Mark James

Live 1969 is a brand new Elvis Presley 11CD box set that marks the 50th anniversary of his performances at the International Hotel in Las Vegas. Returning to the stage for the first time in eight years, the 1969 Vegas run saw Presley perform 57 sold-out shows and the live debut of ‘Suspicious Minds’. During this residency he was backed by two vocal groups (The Imperials and The Sweet Inspirations), a full orchestra and a band later known as the TCB band. Live 1969 features the release of eleven complete sets from Elvis’ August 1969 engagement at Las Vegas’ International Hotel. Of these performances, four are being released in full for the first time ever – including two Elvis shows that have remained almost completely unheard for fifty years (August 22 and 25).

In 1995, Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, and Mark O'Connor joined forces on Appalachia Waltz, the first of a series of Sony Classical albums celebrating the varied musical textures of Americana. Over the course of six years, several albums were cut, among them Short Trip Home, Liberty!, Uncommon Ritual, and Midnight on the Water, in addition to the Grammy-winning Appalachia Waltz. Each project may have had its own specific instrumental focus, although the shared theme was clearly to obfuscate the genre lines that separate classical and traditional American music on a 200-year journey from the concert halls of Britain to the Shenandoah Valley.

Couperin’s Trois Leçons de Ténèbres are amongst the small amount of the composer’s sacred music that was published during his lifetime. They are intensely personal, depicting the prophet Jeremiah’s bitter anguish in settings that are quite unique. Also included here are Couperin’s joyful motets Laetentur caeli and Venite, exsultemus Domino, and a remarkable Magnificat.