Saint Charbel

Saint Just was a seventies Italian progressive group but not really reminiscent of the typical Italian sound. Influences from folk, psychedelic and classical can be heard in their music. The most remarkable instrument in their music is the vocals of Jane Sorrenti that float above the music. Her vocal delivery is definitely an acquired taste. The group released only two albums and the line-up is very different in these two albums. In the 1st album there were only three official members of which the saxophonist Robert Fix was not included in the 2nd album. For their 2nd album the remaining members Jane Sorrenti and Antonio Verde (classical guitar, bass) added electric guitarists Tito Rinesi and Andrea Faccenda as well as a drummer Fulvio Maras.

The infinite cosmos of French organ music is Ben van Oosten's realm, and he now has recordd the complete organ works of Camille Saint-Saëns in a sump-tuous box set. He performs on the Cavaillé Coll organ in Ste. Madeleine in Paris, one of the most beautiful instruments of its kind and an organ with a big orchestral sound on which Saint-Saëns himself left his traces for more than two decades.

Filmed live at Covent Garden's Royal Opera House in 1981, this staging of Camille Saint-Saens's opera takes on one of the Bible's most famous tales. After trying to force the Hebrews to worship his god, the Philistine ruler meets an untimely end at the hands of the prodigiously powerful Samson (Jon Vickers), who leads the Hebrews in a revolt. But beautiful Philistine Dalila (Shirley Verrett) uses her seductive wiles to weaken the strapping hero.

Unusually the liner note deserves a mention ahead of the music: the fine pianist Jeremy Denk, half of this regular duo, manages to encapsulate the elusiveness of French romantic music with such insight in a few sharp sentences, his words almost shape the way we listen to this superbly played disc. Saint-Saëns' wistful and emotional Sonata No 1 and Ravel's bluesy, ironic sonata have a whipped, airy quality. Joshua Bell plays with fire and finesse, with Denk a powerful ally. Franck's dark-light violin sonata, mysterious, ardent and far more than the sum of its parts when played as majestically as here, forms the centrepiece of this seriously beguiling disc.

This ambitious project consists of a recording of the complete music for violin and orchestra and cello and orchestra by Saint-Saëns. It marks the beginning of an intensive collaboration between Zig-Zag Territories and the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel.

Camille Saint-Saëns and the Prix de Rome… surely a strange bringing together of ideas, given that the composer never gained that coveted award and consequently never took up residence in the famous Villa Medici? All the same, Saint-Saëns entered the competition on two separate occasions and, peculiarly in the history of the competition, twelve years apart: firstly in 1852 and then in 1864. On the first occasion he was still an adolescent, devoted to worshipping the memory of the great Mendelssohn; behind him, by the time of the second occasion, were already a number of his masterpieces later to be confirmed by posterity – and he had become acquainted with Verdi and had also discovered Wagner.

An uncomparable Italian band indeed, Saint Just played a weird mix of Ethnic music and Folk Rock with plenty of Classical passages, where folk atmospheres alternate with organ themes and piano passages all the time but occasionally supported by light electric tunes. The music is soft but rather dark with plenty of acoustic guitars and characterized by Jenny's Sorrenti poetic and haunting vocal lines. While the whole album flows in a relaxed mood,there are surprisingly lots of breaks and alternating ideas in almost every track,which makes ''Saint just'' a demanding release. Organs, pianos and saxes have a major role leading the way and the few electric parts are well-played yet quite smooth. Surprisingly the self-titled number of the album is entirely sung in French by Sorrenti in a theatrical way with a definite beauty surrounding this delicate track.

Live performances by one of Europe's most respected cellists are featured on PIERRE FOURNIER. Fournier became well-known throughout the world after the Second World War for his skill on the cello, and was particularly praised for his bowing technique. With this collection of recorded performances from Fournier's prime, latter-day audiences are afforded the opportunity to watch the cellist's technical skill as well as appreciate the low, melodious sound of his instrument.