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Jorge Luis Prats, Live in Zaragoza
There is something dramatic about a single musician in the centre of the stage. There is also something intensely emotional at the core of Spanish and Latin music. In this recording, you’ve got both those elements intertwined. There is an…
Verdi: Macbeth DVD
Macbeth can be one of the darkest operas found on stage. With the blood, witchcraft and more moody lighting than any film director could dream of it can sometimes be either overly dramatic or too underdone and kept in perpetual…
Charpentier: David et Jonathas
William Christie and Les Arts Florissants have been spending a lot of time in the recording studio of late it feels. This new recording seems particularly apt, what with the ensemble being named after a Charpentier opera. This is a…
1612, Italian Vespers
At first look the depth of detail gone into the research and presentation of this recording feels like it should be for vocal enthusiasts only. However I found that, although the liner notes were extremely interesting, you didn’t need to…
Borodin: String Quartets 1 & 2
This recording, which I believe was done 1979 and 1980, is a perfect example of what happens when great music is performed by great musicians. From theopening bars, the Borodin Quartet play so brilliantly that the listener is swept away…
Stradella: La Susanna
Oratorio is a genre of composition sometimes left by the wayside beside the larger spectacle of opera. Alessandro Stradella was composing during theheight of its popularity and La Susanna is considered something of a swan song for this flamboyant composer…
Gaysia by Benjamin Law
[[benjamin-law1]]Benjamin Law is making a name for himself. I was reading Gaysia on my tram ride home, learning about Homolasians, Bi-Mese, Laosbians and Shandykes when a fellow passenger spotted the cover and interrupted my reading with a small mostly one-sided…
Last Laugh For The Landscape by The Single Men's Drinking Club
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Melbourne-based five-piece The Single Men’s Drinking Club are known for their intense, hard-hitting live shows. In this, their debut album, the band captures the essence of these performances with a powerful 11-track collection. Many of these songs have been…
Hundred Dollar Valentine by Chris Smither
[[smither1]]The first thing that strikes you when listening to Hundred Dollar Valentine is just how much the feel and tone is steeped in the past, yet also manages to sound so in the now.
Smither has delivered a traditional roots-laden…
Songs For Desert Refugees by Various
This benefit CD features electric guitar-based music from the Southern Sahara/Northern Mali regions. All the right names are here: Tinariwen, Tamikrest, Tartit and newcomer Bombino, with unreleased material.
It’s all good, but a fierce acoustic piece called ‘Blues du Desert…
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