Hamburg poet Barthold Heinrich Brockes, whose so-called Brockes-Passion had already been set by Handel a decade earlier.

Buxtehude’s anthology and some of the most beautiful pages of North German repertory.

A Switzerland-based hard rock act formed in 1997, Shakra went through a number of lineup changes (including a vocalist change when the bands' momentum was just gaining attention) but managed to persevere and keep going for over two decades. Their first album, 1998's Shakra, and its follow-up, 1999's Moving Force, were strong enough to earn them support slots touring with bands like Great White and Uriah Heep. Real progress was being made with their third album, Power Ride (2001), but unfortunately a health situation forced the departure of vocalist Pete Wiedmer. Mark Fox stepped in to fill the frontman role, and the band recorded and released Rising in 2003. The band was a hit on German and Swiss charts, and toured extensively in support of their work. After many live shows and tours with Hammerfall and Stratovarius, Shakra released Infected in 2007.

The Stabat Mater Dolorosa is a sequence, not a chant, and no unified melody was established for it until the mid-nineteenth century; it was even banned for a time by the Council of Trent, but restored to liturgical use in the late 1720s by Pope Benedict XIII. Much as Prohibition did not stem the tide of alcohol use, the Council of Trent's ban on the text did not diminish the popularity of the Stabat Mater. It was during the official, 160-year-long period where the Stabat Mater was not heard in churches that Giovanni Felice Sances composed the title work on this Mirare CD Stabat Mater, featuring Carlos Mena, Philippe Pierlot, and the Ricercar Consort.

The performance of Radamisto is notable for an array of vocal talent headed by Janet Baker. Every name is familiar and admired. The ECO was a vibrant presence in the Handel operatic and oratorio market at this time and Norrington at the helm ensures that period practices are helpfully integrated into the fabric of a modern instrument performance – recitatives for instance, once the bane of some 1960s and 70s performances, move fluidly and intelligently, highly responsive to textual meaning and dramatic implications. Note Act I’s Reina, infausto avviso when Tigrane and Polissena’s recitative embodies fine pacing, telling rubato, and appropriately coloured accompaniment. Some cuts though were clearly necessary to accommodate the length of the production.

Meyerbeer composed Il Crociato in just over one year, between September 1822 and the following autumn, at the end of the German composer's so-called "Italian period". Although this is an opera of great dramatic and musical complexity its première was highly successful with both audience and critics, one commentator accurately describing it as "a building of highlyapplauded construction". The plot, so rich in events, skilfully weaves historical-religious elements with private happenings and feelings. Against the background of the interreligious conflict between Christians and Muslims, the story of the main characters unfolds in an efficacious alternation of grand choral scenes and solo numbers with arias and cabalettas.

Live (1974). Though it seems odd that a live album could serve as a band's breakthrough release, Live shows the band clearly building upon the strengths of their previous studio albums while avoiding their excesses. Without a string section to back them up - or to smother them, depending on your thinking - the band draws more heavily on its rhythm section and on the tonal colorings of Wolstenholme's Mellotron, the latter most clearly on "The Great 1974 Mining Disaster." The rich harmonies, political content, and poignant twang of John Lees songs like "For No One" come across here with the same kind of ragged majesty as Neil Young's live work. And an epic-length "Medicine Man," unburdened of its heavy orchestral arrangement and beefed up with a newly emphasized guitar and drum parts, reveals the brawn lurking beneath the lassitude of the studio version…

Reflections is a collection of new remixes in a "Europop/house" style of select hits from by German singer Sandra, released in 2006 and includes re-recorded versions of Sandra's hits from first four albums (1985-1990). Also featuring a newly recorded "Ballad" version of "Everlasting Love". In 2007, Virgin Music France decided to release a special version of Reflections, containing three new remixes made by French DJs. These three tracks are as follows: "In the Heat of the Night" (Future Vision Remix - Radio Edit), "Maria Magdalena" (Junior Caldera Remix - Radio Edit), and "In the Heat of the Night" (Superfunk Remix - radio Edit). "In the Heat of the Night 2007" was released online as a digital single containing four new versions of the song, whereas "(I'll Never Be) Maria Magdalena" was not.

Supermax was a project of Austrian musician and producer, Kurt Hauenstein, best known for "Lovemachine", a 1977 German #4 single, that peaked at #6 in Switzerland, #9 in Austria and #96 in US. The first members of the band were Kurt Hauenstein (Mini Moog, vocals), Hans Ochs (guitar), Ken Taylor (bass guitar), Lothar Krell (keyboards), Peter Koch (percussion), Jürgen Zöller (drums) and the singers Cee Cee Cobb and Jean Graham. After Ken Taylor left the band in 1979, Kurt Hauenstein returned to his origin music instrument, the bass guitar. Later, Bernadet Onore Eben and Jessica Hauenstein, the daughter of Kurt Hauenstein, joined the group as backing vocal singers.