1611: After two years of study with Gabrieli in Venice, Heinrich Schütz tried his hand at composing madrigals on Italian poems. This mere ‘graduation exercise’ turned out to be a masterpiece: the young German composer demonstrated his ability to identify each nuance of the text with a different musical emotion, a refinement heightened here by the interpretation of Les Arts Florissants.

The Accademia degli Arcadi - that thought-provoking and ideas-creating literary circle set up by a group of poets, composers, aristocrats and churchmen, which championed a return to classical (and pastoral) ideals and one of whose keenest members was the Marquis Francesco Maria Ruspoli, Handel’s patron in Rome - forms the aesthetic background for this sixth and penultimate release in the series of Italian cantatas by the Saxon composer which Fabio Bonizzoni and La Risonanza are making for Glossa. In an engrossing essay written by Carlo Vitali (which additionally benefits from the counsels of Michael Talbot), the listener/reader is introduced to the social and political references contained within the pastoral texts of Olinto, pastore arcade, Duello amoroso and Alpestre monte, the three Handel cantatas which make up this CD.

As Sir András Schiff turns 70 (in December 2023), this 78-disc edition celebrates an artist who has made a significant contribution to shaping Decca’s history through an array of artistic endeavours. Neatly divided into four sections – solo, concertante, lieder and chamber music, the set includes several currently unavailable recordings; the first international release of Beethoven’s complete Violin Sonatas, with Sándor Végh; four CDs’ worth of material recorded on Mozart’s fortepiano; and the booklet includes an interview with Misha Donat in which Schiff tells the story of his journey with Decca.

The prolific and long-running De-Phazz (also known as DePhazz) is a contemporary lounge project led by Peter "Pit" Baumgartner, a German-Austrian producer who has surrounded himself with a shifting cast of collaborators that includes vocalists Barbara Lahr, Karl Frierson, and Pat Appleton. Beginning with Detunized Gravity (1997), Baumgartner and company have explored various forms of lounge music, much of it balancing samples with live instrumentation, with innumerable cross-sections of vintage jazz and soul, easy listening, and Latin music. By employing the sounds of classic percussion and jazz instruments such as the trumpet and sax, De Phazz successfully create smooth electro-groove music with an unmissable swinging jazz theme. De Phazz is a unique sound that you must check out.

With the help of some friends, Eurythmics member Dave Stewart has made an effective, if ethereal, down-home blues score to Cookie's Fortune, Robert Altman's film set in the town of Holly Springs, Mississippi. In Stewart's hands, the sounds of the deep South are given some '90s-styled updates, namely dance beats and sampled dialogue from the movie. The mix works, and the result is a soulful, yet varied score centered on Stewart's funky slide guitar. Saxophonist Candy Dulfer duets with Stewart on the single, "Cookie," a tune that's far more down-and-dirty than their 1992 hit single, "Lily Was Here." Patches of record hisses and crackles give the tunes a weathered feel, and even U2's Bono helps out with backing vocals on "A Good Man."

Celebrating Kid A’s birthday with 15 Radiohead-inspiring/adjacent/indebted tracks. Artists include Can, Clinic, Harmonia, James Holden, Mingus and Messiaen.

On this double CD you will find the greatest hits of Meat Loaf who scored one of the best-selling pop albums ever with the 1977 album 'Bat Out Of Hell'. With of course 'Paradise By The Dashboard Light', 'I'd Do Anything For You', 'You Took The Word Right Out Of My Mouth', 'Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad', 'Bat Out Of Hell', supplemented with other hits by producer Jim Steinman (the big man behind Meat Loaf) with related artists such as Bonnie Tyler (ao 'Total Eclipse Of The Heart' and 'It's A Hertache ') and Ellen Foley (including' We Belong To The Night 'and' What's A Matter Baby ').

The songbook craze wheels around to the compositions of Keith Jarrett, which ought to be an oxymoron since we're dealing with an artist who usually makes up things on the wing. Yet it works, for not only does this package isolate and spotlight some nice tunes by the prolific pianist; it also honors his eclectic bent by roaming all over the spectrum in search of diverse idioms. Bruce Hornsby is delightfully funky on piano in a second-line New Orleans treatment of "Backhand," which goes through some riotous passages. Pianist Chucho Valdes bumps through "U Dance" with the unorthodox help of baritone saxophonist Jay Rodriguez, while guitarist John Scofield is relaxed as he meanders through "Coral.".

The english title of this 15-track compilation is in fact "Asian Café", and gathers 15 tracks from KITARO's solo albums, up to the great "Ancient" and "An Ancient Journey" albums. It also includes 2 tracks from the "Kitaro's World Of Music Featuring Yu-Xiao Guang" album. As is the tradition with most of KITARO's albums, the tracks are generally linked without pause in sound. This album covers many albums from the "Geffen" label era, without presenting anything unreleased… It makes for an expensive "best of", so perhaps a more affordable album like "Ten Years" or "Thinking Of You" makes for a better introduction this to this man's spiritual music…