Lucia Casagrande Raffi in Italy, Lucia at the age of three and a half already shows a certain predisposition for music and in particular singing.At the Conservatorio “F. Morlacchi” in Perugia Lucia at a young age completes the main part of her musical studies first with a diploma in singing and then, awarded with full marks, in Music Didactics. Dedicating herself to teaching for the next few years she meets within the Conservatorio many important musical figures such as the pedagogue A. M. Freschi, the musicologist R. Meucci and the composer F. De Rossi Re, personalities that culturally and musically greatly influence her. Alongside teaching Lucia continues to develop her creative-interpretive side of music discovering contemporary idioms and subsequently the possibility to tackle through the voice various expressive genres.

The struggle between momentary inspiration and the great Forms’ moral needs cost Schumann, in time, a fall into darkness. His mind, inhabited by voices, built more and more monuments to Forms which were already fossils by his time, such as the Sonata, Symphony, or Oratorio. His impulsive nature (surprised, in turn, by the continual flow of themes arising from mysterious, and at times sinister, skies) was forced into a discipline whose destiny was to justify the genius, to redeem it from its sources earned by work alone. He had the self-taught man’s shame for the easiness of his inventions. In his Hausmusik, the pieces he wrote for amateurs and for domestic use, his neurosis and his constant need for academic recognition found rest against the destructive spur etching his mind.

Canned Heat's second long-player, Boogie with Canned Heat (1968), pretty well sums up the bona fide blend of amplified late-'60s electric rhythm and blues, with an expressed emphasis on loose and limber boogie-woogie. The quintet – consisting of Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson (guitar/harmonica/vocals), Larry "The Mole" Taylor (bass), Henry "Sunflower" Vestine (guitar), Aldolfo "Fido" Dela Parra (drums), and Bob "The Bear" Hite (vocals) – follow up their debut effort with another batch of authentic interpretations, augmented by their own exceptional instrumentation. One development is their incorporation of strong original compositions. "On the Road Again" – which became the combo's first, and arguably, most significant hit – as well as the Albert King inspired anti-speed anthem, "Amphetamine Annie," were not only programmed on the then-burgeoning underground FM radio waves, but also on the more adventuresome AM Top 40 stations. Their love of authentic R&B informs "World in a Jug," the dark "Turpentine Blues," and Hite's update of Tommy McClennan's "Whiskey Headed Woman".

Wigmore Hall Live kicks off New Year with an early music release. Handel s Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno was the composer s first opera to feature the celebrated aria Lascia la spina, cogli la rosa (Avoid the thorn, pluck the rose). Recorded for Wigmore Hall Live in January 2010 by the Early Opera Company, one of Britain s leading early music ensembles, the group features contralto Hilary Summers in the traditional countertenor role of enlightenment, her voice specifically chosen for its depth and fullness of tone. Director and harpsichordist, Christian Curnyn, was determined to recreate as faithful a sound as possible to what audiences at the time would have heard, not only instrumentally but notably in relation to tempi: Everything in Handel comes back to the heartbeat rate, fifty per minute.

Among the dozens or perhaps hundreds of available recordings of Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, a subgroup of recent ones has emphasized its very operatic style. Within this group, performers have gone in various directions, but a single one is represented here: sheer vocal beauty of a sort that just doesn't come along every day. The vocal line trumps the dramatic meaning of the text here, but the duets between soprano Véronique Gens and countertenor Gérard Lesne are so gorgeous that you just won't care.

Niels Wilhelm Gade from Copenhagen was more popular than Brahms, Dvořák, Tchaikovsky and Bruckner during his lifetime. Between 1850 and 1890 his fourth symphony was the most performed symphony by a living composer worldwide.
Schumann and Mendelssohn valued the young colleague who came to Leipzig in 1843 on a grant. Mendelssohn conducted several world premieres.

Kristóf Baráti is held in the highest esteem by conductors such as Gergiev, Dutoit, Saraste, Janowski and he plays with many of the finest orchestras across the world.

This album contains a selection of key a cappella choral works by Erkki-Sven Tüür. For the Estonian composer born in 1959, words and music are intimately linked. The number of syllables in a word, the position of the tonic accent, and the word as a cultural phenomenon with a definite meaning are of essential importance. This can be heard in the Kyrie of his Missa Brevis (2013) where, like a spiral, the polyphony of the voices is transformed into a chordal texture at the beginning of the ‘Christe eleison’, and then dissolves into individual voices at the second ‘Kyrie eleison’. Canticum Canticorum Caritatis (2020) is inspired by St Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians. Tüür dedicated this work to Endrik Üksvärav and Collegium Musicale, the performers on this album. The multidimensional Omnia Mutantur (2020) possesses an extremely clear structure, interweaving the famous thoughts of Ovid and Virgil about the transient nature of all things. Triglosson Trishagion (2008), indebted to the Orthodox tradition and sung in Estonian, Russian and Greek, and Wanderer’s Evening Song (2001) complete this programme, which is characterised by a meditative, interiorised approach to the composer.

