The Mahaviscu Orchestra

Written in the final year of his life, Schubert’s Mass No. 6 in E-flat major is often regarded as the composer’s own requiem. In this recording, The Cleveland Orchestra is joined by soprano Joélle Harvey, mezzo-soprano Daryl Freedman, tenors Julian Prégardien and Martin Mitterrutzner, bass-baritone Dashon Burton, and The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus.

PENTATONE's third release from Rafael Kubelik's acclaimed Beethoven cycle of symphonies in its Remastered Classics series is his commanding reading of the sixth, seventh and eighth symphonies performed by the Orchestre de Paris, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Cleveland Orchestra.

Following up on the success of Sony Classical’s recent large-scale Ormandy collections – his monaural discographies with the Minneapolis Symphony and Philadelphia orchestras – the label now presents the conductor’s stereo recordings from Philadelphia containing all recordings released from 1958 to 1963 (plus some fillers from later years) Eugene Ormandy took over the music directorship in Philadelphia from Leopold Stokowski in 1938 and held the position for 42 years. During that time his name and the orchestra’s became inseparable as he cultivated and further developed the voluptuous sound that originated with his predecessor.

The Salsoul Orchestra - The Salsoul Orchestra (1975) {2012 Remastered & Expanded - Big Break Records CDBBR 0101}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 385 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 135 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 55 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1975, 2012 Big Break Records / Cherry Red / Verse Music | CDBBR 0101
R'n'B / Soul / Funk / Disco / Philly Soul

THE SALSOUL ORCHESTRA - as well as being the legendary backing band for many of the Salsoul Records artists - were a highly successful act in their own right. Throughout their career they consisted of up to 50 members (many of whom were also standing members of MFSB – Philadelphia Internationals house band). They released eleven successful albums on Salsoul Records over a seven year period.

The Salsoul Orchestra - Nice 'N' Naasty (1976) {2013 Remastered & Expanded - Big Break Records CDBBR 0234}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 526 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 181 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 57 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1976, 2013 Big Break Records / Cherry Red / Verse Music | CDBBR 0234
R'n'B / Funk / Disco / Soul / Philly Soul

THE SALSOUL ORCHESTRA was the brainchild of once MFSB member and legendary vibraphonist, Vince Montana Jr. Formed in 1974 THE SALSOUL ORCHESTRA, house band for the remarkable Salsoul Records, sometimes featured up to 50 members amongst its ranks including a number of former musicians from MFSB of the Gamble & Huff fronted Philadelphia International Records and fused elements of Funk, Latin, Disco and Philly Soul into their compositions.

The Philadelphia Orchestra and their Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin are embarking on another project of Rachmaninoff’s works, presenting his three Symphonies and other orchestral works. When Rachmaninoff’s 1st Symphony was premiered in 1897 by a badly prepared orchestra the performance turned out to be a disaster which obviously hurt the young composer deeply, not even 24 years old. Yet, later decades proved this early work to be absolutely worth a listen when performed by a first-class orchestra and conductor.

Emboldened by the popularity of Inner Mounting Flame among rock audiences, the first Mahavishnu Orchestra set out to further define and refine its blistering jazz-rock direction in its second – and, no thanks to internal feuding, last – studio album. Although it has much of the screaming rock energy and sometimes exaggerated competitive frenzy of its predecessor, Birds of Fire is audibly more varied in texture, even more tightly organized, and thankfully more musical in content…

Webern's "Symphony" (op. 21) is like light passing through a slowly revolving prism, revealing irridescent hues you've never seen before. Following his "Passacaglia" (op. 1), which clarifies but doesn't break with the Romanticism of Brahms, Webern composed four masterful orchestral miniatures. "6 Pieces" (op. 6) and "5 Pieces" (op. 10) are incredibly brief, in the atonal style pioneered by Webern's teacher Schoenberg. They met with quite different fates – the "6 Pieces" provoked a "Le Sacre"-style riot at its Vienna premiere in 1913, and Webern fled into hiding. The "5 Pieces" wasn't publicly performed until 1924, at a festival in Zurich, 10 years after it was written. It was widely acclaimed, establishing Webern's international reputation.

It was just a matter of time before the Cinematic Orchestra received a commission for a film score, but this 2003 release actually dates from 1999. The genesis of Man With a Movie Camera lies in the selection committee of a Portuguese film festival, which asked Cinematic Orchestra to score their re-airing of Dziga Vertov's 1929 film of the same name, a silent Soviet documentary focused on a day in the life of an average worker.

Director Sam Eastmond composed and arranged these works for the 15-piece big band Spike Orchestra, as he examines the power and magic of words through stories, splintered and fragmented through resonance and dissonance, merging influences, styles and instrumental colors over four expansive works yielding inspired moments in orchestration and soloing.