The Arrangement 2013

Der niederländische Walzerkönig André Rieu ist wieder da. Nachdem er 2012 pausieren musste, veröffentlicht der derzeit erfolgreichste Tourneekünstler der Welt endlich sein lang erwartetes Doppelalbum André Rieu Celebrates ABBA & Music Of The Night. Während der Arbeit an Music Of The Night, einer wunderbaren Sammlung bisher nicht aufgenommener klassischer Songs aus der Welt der Musicals, Filme und Romanzen, entdeckte André Rieu das beeindruckende Repertoire der schwedischen Supergruppe ABBA und widmet sich nun zum ersten Mal dieser Musik. ABBA Fans weltweit können ihre Lieblingssongs jetzt endlich in noch nie gehörten, wunderschönen Orchesterarrangements erleben.

The recordings on Sweden's BIS label by Israeli-born flutist Sharon Bezaly have exposed a great deal of neglected and often highly virtuosic repertory, much of its brought within reach by Bezaly's unusual circular breathing technique. She's a remarkable flutist, but it's her repertory selection that really sets her apart from the crowd. She actually throws in some chestnuts, like Cécile Chaminade's Concertino for flute and orchestra, Op. 107, this time around, but the highlight is a really nifty and unknown little work: the Flute Concert in D major, Op. 283, of Carl Reinecke, composed in 1908. Its three movements reduce Wagnerian language to a compact concerto in all kinds of ingenious ways. Sample the first movement, where the flute provides a charming pastoral element against a varying backdrop. The other works are each characteristic of their composer, even including the very early Largo and Allegro for flute and strings of Tchaikovsky.

In the realm of music criticism and scholarship, Bach’s music is often hailed as the epitome of functional musical logic. Every note has its place, every chord has its function, and all musical elements are combined in a masterful display of contrapuntal craft with few recognised rivals. But despite the intellectual reverence to which Bach’s music is subjected, musicians are still able to find themselves intimately and affectively involved with his compositions.

Roadhouse have long impressed with their unique take on southern roots rock and Americana, but ‘Gods & Highways & Old Guitars’ raises the bar to another level…

The unjustly neglected piano quartet (J76) was completed in September of the year 1809, which the 22-year-old Weber spent in Stuttgart. It was originally offered to the publisher Hans Georg Nägeli, but he rejected it, advising the composer that it created wanton ‘confusion in the arrangement of its ideas’ and indeed too obviously imitated the ‘bizarreries’ of Beethoven. However, the work was issued a year later by the Bonn firm of Beethoven’s friend and admirer Nikolaus Simrock, whose ears were more receptive to the peculiarities of the score than Nägeli.

If there’s any period in modern Springsteen history that continues to grow in admiration it is the 2007-2008 Magic era.