Sound of Music 2023

'Detour Tunnels of Light' is the debut duo album from renowned improvisers Martin Kuchen and Sophie Agnel. On the recording, made in a Swedish church in February 2022, they combine the raw and the delicate, blending slow swinging percussion with a hissing sopranino sax and a cracked, symphonic grand piano - like a vintage music box.

One of the most prolific and reliable names in instrumental easy listening music, the 101 Strings Orchestra has literally recorded hundreds of albums since its inception in 1957. Their trademark sound is built on a reverence for melody, pristine production, and a pleasant, relaxing ambience; while occasional albums have concentrated on brass, piano, guitars, and even mild rock & roll rhythms, the string section – true to the group's name – nearly always remains front and center, because of its lush, soothing sound qualities. Most of their albums were built around some unifying theme, whether the work of a well-known artist or songwriter, a specific topic (patriotism, holidays, et al.), TV/ movie themes, songs from a particular country, revampings of familiar tunes from other genres, and so on.

William Steinberg's ability to take an orchestra to the next level was evident from his first two stops, the Cologne Opera and the Palestine Symphony Orchestra - later known as the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. He brought this to bear again during his tenure as principal conductor in Pittsburgh, turning the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra into one of America's top orchestras from 1952 to 1976, wowing audiences everywhere with their live concerts and recordings. The first recordings on Capitol Records and Everest were followed by a successful period with Command Classics from 1961 to 1968. A label of the Command Records group, which specialized in recording on 35 mm film and thus set qualitative standards.

United Souls, in conjunction with Legacy Recordings, is delighted to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Philadelphia International Records with Love Is The Message - The Sound of Philadelphia International Records Volume 3.
Following on from the huge acclaim for the first two volumes, Love Is The Message contains eight albums on CD and an exclusive 12” vinyl disc.

The trumpet can be traced back for almost 4000 years in many cultures and more than any other musical instrument it is surrounded by the aura of something special: it was the signal giver at ritual, religious, military or royal state occasions. The sound of the trumpet is still ambivalent today: even where it presents itself as sweet, it always resonates with a near-death shaking that can also become infernal and violent at any time. This sound remains connected with cosmic, divine or at least princely royal attitude. Reinhold Friedrich is one of the most uncompromising artists in this field. He is one of the world’s leading trumpeters – sometimes celebrated in the press as the ‘Trumpet God’ – and impresses with a breathtaking variety of repertoire: whether classical valve trumpet, whether the high piccolo trumpet, natural trumpet, historical keyed trumpet, whether with the Jewish shofar or the softer flugelhorn, – his playing always becomes that event which is then able to provoke reactions ranging from goose bumps to a mental flight of fancy. Whether a complex score of new music, whether baroque music and virtuoso classical music or ‘just’ a little melody of folk music: Reinhold Friedrich always knows how to create with his playing that overwhelming presence of ‘Now!’, which characterises the trumpet so uniquely. He is joined by equally exposed masters of their craft: solo trumpeter Hannes Laubin, long associated with Reinhold Friedrich as an equal duo partner and friend, and ‘Grisha’ Gregory Ahss, whose violin playing displays a similar stylistic breadth ranging from classical virtuosity to melodically heart-warming emotionality. This distinctive sound college is rounded off by the Munich Symphony Orchestra / Munchner Symphoniker, conducted by Martin Baeza-Rubio, which is as colorful as it is sensitive.

Girls Aloud have announced a 20th anniversary reissue of their debut album ‘Sound Of The Underground’ – find all the details below. The record came out back in May 2003 after the group won the reality TV series Popstars: The Rivals the previous year. It landed at Number Two on the UK albums chart, and included the Number One single of the same name.

William Steinberg's ability to take an orchestra to the next level was evident from his first two stops, the Cologne Opera and the Palestine Symphony Orchestra - later known as the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. He brought this to bear again during his tenure as principal conductor in Pittsburgh, turning the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra into one of America's top orchestras from 1952 to 1976, wowing audiences everywhere with their live concerts and recordings. The first recordings on Capitol Records and Everest were followed by a successful period with Command Classics from 1961 to 1968. A label of the Command Records group, which specialized in recording on 35 mm film and thus set qualitative standards.

Abuzz with activity, camp R.E.M. is suddenly alive with the sound of music, with singer Michael Stipe readying his first solo album for a 2023 release.