Romantic Country

One of the most influential guitarists of the 20th century, as well as a legendary musician and producer within country music. Without Chet Atkins, country music may never have crossed over into the pop charts in the '50s and '60s. Although he recorded hundreds of solo records, Atkins' largest influence came as a session musician and a record producer. During the '50s and '60s, he helped create the Nashville sound, a style of country music that owed nearly as much to pop as it did to honky tonks. And as a guitarist, he was without parallel.

For Volume 24 of 'The Romantic Piano Concerto' Hyperion went to Portugal to celebrate one of the country's greatest musical sons. José Vianna da Motta, if he is remembered at all, is primarily known as a very fine pianist. He was one of Liszt's last pupils, became a friend of Busoni, and left a small body of very impressive 78rpm recordings. After many years based in Berlin he returned to his country of birth as director of the Lisbon conservatory and became central to the musical life of the country. And like many other performers of the day, he also composed.

The subtitle says it all. Beyond the Sunset gathers up a dozen of the loveliest love songs from the first four Blackmore's Night albums, plus two previously unreleased cuts, "Once in a Million Years" and an alternate version of the favorite "Ghost of a Rose." That means there's no room for some of the rockier or more rambunctious songs in the band's catalog – they, no doubt, must wait for The Party Album…

This is her sixth career full-length album, she is therefore an experimented and already prolific artist. She is none other than Nina Kinert, hailing from Stockholm, who has recently released, in 2018, the album titled Romantic. It is a great ensemble of ten pop, folk and even at times electronic songs, displaying Kinert’s unique versatility and talent for experimentation. Often compared to the Norwegian star Ane Brun, and non-coincidentally having received much praise from her from the beginning of her career, Nina Kinert will have started to publish 14 years from today already, with her album Heartbreaktown, released in 2004.