Tracklista:1. Heaven's Gate2. The Chase3. This Time4. Meanstreets5. Name of Love6. The Only Ones7. Wreckless8. Night Run9. Only You Can Rock Me10. Doctor Doctor
Tracklista:1. The Deep2. Promises3. Sweet Tester4. Human Distortion5. Long and Narrow6. Watch That Searing Flare7. Deaf Arena8. This Place 2
Tracklista:1. Tie Me Up (First Contact)2. When You Looked at Me (First Meeting)3. Breaking Patterns Part 1 (The Relationship)4. Breaking Patterns Part 2 (The Break Up)5. A Sudden Sickness6. A Scar a Past (Formative Years)7. Pass Pass Me By (Home Town/family Affairs)8. I Say This Twice (A New Meeting)9. Look Inside (A New Love/a New Me)
The Chanson L'Homme armé has been the fundament for numerous Renaissance composers to realise aesthetic mass compositions. One of the most outstanding versions is coined by Josquin Desprez which is conclusively combined with chansons on this recording. The production received several awards in France.
Tracklista:1. Little Deaths2. Nostalgia3. Sideline4. Disappear5. Letters6. Home7. All Love Knows8. The Dark Road9. Lord I Want an Exit10. Blackbird11. This Is How It's Meant to Be12. Anywhere Away
Tracklista: CD 1 1. Burning Stones 2. He Hi 3. Evolution 4. People 5. Afrika 6. Energy Of Life 7. The Sorcery 8. The Last Of Our Kind 9. Sources 10. Another Galaxy 11. Indigo 12. Neurochemistry (Sideform Remix) 13. Sounds Around Us CD 2 1. Shasha 2. Kindly Monster 3. The 5th Level 4. Jiva 5. Feelings 6. Beyond 1000 Galaxies 7. Preception Of Reality 8. ADMD 9. Lost In This Moment (Haldolium Remix) 10. Black Pearl 11. Midnight Drums 12. Physical Effects 13. Twist In Hell (Gaudium Remix)
Druga, płyta z cyklu koncertów skrzypcowych Mozarta wykonywana przez skrzypaczkę Julię Fischer. Płyta wydana przez wytwórnię Pentatone, znaną z audiofilskiego brzmienia, nagrywającą w formacie Super Audio CD.Opera senza paroleIt is likely that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart planned the three violin concertos he composed between October 12 and December 20, 1775 as (part of) a cycle. This is indicated by both the proximity of the dates of these works and the systematic design of the keys – G major, D major and A major: in other words, covering three of the open strings of the violin. Furthermore, the last movement of all three concertos is a French “Rondeau”. Strangely enough, after writing his Concerto in A, Mozart appears to have lost all interest in the genre. The following year, he added a kind of violin concerto, consisting of an Andante, Minuet and Rondeau, to his Haffner Serenade K. 250, but that signalled the end of his interest in the violin. From that moment onwards, the piano was the instrument he preferred to use in expressing himself. This caused his father, Leopold, great displeasure, by the way: more than once, he admonished his son as follows: “Du weisst selbst nicht, wie gut Du Violin spielst...”.Although as a rule Mozart’s letters provide an excellent insight into his life and ideas, we have no idea what caused this sudden loss of interest in the violin. Was it just a case of the adolescent rebelling against the authoritarian father? Or did Mozart associate the violin too closely with the oppressive Salzburg court of archbishop Colloredo, who in fact dismissed Mozart summarily in the August of 1777?Perhaps the reason is a far simpler one: the young composer just fell under the spell of a new toy – the fortepiano. The letters sent home by Mozart from Augsburg in November 1777 point in the latter direction. During that tour, he enjoyed great success as a violinist. Among others, he played a violin concerto by his colleague Johann Baptist Vanhal: “Ich machte eine Sinfonie und spielte auf der Violine das Konzert B von Vanhall mit allgemeinem Applaus.” But he also placed one of his own violin concertos, the so-called Strasburg Concerto, on the music stands: “Auf die Nacht beim Souper spielte ich das Strassburger Konzert; es ging wie Öl; alles lobte den schönen reinen Ton.” But that is all Mozart had to say about his violin-playing. His other letters from Augsburg contain an impassioned account of the new pianofortes being built by Johann Andreas Stein, from which Mozart succeeded in coaxing an as yet unprecedented range of expression.Pastoral concertoAs far as Mozart was concerned, the instrumental solo concerto was closely related to the operatic aria. This is apparent from the numerous oratorical figures which turn up especially in his piano concertos, such as the recitative-like passages in the slow movements, with the first – and most beautiful – example in the famous Jeunehomme Concerto K. 271 dating from 1777. Furthermore, it is not so much Mozart’s symphonies as his piano concertos and operas which demonstrate the development of his style of writing for the orchestra. One of the most remarkable facts here is that Mozart continued to develop in the opening movements of his solo concertos the thematic structures and proportions he had previously employed in his early opere serie. He also applied the