Mahl;e

Guy LeBlanc is a Canadian keyboardist well known from his "Nathan Mahl" band and short but prolific appearance in Camel's lineup. However most of people never heard that he also recorded 2 solo albums: "Subversia" and "All the Rage". If you want to find different side of LeBlanc you can proceed to his second album which is very diverse and among prog tracks includes many pop/rock and heavy metal (sometimes in French language) songs. But if you love his work in "Nathan Mahl" you ought to check this great album first…

The cantatas in this sixteenth volume are all from the third cycle of Bach's Leipzig cantatas. This yearly cycle began on the First Sunday after Trinity (3 June) 1725 and extended over a period of about three years - unlike the two preceding cycles of 1723-24 and 1724-25. Bach's rhythm of composition had slowed down markedly in the middle of 1725. It is also significant that from February to September 1726 he performed a long series of cantatas by his cousin Johann Ludwig Bach (1677-1731), Kapellmeister at the ducal court of Meiningen. But even if the proportion of original compositions declined markedly, these include a series of particularly accomplished and extended works, such as Cantatas BWV 43, 39, 170 and 102. Musically, Bach's third yearly cycle of cantatas is distinguishable by the fact that they do not begin with large-scale instrumental symphonies, nor do they have unusually extended or richly scored opening movements.

Although often overshadowed by his better-known Italian contemporary Claudio Monteverdi, as well as his successor in Lutheran music J.S. Bach, Heinrich Schutz's contributions to 17th-century sacred music were nevertheless significant. With a career that spanned an era of great musical developments, his sacred compositions reveal a rich array of influences and were to prove inspirational to future generations of composers. This 19-disc box set is the result of four volumes of recordings made by Cappella Augustana and Matteo Messori for Brilliant Classics between 2003 and 2010, collected together for the first time.

The Musea label and the Finnish magazine Colossus endlessly continue their quest for the greatest universal themes, in order to complete their collection of concept-albums dedicated to Progressive rock. The hero of the day is Dante Alighieri, the famous medieval author from Firenze who wrote "The Divine Comedy". That's precisely this epic piece of work, without a doubt one of the greatest books of all times, that serves as the basis for this project. And of course, it has been divided in three parts: Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso. The first volume is made of thirty-four "cantos" dispatched on four discs, each one showing the personal interpretation of an international band, according to the rules of the genre: no drumboxes, the only instruments allowed are those of the mighty Seventies, the same as for the musical inspiration. Nuova Era, Nemo, Nexus, Willowglass, Ars Nova, Sinkadus, Simon Says and many more.