Napoléon Coste was born on the 27th of June 1805 in Amondans in the department of Doubs in eastern France, a date that was not established until 1982. He grew up in the neighbourhood of Ornans, to which he later dedicated several compositions. In 1813 he was in the Dutch town of Delfzijl with his father, a captain in the French army, he passed the Zuiderzee and crossed the river Rhine. The memory of these places returned in his compositions, the Souvenirs. He started his career as a guitarist in 1826 in Valenciennes, where he lived as a youth, began to compose, and played in a concert with the travelling virtuoso Sagrini. At the end of 1828 he settled in Paris, where he stayed for almost the rest of his artistic career. There, in the centre of important musical developments, he joined the circles of musicians who originated from Valenciennes, and also of famous guitarists, among whom Sor became of great importance to him, as he studied harmony and counterpoint with him and became his friend, joining him in concerts. His life in Paris is expressed in several programmatic compositions, after Berlioz’ invention of musical drama.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the iconic WATTSTAX event that took place at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum in 1972, Stax Records presents the most comprehensive collection of audio recordings from the event ever. This 12-CD set, features 31 previously unreleased tracks, with material from the Summit Club and other additional recordings. The 76-page, full-color book in the set also features, an introduction by Wattstax creator Al Bell, plus new essays by Rob Bowman and A. Scott Galloway.

De muziekawards van Manchester zouden net zo fel betwist kunnen worden als die in menig land. Met giganten als Oasis (en alles dat daaruit voortvloeide), Elbow, Simply Red, New Order, Take That, The Verve en vele kleinere artiesten die de voorbije jaren hun doorbraak beleefden. The Slow Readers Club mengt zich in ieder geval in de strijd om de stadsprijzen dankzij het album Knowledge Freedom Power. De indierockers meten zich bij vlagen met het beste dat de Noord-Engelse stad te bieden heeft.

Galaxy (Waniyetula) is german band who plays symphonic prog in mood of Genesis, Yes and in places from their country fellows Grobschnitt. Waniyetula (Galaxy) recorded this album album in 1975 and was only relesed in 1978 but with diffrent name - Galaxy - the american label who bought the rights of the album from the german one change their name in Galaxy, matter of marketing and because the name was better and more catchy than Waniyetula who sounded pretentions an unintristing. In fact is the same band but with diffrent name. About the music, is very ok with great time signatures, excellent shifts between guitar and keys, remind Genesis (Trick of the tail era), great musichianship all through the album. The voice is good, not exceptional but fits very well in this kind of music…

This recorded, intimate document was recorded at Jazz Beat during the Montreal Jazz Festival in 1990 and sees its first official release on this Impulse! volume. Bassist Charlie Haden and guitarist Jim Hall played a number of duet concerts together over the years, but this was certainly among the very earliest. Given their respective careers up to this point, both men had nearly perfected the artistry of playing in this particular chamber jazz setting. That all said, it does not prepare the listener for the canny, intimate, yet absolutely electric interplay on offer here. From readings of standards such as "Bemsha Swing," "Body and Soul," and Skylark" through to Ornette Coleman's "Turnaround" and excellent originals by both men - including Haden's bookends, the tenderly dissonant "First Song" and the knotty "In the Moment," and Hall's sprightly melodic Latin waltz "Down from Antigua"…

With 1978's Systems of Romance, Ultravox left punk behind and single-handedly blueprinted the entire new romantic movement to come - well, with a little help from co-producers Conny Planck and Dave Hutchins. Gone was the brittleness of Ha!-Ha!-Ha!, replaced by a rich lushness of sound that would define the forthcoming genre. Shifting from the political to the interpersonal, gone too was the overwhelming sense of looming Armageddon, replaced by more generalized (and mundane) feelings of alienation, "Dislocation," and unease. "Quiet Men" is a Lowry painting brought to life, the chorus of "Slow Motion" a swaying field painted by Renoir, "I Can't Stay Long" a Degas ballet, while "Maximum Acceleration" is as lavish in sound as Botticelli was with paint. The rhythms still remained dangerous, however, and Robin Simon's guitar gives the set a tough edge, but it's the swirling, swooping synths and keyboards that predominate within.

Camerata Trajectina has been the leading ensemble for Dutch music from the Middle Ages to the early Baroque for almost 50 years. With "Revolution!" it pushes its boundaries into the early 19th century.With this album Camerata Trajectina ties in with the current social and political unrest worldwide. With a bang, the French Revolution changes the face of Europe. Down with the rich autocrats, the citizen to power!The years around 1800 are also a time of conflict, social change and political upheaval for the Netherlands. The patriots fight against the royalists, and with Napoleon's invasion, another foreign party joins them.