John Gottesmann

John Browning ranks among the very few truly virtuoso pianists of the post-Vladimir Horowitz era. A large technique, the ability to draw a broad spectrum of colors and deep reserves of sound from his instrument, and total investment in his work marked him as one of the most important artists of his time. Among his American contemporaries, he alone sustained a career in which there was only a steady enrichment of artistry without detours caused by injury or emotional crisis. His parents were both musicians: his father a violinist, his mother a pianist. He grew up in Denver and began keyboard studies at five years of age.

The foundations of Marc Minkowski’s career lie in Baroque music, and he has enjoyed a long relationship with Warner Classics, but this Johannes-Passion (St John Passion) is his first Bach for the label. The work’s terse drama – here presented through just nine singers – is ideally suited to both his scrupulous musicianship and his keen sense of theatre. The French conductor describes Bach’s great masterpieces as “a journey you have to prepare for meticulously, over a long period of time… You come back from it like an explorer comes back from Everest or the Moon – transformed.”

The definitive new Best Of John Lennon - 36 tracks completely remixed from master tapes, giving these classic songs a new life for generations to come and sounding better than ever before.

Lucasfilm releases the Deluxe Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to Ron Howard directed origin story of Star Wars', with the original theme by legendary series composer John Williams alongside John Powell's (How to Train Your Dragon, The Bourne Identity, Shrek, Happy Feet, Chicken Run, X-Men: The Last Stand) momentous original score.

Dr. John first became a star by taking the sounds and traditions of New Orleans blues, jazz, and R&B and twisting them into new forms as evidenced by his run of early Atlantic and Atco albums form 1969's Gris Gris and 1974's hit, In The Right Place. As time went by, he would become one of the strongest proponents of the Crescent City's musical heritage, celebrating the songs that made the city – as well as the men and women who made them – great. (1982's The Brightest Smile in Town, 1992's Goin' Back to New Orleans, and 2014's Ske-Dat-De-Dat: The Spirit of Satch being three representative exsamples.)

Mac Rebennack (aka Dr. John) in many ways embodies not only New Orleans music, but American music as well. His distinct sound is rooted in Crescent City jazz and R&B, yet also contains elements of country, blues, and rock & roll. And it's all tied together by an individualist attitude and a voodoo-mystic aesthetic utterly unique to the doctor. Trader John's Crawfish Soiree is a double-disc set of early odds and sods that presents John in a rollicking, nascent incarnation. Far from the more traditionalist approach he's embodied since the 1990s, here John is riffing on vintage R&B, and sprinkling it with just enough gris-gris to give it his signature bayou weirdness. Nearly all of the songs are Rebennack originals, but John has such strong ties to the roots of his music that it often sounds like these songs have sprung up from the dirt. While the liner notes offer little in the way of session information, they do provide a succinct overview of Rebennack's long career, making this a nice entry point for neophytes, in addition to being a delight for fans.

The 3CD Soundtracks And Singles 1963-1966 compiles the original soundtrack albums for Zulu and Four In The Morning, both composed and conducted by John Barry, together with other recordings he made for the Ember label. Barry (1933-2011) was one of the best known composers of film music in the world. His early career found him working as in-house arranger for EMI, leader of hit instrumental combo the John Barry Seven, and composer, arranger and conductor on the first UK soundtrack album (the Adam Faith vehicle Beat Girl). After Barry's involvement as arranger on the first James Bond film Dr No in 1962, he was appointed as primary composer for the film franchise.

Scherchen was one of the leading conductors in the middle part of the 20th Century, especially valued for his pioneering performances of the contemporary music of his time. He was essentially self-taught as a musician, and became a violist in the Blüthner Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic when he was sixteen. In 1911 he was an assistant to Arnold Schoenberg in the preparation of Pierrot Lunaire for performance. Following its Berlin premiere, the piece was taken on a tour in which Scherchen conducted.

From the very start one can feel the almost transcendental rapport between the young soloist, barely turned twenty, and the aging maestro. One can dip into the recording at almost any point and feel the magic… There is an inevitability about the whole performance that is not easy to analyse or rather, as with most great works of art, analysis often tends to obscure instead of clarify wherein the greatness lies. Why is Mona Lisa such an undisputed masterpiece? Both the painting and this recording go directly to the heart… And that is exactly what Janet Baker’s singing of Sea Pictures also does… It is so magically performed here… Behind and above…Janet Baker looms Sir John’s spirit, loving and sensitive.

Johann Sebastian Bachs St John Passion is, along with the St Matthew Passion, without doubt one of the most important works he ever composed. It established a new tradition for Good Friday vespers in Leipzig, and with sublime skill Bach managed to retain a spirit of church worship while creating an almost operatic narrative that movingly depicts Christs trial, death, and ultimate apotheosis. Bachs numerous revisions always demand a certain amount of scholarly decision-making, and this recording of the St John Passion uses the final 1749 version that not only draws on and reinforces the best of Bachs original concept, but incorporates the additional movements of the 1725 version.