Great Awekening

Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre present a new recording of Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, the iconic opening Kyrie of which is among the most cherished religious music ever written. Mozart performed parts of the Mass in 1783, but the score remained unfinished, making the use of a scholarly edition necessary for a complete performance. Despite its unfinished state, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor has gained popularity and now enjoys a place in the choral core repertory. For this recording, made in connection to live performances, Minkowski has chosen Helmut Eder’s 1985 edition for the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe. He performs it in a chamber-like setting with his regular ensemble Les Musiciens du Louvre, a small ripieno choir and four outstanding soloists: Ana Maria Labin, Ambroisine Bré, Stanislas de Barbeyrac and Norman Patzke. Since its foundation in 1982, and under the baton of its founder and musical director Marc Minkowski, Les Musiciens du Louvre have developed into one of the world’s best period-instrument ensembles, with a vast discography. This recording marks their PENTATONE debut.

One of the pivotal and bloodiest battles of 16th-century Europe, the four-month siege of Malta by an Ottoman armada of some 200 ships, from which the local population led by the Knights of Malta emerged victorious, was an extraordinary episode of heroism overcoming overwhelming odds. Alexey Shor’s orchestral cycle Images from the Great Siege allows his signature lyrical expressiveness free rein in a suite of romanticised impressions – from an atmospheric Premonition of the Ottoman invasion, to the daring and climactic The Big Bluff and final jubilant Victory Celebration. Verdiana is a virtuosic showpiece that celebrates and transforms Verdi’s music into samba, bossa nova and tango styles.

18. in October, Great Tide will release their first album Daywatcher. This is so beyond good and makes me so happy. Great Tide delivers americana so harmoniously that it is hard to believe that they are originally Norwegian. They already have an EP and a couple of singles in their luggage that are also worth checking out. Jonas Anker Paulsen, Odin Landbakk, Andreas Utne Friestad and Torbjorn Borge are the guys dressed in carpentry pants.

With the exception of Jesus Christ, virtually no figure in antiquity is more renowned in the history of the West than Alexander the Great. His feats are the stuff of legend, inspiring medieval romances, painting and sculptures, and even blockbuster movies…

In his controversial masterpiece The Great Dictator, Charlie Chaplin offers both a cutting caricature of Adolf Hitler and a sly tweaking of his own comic persona. Chaplin, in his first pure talkie, brings his sublime physicality to two roles: the cruel yet clownish “Tomainian” dictator and the kindly Jewish barber who is mistaken for him. Featuring Jack Oakie and Paulette Goddard in stellar supporting turns, The Great Dictator, boldly going after the fascist leader before the U.S.’s official entry into World War II, is an audacious amalgam of politics and slapstick that culminates in Chaplin’s famously impassioned speech.

Mathematics is filled with beautiful theorems that are as breathtaking as the most celebrated works of art, literature, or music. They are the Mona Lisas, Hamlets, and Fifth Symphonys of the field—landmark achievements that repay endless study and that are the work of geniuses as fascinating as Leonardo, Shakespeare, and Beethoven. Here is a sample: