Long Earth

“Our countries have moved further apart. Most people are so immersed in their own life experience that they don’t even try to understand the culture of other societies … but by comparing these two works people can see the double picture – how Europeans feel about love, pleasure, and death, and how the Chinese feel about the same things.” Long Yu. Centuries-old Chinese poetry is brought vividly to life in a new recording from Long Yu and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. Their second album for Deutsche Grammophon, The Song of the Earth, is set for international release on 13 August 2021. The world premiere recording of the contemporary The Song of the Earth by Ye Xiaogang is presented alongside Gustav Mahler’s classic symphony. Ye’s ambitious new work expresses the grandeur and beauty of the original Tang Dynasty poems that Mahler set in German translation, fusing a contemporary style with centuries’ worth of traditions from both east and west. Long Yu, who commissioned Ye’s work, conducts the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra in this fascinating meeting of histories and cultures.

With Ronnie James Dio having moved on to explore new pastures, Rainbow returned in 1979 with a new lead vocalist (Graham Bonnet), a new keyboards player (Don Airey), and a new(ish) bassist (Ritchie's former band mate Roger Glover).
After the relatively disappointing "Long live rock and roll", Ritchie Blackmore took the opportunity to lead the band in a subtle(?) change of direction, the result being a sort of cross between the accessible pop rock of Asia, and the heavy driving rhythms of Deep Purple. While some see this as a step backwards, for me this is one of the band's most accomplished albums…