principles of rhetoric to instrumental music.His violin concertos in G and D contain many theatrical elements. Thus Mozart’s Violin Concerto in G, K. 216 – completed on September 12, 1775 – begins with an orchestral ritornello, which directly quotes the aria “Aer tranquillo”. This was taken from his serenata Il Re Pastore, which had received its première earlier that year on April 23. In this aria, the protagonist from the opera, the shepherd Aminta – unaware of his royal descent – sings of his love of rural life. It would not be too far-fetched to state that the simplicity and aristocratic air of the violin concerto is similar to that of the aria. Another remarkable fact is the greater independent role played in this concerto by the wind instruments, and especially by the oboes – which from time immemorial have been considered “pastoral” instruments. Furthermore, the short recitative played by the solo violin just before the recapitulation sounds like a “refugee” from an opera.The pastoral character of this concerto also continues into the second movement. Here, the oboes have been replaced by flutes and the violins con sordino are supported by pizzicati in the double-basses. The well-known Mozart-connoisseur Alfred Einstein justly characterised this movement as “ein Adagio, das direkt vom Himmel gefallen zu sein scheint.”The concluding Rondeau is interrupted by a section in 2/2 time which assumes the character of a French gavotte. This is followed by a waggish melody with a bagpipe-like bourdon accompaniment “a la musette”. According to some experts, this is a quote from a popular song known as the Strassburger and this was the concerto performed by Mozart in Augsburg in 1777.Searching for the Strassburg ConcertoNot only the Violin Concerto in G, but also the Violin Concert in D, K. 218 can lay a claim to the title of Strassburg Concerto. This concerto, which Mozart completed in October 1775, has a far more virtuoso and festive character. The music bears clear traces of the Italian violin tradition of Pietro Nardini, Gaetano Pugnani and Antonio Vivaldi, whose works Mozart must have known and probably also performed. The violin part is restricted to the higher registers, and even soars to the d’’’’ in the finale: the highest note ever demanded by Mozart in his violin concertos.The first movement begins with a dotted martial motif, which regularly appeared at the beginning of a concerto and was known in Mozart’s day as the “Mannheimer Orchestervorhang”. The curtain rises: the – instrumental – opera begins. The structural innovations in this concerto catch the eye. For instance, the violin starts off the development in B minor before returning to the main key, and the recapitulation begins with the second phrase of the solo violin. The slow movement is written in sonata form; however, it lacks the development. The coda was added later by the composer.Once again, it is the final movement – Rondeau: Andante grazioso – which gives rise to speculation. Mozart alternates between passages in 2/4 and 6/8 time. In the middle, he inserts a new Andante grazioso, this time in 2/2 time. Here too, he quotes from a folk melody with an accompaniment “a la musette”, which also appears in one of the symphonies of Mozart’s colleague Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf, entitled Ballo Strasburghese. In that case, perhaps the Strassburg concerto about which Mozart wrote was not the concerto in G, but this concerto in D? We will never know. Nevertheless, this is clearly a quote from a highly popular melody. After all, Mozart also used it in the second of his Two Contradances, K. 269b, which he probably wrote that year for Count Czernin. As a rule, this kind of dance was written for the festivities held during carnival season, and composers liked to base the dances on immediately recognizable melodies.The use of a motif from the Mannheim school and the French character of the last movement indicate Mozart’s sublime gift for charming his audiences. It so happened that Mozart brought his violin concerto on the lengthy journey he undertook in the autumn of 1777, which led him to Paris via Mannheim. Thus, he must have deliberately gambled on audiences appreciating his subtle allusions to their own musical traditions.SubstitutesMozart was not easily satisfied. He often spent quite some time perfecting his compositions, or adapting them to the demands and technical prowess of a certain musician. He did this in his operas as well – for instance, in Idomeneo, for which he wrote an entirely new version with extra arias for a performance in Vienna. But on occasion he would also substitute entire movements in his solo concertos. He wrote the Adagio in E, K. 261, in 1776, probably at the request of the Salzburg leader Antonio Brunetti, to replace the slow movement of the Violin Concerto in E, K. 219. Perhaps he also wrote his Rondo in B flat, K. 269, for Brunetti, as a replacement for the finale of the Violin Concerto K. 207, which was also written in that key.
