A musician of nearly legendary prowess, Jan Akkerman for a time eclipsed Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck among reader polls in England as the top guitarist in the world. Akkerman was born in Amsterdam, Holland, and showed his musical inclinations early, taking up the guitar while still in grade school. His taste and interests were extraordinarily wide-ranging, from pop/rock to classical, with room for blues, Latin, and other influences.
"Freude, schöner Götterfunken!" (Joy, fair sparks of the gods) seems to be the cry of the fifth and penultimate GENUIN CD by the Camerata Limburg of the complete recording of Schubert's works for male choir. The title of the program is "Elysium," which says it all. The album is a pleasurable stroll through heavenly realms: known and unknown, from poems by Schiller, Klopstock and many, many other wonderful poets. The interpretation is on par with the entire collection: an immaculate ensemble sound and an interpretation wonderfully worked out by conductor Jan Schumacher and his masters. The only drawback? The next album in autumn will be the last of this series.