Rimsky-Korsakov is universally acknowledged as a great master of the orchestra. He even wrote a textbook on the subject consisting entirely of examples from his own music! He needed some sort of pictorial or literary stimulus to really get his imagination going, however. His "abstract pieces," like Symphonies No. 1 and 3, are comparative failures specifically because he believed that symphonic thought was incompatible with orchestral brilliance (he wasn't the only Romantic composer to succumb to that fallacy). So all of his best music is either obviously illustrative, or taken from one of his colorful "fairy tale" operas. This two-disc set gives you an excellent selection of works of both types at a great price.

The follow-up to "The Odyssey", this album continues in a similar vein. The instrumentation is again comprised of synthesizers, Solina Strings, piano, orchestral instruments and female voices, and again we have an appearance by Mike Oldfield and this time also by Mike Ratledge.
The whole album is a set of variations on a mediaeval tune by an "anonymous composer of the School of Worcester". Stylistically, the bulk of the album is comparable to "The Odyssey" in its dreamy mood and - in spite of the heavy use of synthesizers - vaguely pastoral atmosphere; it leans however a bit more to the "avantgardistic" side in compositional development, though nothing like Bedford's truely avantgarde pieces like "Star's End" or "Nurses Song With Elephants"; it merely takes more unexpected turns than the music found on "The Odyssey"…

The System Has Failed marks a return from the dead for Megadeth – and quite a glorious return, it must be said. When bandleader Dave Mustaine was diagnosed in early 2002 with radial neuropathy - strained nerves in his left arm and hand - the snarling guitar shredder was forced to disband his once groundbreaking group after nearly two decades of activity. Granted, it wasn't that big of a loss at the time, chiefly so because Megadeth had long passed its prime. The band's key recordings date back to the speed metal era, from 1986 (the year of Peace Sells, Reign in Blood, and Master of Puppets) to 1992 (the year Megadeth, like Metallica a year earlier, made a distinct, more commercial shift, releasing Countdown to Extinction - to the dismay of many longtime fans). Following Countdown, Megadeth struggled…

This is a classic encounter in the Original Jazz Classics series. Pianist Count Basie (in his best-small group outing of the 1970s) and tenor saxophonist Zoot Sims were mutually inspired by each other's presence and, with the tasteful assistance of bassist John Heard and drummer Louie Bellson, they can be heard playing at the peak of their creative powers. Every listener interested in swinging jazz should pick up this disc, if only to hear these hard-charging versions of "I Never Knew," "It's Only a Paper Moon," and "Honeysuckle Rose." A gem, and essential music.

J.J. Cale drifts toward a more pop approach on this album, starting with the lead-off track, "City Girls," which could almost but not quite be a hit single. The usual blues and country shuffle approach is in effect, but Audie Ashworth's production is unusually sharp, the playing has more bite than usual, and Cale, whose vocals are for the most part up in the mix, sounds more engaged. It's not clear, however, that this is an improvement over his usual laidback approach, and, in any case, it shouldn't be over-emphasized – this is still a J.J. Cale album, with its cantering tempos and single-note guitar runs. It's just that, when you have a style as defined as Cale's, little movements in style loom larger.

Albert Marcœur is a French composer, singer and songwriter. He began his career in the early 1970s. His body of work mixes melodic, rhythmic and sonic experimentations with fancy nursery rhymes, humorous and offbeat lyrics. In France he has been called "the French Frank Zappa". Albert Marcœur, French multi-instrumentalist/composer, was born on December 12 1947, in Dijon, France. During his formal education of clarinet at the National Academy of Music and Dance of Dijon, Marcoeur actively participated in many straightforward college rock 'n roll bands. Closing an end to his formal training Marcoeur's musical visions had gravitated towards the experimental facets of music, wishing "to do nothing else but make my own music".

Before I Forget is a 1982 album by Jon Lord, featuring a largely conventional eight-song line-up, no orchestra. The bulk of the songs are either mainstream rock tracks ("Hollywood Rock and Roll", "Chance on a Feeling") or, specifically on Side Two, a series of very English classical piano ballads sung by mother and daughter duo, Vicki Brown and Sam Brown (wife and daughter of entertainer Joe Brown) and vocalist Elmer Gantry. The album also features prolific session drummer (and National Youth Jazz Orchestra alumnus) Simon Phillips, Cozy Powell, Neil Murray, Simon Kirke, Boz Burrell and Mick Ralphs. Lord used synthesizers more than before, principally to retain an intimacy with the material and to create a jam atmosphere with old friends like Tony Ashton.

Debut albums rarely come as ambitious as the Manic Street Preachers' Generation Terrorists. Released in England as a double album (it was trimmed to the length of a single record in America), the album teemed with slogans, political rhetoric, and scarily inarticulate angst. Since the Manics deliver these charged lyrics as heavy guitar-rockers, the music doesn't always hit quite as forcefully as intended. The relatively polished production and big guitar sound occasionally sell the music short, especially the lesser songs, yet the Manics' passion is undeniable, even on the weaker cuts. While the album is loaded with a little bit too much unrealized material in retrospect, its best moments – the fiery "Slash N' Burn," "Little Baby Nothing," the incendiary "Stay Beautiful," the sardonic "You Love Us," and the haunting "Motorcycle Emptiness" – capture the Manics in all their raging glory.

Think was one of many German incidents in the early 1970s which produced one album and then disappeared for ever and ever. The band featured skilled musicians, for example two from Hungary and one Czech who some day played in Germany with the Philharmonia Hungarica… and then decided to stay. Soon they found some German mates to build up a six-piece crew and came in contact with the Marl/Ruhrgebiet based label Menga which 1973 released their sole album 'Variety', that fused together radically different cultures into a complex progressive rock featuring flute, violin and guitars in a richly folk and classical intoned style, hinting at Pell Mell and Eden yet original with an atmospheric beauty.

Entheogenic is a musical project that crosses musical style boundaries. It mixes coloristic electrophonics with impressionistic orchestral sound. The use of both eastern and western vocals, tribal sounding instruments, as well as an array of synthesizers built the foundation of the Entheogenic sound. Their epic soundscapes manipulated through sound effects and catalystic sonic experimentations have a semi-classical feel to them. Entheogenic also records and uses a large amount of "natural samples" - water, human voices, animals, etc…

The cantata Il pianto degli Angeli della Pace was first performed in the church of San Fedele in Milan in 1751. It features three rôles, the Angel of the Alliance, a contralto, the Angel of the Testament, a soprano, and the Angel of Grace, a tenor. After an extensive orchestral introduction, the action begins with a trio, entitled Amare lagrime (Bitter Tears). This is in the form of a refrain that returns three times in the course of the composition, giving vent to the mournful feelings which prevail, sometimes with desperate and sometimes with melancholy accents, throughout the whole composition. Each character sings a da capo aria, preceded by a recitative. The plot is not based upon an episode of the Gospel, but is an edifying dialogue about the history of salvation and its fulfilment through Jesus Christ.