Tracklista:1. We Are the League2. Can't Stand Rock 'N' Roll3. Animal4. I Hate People5. Nowhere Man7. Streets of London6. Woman8. 'Reck a Nowhere9. Snowman10. World War III11. Let's Break the Law12. We Will Not Remember You13. So What14. This Is War15. For You
Tracklista:1. Cycles of Life2. Song to Myself3. When the Dead Are Watching4. Your Very Soul5. Ivory Tower6. Crack in the World7. Wild Animals8. Navigating9. Running Boy10. This Fleeting Moment11. Everything Is Going to Be Alright
It is typical of Gustav Mahler’s paradoxical nature that during his years of maturity as a composer he worked exclusively in two dissimilar genres, exploring the intimacy and formal compactness of the lied and the public expansiveness of the symphony. It is also characteristic that in Mahler’s output these two genres were mutually influential and that eventually they fused in a work of commanding inventiveness, subtlety and power: Das Lied von der Erde (1907–8). This recording encompasses the first half of Mahler’s career as a song-writer, and contains (with the exception of two unfinished early songs and those that have been lost) all of his songs composed up to 1890. Already during this period, many of Mahler’s songs were related to other, larger-scale works, producing a web of cross-references and allusions. As a student in Vienna during the late 1870s Mahler was already composing songs, but no complete example from this period survives. From 1878 until the early 1880s Mahler worked on two major projects: the cantata Das klagende Lied (published in a revised form in 1899) and the never-to-be finished opera Rübezahl, of which only the libretto survives. In the summer of 1879 the young composer fell in love with Josephine Poisl, the daughter of the postmaster at his home town, Iglau. This first love turned Mahler’s thoughts towards a more intimate musical form and in February 1880 he began work on a collection of five songs, settings of his own texts, dedicated to Josephine. During the spring the romance petered out and Mahler completed only three of the songs, Im Lenz, Winterlied and Maitanz im Grünen. Im Lenz is built up out of the alternation of two contrasting musical ideas, a fast, vigorous setting of the first and third stanzas, and a slower, more mysterious passage for the daydreamer’s answers in the second and fourth stanzas. The first section alludes to material from Das klagende Lied but the second goes further and quotes directly from the cantata. Winterlied begins in relaxed mood with a gently lilting accompaniment that eventually incorporates trills and semiquaver decoration to suggest the spinning wheel, but the song culminates in the despairing outburst of the last three lines. There follows an extended coda for the piano which draws on Waldmärchen (the first part of Das klagende Lied) for its consolatory closing bars. These two songs are quite different in style to the third: they both aspire to the sophistication of lieder, while Maitanz im Grünen is a Gesang, a simpler song in a style influenced by popular and folk music. Maitanz was eventually published, slightly altered, as the third of the Lieder und Gesänge under the title Hans und Grete. Here it is followed by Winterlied and Im Lenz, the two other songs completed in 1880. For all its apparent simplicity, Hans und Grete is an important work in Mahler’s oeuvre. He used some of its text (and presumably its music) in Rübezahl. But the song is most significant because it is the earliest manifestation of Mahler’s fascination for the Ländler (a type of rustic waltz), which is portrayed in the song with robust simplicity. The idiom and some of the music from this song were re-used in the scherzo of Mahler’s Symphony No 1, and in his later works the dance was subjected to increasingly imaginative transformation. Having previously supported himself chiefly by teaching, Mahler entered (as he called it) ‘the hell of theatrical life’ during the summer of 1880 when he obtained a temporary appointment as conductor (and odd-job man) at a tiny summer theatre at Bad Hall. Four years later he had made considerable progress up the ladder of success – he was a conductor at the theatre in Kassel – and was in love again. And for a second time love generated the creative momentum that resulted in the composition of songs, in this case Mahler’s first large-scale masterpiece, the song-cycle Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen. The cycle looks backwards and forwards. At the end a passage from Waldmärchen is quoted for poetic reasons: on both occasions the music accompanies the passage into sleep of a character who will never wake. However, Mahler recognized that some of the music of the cycle had the potential for symphonic expansion, and material from the second and fourth songs appears in the first and third movements of the Symphony No 1, completed four years later. The Gesellen songs began life in December 1884 as a group of six poems addressed to Johanna Richter, an opera-singer at Kassel, but its subsequent history is far from simple and accounts for the significance of Colin Matthews’s new edition, recorded here for the first