i Netanyau

Claudio Scimone once again conducts the extraordinary I Solisti Veneti enssemble, playing one of Vivaldi's more cheerful concertos for mandolin. When you listen to this recording you can dream of being walking through several small streets of Venice, feeling its characteristic humidity and the flavor of that fabulous historical city.

To welcome the spring, British ensemble I Fagiolini puts aside it's beloved Monteverdi to uncover it's own national heritage: the best of John Wilbye's classic Golden Age madrigals. Whilst his oeuvre may have been small (just 75 works that we know of and most just a couple of minutes long), time and again, in these exquisite cameos, Wilbye delivers what might be reckoned the ultimate madrigal experience. The plangent dissonance of 'Draw on, sweet night' and 'Weep, weep, mine eyes' perfectly evoke English melancholy, while 'Sweet honey-sucking bees' and 'Adieu, sweet Amaryllis' are such sheer pleasure to sing that many listeners will scrabble to unearth old scores. This album is, in a nutshell, 75 minutes of madrigalian bliss! Rediscover or enjoy anew this central part of English choral culture, strangely out of fashion for so long, sung by a group that has matured into the repertoire like a good wine.

Altogether a pleasure. These are bright, capable, affectionate, well-pointed performances in good sound, with soloists who sound totally at home with the music…

Yet another gem from the classic Italian 70's prog scene and represents a highly expressive rock album with excellent and focused vocals and harmony. I Giganti essentially play a highly melodic / symphonic prog with some nicely accentuated breakouts. Although the vocals and lyrics are the centered focus on this album, we are still treated to loads of symphonic keyboard work with loads of piano and even some mellotron. Guitar work is also worth making note of and is a nice combination of acoustic and electric work. Songs are highly expressive The concept of this album is centered around the mob (mafia) and is told from the perspective of a prisoner in a series of interviews. At times "Terra In Bocca" actually transforms into a musical dream sequence and delivers some simply gorgeous melodies.