Michel Weber Mike Goetz

Michael Gordon Oldfield (born 15 May 1953) is a British musician, songwriter, and producer best known for his debut studio album Tubular Bells (1973), which became an unexpected critical and commercial success. He is regarded as one of the greatest multi-instrumentalists of all time. Though primarily a guitarist, Oldfield plays a range of instruments, which includes keyboards, percussion, and vocals. He has adopted a range of musical styles throughout his career, including progressive rock, world, folk, classical, electronic, ambient, and new age music.

Voyager fits nicely into the mix of Oldfield’s discography. There is a strong Celtic influence and feel to this album, which finds Oldfield in what appears to be a very relaxed mood. It’s decidedly more oblique than his usual material, with 6 of the 10 tracks reworked traditional Irish/Celt folk arrangements. Oldfield is surrounded by classical orchestra (LSO), choir and a slew of famed Irish musicians (Davy Spillane and Matt Molloy, among others). From a prog perspective, this album is not particularly strong. From a more general point of view, it is an enjoyable, easy to listen to diversion.

Mike Oldfield was back into the extended composition game with Five Miles Out, continuing the "Taurus" series with the mammoth "Taurus II," an entertaining enough romp with references to Irish music, brass bands and Oldfield's beloved Morris. The true standout, though, was the title track, a paean to flying in bad weather that could easily double for Oldfield's feelings about the sort of monumental critical drubbing he was accustomed to receiving. "Family Man" became a huge worldwide hit for Hall & Oates.

Under the direction of Keno Weber, the Quilisma Jugendchor Springe presents the first complete recording of Gabriel Fauré’s (1845–1924) sacred works. After completing his academic education in 1865, Fauré was primarily active as a church musician and worked at the parish church „La Madeleine“ in Paris from 1877 to 1905. Almost all of his sacred works were written during this time, including his well-known Requiem. The voices of the young singers of the Quilisma Jugendchor provide insight into how the music may have sounded in the 19th century, performed by the boys’ choir at „La Madeleine“ under the direction of the composer himself.

Lemongrassmusic present the 4th longplayer album by Dutch producer and musician Marc Hartman alias Weber & Weber. Inspired by the legacy of music through the decades Weber & Weber’s aim was to use some of the influences in music from the past and carry them into the music of tomorrow. From Jazz to Reggae to Fusion and Trip Hop, you’ll find a wide range of styles on this new musical journey of Weber & Weber. 15 tracks that are as unique as many-folded.

Stemming from the same fertile compositional period as the majority of his clarinet works, composer Carl Maria von Weber was also hard at work penning two symphonies (in fact, his only two forays into this genre) and his lone Concerto for bassoon and orchestra. Though written only a few short years after Beethoven's revolutionary Third Symphony, Weber seems little interested in innovation apart from his use of scherzos in place of minuets.

After his success with Freischütz, Weber wanted to write a grand romantic opera and in the end the subject of Euryanthe was chosen, a tale inspired by a legend going back to the thirteen century. Euryanthe is music of inspiration and originality such as is rarely found in the history of German opera in the first half of the nineteenth century. The Italianisms that are occasionally glimpsed in Freischütz are eliminated almost completely. Euryanthe is set to music in its entirety, with accompanied recitative passages that are often of great beauty. We may say that in an opera that has many experimental features Weber sought for the first and only time in his life to overcome the traditional dichotomy between spoken and sung parts, between recitative and closed numbers, creating a highly supple musical structure. The present production features a cast of specialists of German opera and the outstanding direction of Pier Luigi Pizzi.

200 years ago, on May 26th 1821, today's Berlin Concert Hall was inaugurated as “Königliches Schauspielhaus”. Destroyed as “Preußisches Staatstheater” during World War II, the building, located in eastern Berlin, was rebuilt during GDR times and reopened as “Konzerthaus” in 1984. The premiere of Carl Maria von Weber's Der Freischütz on June 18th 1821 was a highlight of the opening year. The work became his most popular opera and one of the key works of the 19th century. A few days later, the composer (who died at the age of only 40 in 1826), had another piece premiered at the “Königliches Schauspielhaus”: his brilliant Concert Piece for Piano and Orchestra op.79.