time. Mahler set four of the poems in the mid-1880s but the earliest score to survive is a neat copy of a version for voice and piano dating from around 1891. The cycle was orchestrated and extensively revised during the 1890s. The first performance, conducted by Mahler, was given in 1896, and the orchestral score and a new version for voice and piano were published the following year. However, through some oversight these two publications differ in significant details; the version with piano accompaniment represents an intermediate stage in the work’s evolution, somewhere between the 1891 copy and the composer’s final thoughts embodied in the published full score. Colin Matthews has therefore prepared a new edition for voice and piano which corresponds to Mahler’s orchestral version. Mahler’s verses are not great poetry. The vocabulary is conventional and the image of a grief-stricken wanderer striving for forgetfulness was a Romantic commonplace. The first poem even borrows heavily from two folk texts included in Des Knaben Wunderhorn. But Mahler’s music transcends the texts’ limitations, and possesses both originality and universality. The work is the first of Mahler’s large-scale compositions to project a spiritual journey in music which is constantly evolving, developing and moving onwards. The poet may achieve peace in death beneath the linden tree, but the music is as much concerned with mirroring the eternal regeneration of Nature. The Lieder und Gesänge, published in 1892, are not a song-cycle, but simply collect together songs composed over a period of ten years. (The designation ‘aus der Jugendzeit’ was added by the publisher after Mahler’s death.) Hans und Grete is the third of the Poisl songs of 1880 and Frühlingsmorgen and Erinnerung were probably written shortly after its completion. Frühlingsmorgen uses a melodic phrase from Waldmärchen – the common poetic idea is again that of sleep – while Erinnerung is the first of Mahler’s songs about artistic creation. By 1887 Mahler was a conductor at the Leipzig Stadttheater, and it is likely that the two Molina settings were composed for the Leipzig premiere of Molina’s Don Juan in October 1887. Both songs are brief and uncomplicated, Serenade having the subtitle ‘with the accompaniment of wind instruments’ and Phantasie a footnote recommending the use of a harp for the accompaniment. In 1806 Achim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano published the first volume of a collection of folk poetry entitled Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Some of the poems included were accurate transcriptions of folk texts, while others were original poems by the editors. The majority, though, fell between these two extremes; based on popular sources they presented a highly romanticized vision of folk poetry. Exactly when Mahler became acquainted with the collection is uncertain. His own early texts are all written in a pseudo-folk idiom, and Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht is obviously based on a poem included in the Wunderhorn. Mahler’s own comments are contradictory, but the songs in Books II and III of the Lieder und Gesänge are his first acknowledged Wunderhorn settings. Mahler met Weber’s grandson in 1887. Captain von Weber owned his grandfather’s sketches for a comic opera entitled Die drei Pintos and, impressed by the young conductor’s enthusiasm for Weber’s music, asked Mahler to complete the work. Mahler’s version of the opera had some success on German stages, but the project also brought Mahler into contact with the Captain’s family. The result was an affair with von Weber’s wife, Marion, and the composition of some Wunderhorn songs for his children. Between 1887 and 1890 further Wunderhorn settings followed to complete the last two books of the Lieder und Gesänge. The music of Mahler’s Wunderhorn songs matches perfectly the fusion of folk-like simplicity and artistic sophistication in Arnim and Brentano’s texts. Some of the songs take popular music as their starting point, for example, the Ländler (Selbstgefühl) or the military march (Aus! Aus!). Others use melodic shapes typical of German folk-song (Um schlimme Kinder artig zu machen), or allude to folk melodies associated with the original text (Zu Strassburg auf der Schanz’). The result is a musical language of extraordinary flexibility which can reflect the humour of Starke Einbildungskraft, the irony in the girl’s responses in Aus! Aus!, and the despair and desolation of Nicht wiedersehen! Mahler never orchestrated the Lieder und Gesänge, though he began an orchestral version of Zu Strassburg auf der Schanz’. One song did achieve a purely instrumental form: Ablösung im Sommer is the basis of the third movement of Mahler’s Symphony No 3. Looking back at his student songs, Mahler said in 1896: ‘The songs I wrote at that time were inadequately worked out, as my imagination was still too wild and undisciplined. For it’s the hardest of tasks, and requires the highest art and skill, to achieve something great in a small space.’ The songs of the 1880s show how well he had mastered the miniaturist’s art. Paul Banks © 1983