William Kirby Lockard

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of esteemed pianist William Masselos (August 11, 1920 – October 23, 1992) , Sony Classical is pleased to release his complete recordings for RCA Victor and Columbia Masterworks from 1950 to 1971 in a single 7-CD edition.

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of esteemed pianist William Masselos (August 11, 1920 – October 23, 1992) , Sony Classical is pleased to release his complete recordings for RCA Victor and Columbia Masterworks from 1950 to 1971 in a single 7-CD edition.

William Orbit is a British musician and record producer, best known to the public for producing Madonna's album "Ray of Light", which received four Grammy Awards.
His speciality is atmospheric keyboard electronica although much of his work features accomplished guitar playing.
Like its predecessor, "Pieces in a Modern Style 2" is a collection of classical music "covers": from Puccini to Elgar, Bach to Tchaikovsky. Special Bonus CD: 6 bonus tracks from William Orbit plus 8 remixes by Ferry Corsten, John Digweed & Nick Muir, Jakwob, Timo Maas & Santos, Alex Metric, Rockdaworld.

Iconic veteran Southern soul man William Bell has been in the business of making records for 66 years, and was with Memphis’ fabled Stax label for virtually its entire 15-year existence (1960-1975). In that time, he composed and recorded many songs that are rightly regarded as classics, from his Stax debut ‘You Don’t Miss Your Water’ to the classic blues song ‘Born Under A Bad Sign’ to his hit duet with Judy Clay, ‘Private Number’.

The heir apparent to Chicago's legacy of amplified blues harmonica, William Clarke was the first original new voice on his instrument to come along in quite some time; he became a sensation in blues circles during the late '80s and early '90s, stopped short by an untimely death in 1996. A pupil and devotee of George Harmonica Smith, Clarke was a technical virtuoso and master of both the diatonic harp and the more difficult chromatic harp (the signature instrument of both Smith and Little Walter). Where many new harmonica players had become content to cop licks from the Chicago masters, Clarke developed his own style and vocabulary, building on everything he learned from Smith and moving beyond it. His four '90s albums for Alligator earned wide critical acclaim and remain his signature showcases.

Poised at the convergence of 18th-century French and Italian schools, Leclair and Senaillé were the French Paganinis of their day. Technically challenging yet full of poetry, rhythmically varied and always dance-like, their sonatas find two fervent advocates in Théotime Langlois de Swarte and William Christie. Transcending generational differences, the “venerated elder statesman of early music” (Opera News) and the youthful violin prodigy join forces to help us rediscover these still unjustly neglected pages.

That William Parker is a bassist, composer and bandleader of extraordinary spirit and imaginative drive is common knowledge among any with an interest in the progressive jazz scene of the past 25 years or more. What’s become increasingly apparent, though, is Parker’s stature as a visionary of sound and song – an artist of melody and poetry who works beyond category, to use the Ellingtonian phrase. The latest multi-disc boxed set from Centering Records/AUM Fidelity devoted to Parker’s expansive creativity underscores his virtually peerless achievement in recent years.

Paul Juon was born in Moscow, of Swiss parents, in 1872, studying there with Arensky and Taneyev; Rachmaninov, a fellow student at the Moscow Conservatoire, dubbed him ‘the Russian Brahms’. Woldemar Bargiel, Clara Schumann’s half-brother, was his main teacher at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin before Juon himself became a member of the staff. There are indeed echoes of Brahms in Juon’s early music but there is also a fondness for Russian folksong and a mastery of counterpoint, which all feed into his urgent, late-Romantic lyricism.