Voyager iv

German band VOYAGER IV is a relatively new formation, officially active since 2018 or thereabouts, but consisting of experienced musicians with some fairly impressive resumes. "Pictures at an Exhibition" is their debut albums, and is set to be released at the start of November 2019…

A string quartet by Richard Wagner or Gustav Mahler? Isn't that what the music world has always wanted? The Voyager Quartet goes on a soul-searching tour. From "Villa Wahnfried", sounding love letters, coded messages and secret messages are delivered, written by Richard Wagner and Gustav Mahler, addressed to their muses Alma and Mathilde. A psychogram in beguiling tones about the unspeakable in those days. Andreas Haricht, violist of the quartet, who received the highest international acclaim for his transcription of Schubert's "Winterreise for String Quartet", goes one step further. Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder, Mahler's Piano Quartet, movements and fragments from his 5th and 10th symphonies are "recomposed" for string quartet - the medium for spiritual messages.

Now, Voyager, sail… (First Symphony), Op. 130 is Robert Groslot’s first symphony. The title refers to a poem by the American author Walt Whitman. And the “Scherzo” movement shares a link with the Beatles song, Getting Better from the album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Groslot borrows musical motives and paraphrases them in his musical language.

Shamall is the moniker used by German composer and multi-instrumentalist Norbert Krueler, a highly influential DJ in Germany by trade and a passionate part-time musician to boot. His first artistic creations came to be in 1986, at that time heavily tinged by various forms of mainstream electronic music. His first ventures were rather successful from a commercial point of view, but Krueler's artistic aspirations weren't totally satisfied by these first creations. As a long time fan of bands like Pink Floyd, Marillion as well as the Krautrock of his native Germany, his works slowly but steadily started incorporating more and more of these influences in his musical endeavours - with a particular emphasis on Pink Floyd.
At the end of 1998 the double-cd Influences was released. A German prog-magazine (DURP) describes Shamall as "ambient progrock".

Violinist Leticia Moreno, the Houston Symphony and its Music Director Andrés Orozco-Estrada present two world premiere recordings of works by contemporary composer Jimmy López Bellido. Aurora, for Solo Violin and Orchestra, and Symphony No. 2: Ad Astra share a fascination for the stars. While Aurora is inspired by López Bellido’s years in Finland, and particularly the privilege to witness northern lights, Ad Astra is an homage to humanity’s spirit of exploration, and dedicated to the people of NASA, whose bravery and vision continue to inspire humanity’s most ambitious dreams. López Bellido’s symphony adds a new dimension to the notion of per aspera ad astra (“through hardship to the stars”), which has been one of the central narratives of symphonic composition since Beethoven’s days.