Wolfgang Mitschke's new jazz album, 'Behind the Skyline', whilst featuring forays into fusion jazz, is predominantly in the traditional 'old-time' style and offers a glimpse into the golden age of jazz history, with a particular focus on the musical legacy of the legendary jazz pianist Horst Jankowski (1936-1998).

The album Intrecci New compositions and arrangements for Guitar, produced with the support of the MiC Ministry of Culture and SIAE as part of the 'Per Chi Crea' program, presents a singular listening itinerary that sees Giacomo Susani's two souls as an interpreter and composer dialogue in an original way. The program unfolds in four pairs of songs: four original compositions, accompanied by four repertoire arrangements created by Susani himself. "Mine was not an operation of transcription as faithful as possible to the originals - says Giacomo Susani - but I decided to move in an arrangement dimension functional to the narrative arc of the CD and therefore aimed at enhancing the intrinsically identifying qualities of the guitar." The first pair of songs that opens the album sees two works brought together and characterized by a fundamental contrapuntal architecture: a very short Fuga by G.F. Handel, taken from Voluntary X for organ, and the original piece Dialogo (homage to Lauro), born from a commission received by Pixaudio for an upcoming documentary on Antonio Lauro. With a change of interior landscape, we move on to Caprice 4 for solo violin by Pierre Rode, a composer and famous French violinist who lived between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, associated with the piece that gives the album it's title: Intrecci (homage to Paganini) by Susani, a work commissioned by the Paganini Guitar Festival 2024 and which pays homage to Paganini by developing a dialogue between the two gestural worlds, that of the violin and that of the guitar, both loved by the Genoese composer. The third pair of pieces leads into the more abstract dimension of melancholy and meditation, with the very famous June by P.I. Tchaikovsky for piano in the version for guitar created by Giacomo Susani and the original piece by Susani Gems dreaming which the author considers his most abstract work among those on the album. The listening ends with an arrangement of Moon River by Henry Mancini and an original piece in three movements inspired by three paintings by the British author Frederic Leighton. An album that develops in an eclectic meeting of sound worlds and artistic illuminations, where the classical repertoire is singularly intertwined with contemporary expression.

It's not far-fetched to consider the extent to which the ideal of a soundtrack encompasses a significant portion of the finest orchestral compositions of the past century-a domain where it's difficult not to spotlight Henry Mancini. If we were to identify the artist who most effectively distilled the perfect synergy between music and cinema, it would be fair to attribute such distinction to the American maestro. The Orquesta Filarmonica de Malaga, led by Maestro Jose Maria Moreno and with Jose Carra as a crucial collaborator in arranging a notable selection of the repertoire, celebrates Mancini's centennial through this recording. It's not just a customary tribute; rather, it's based on the premise that these compositions persist in enriching and extending their impact over time. Though we may not always say the same for the films they were initially intended for. As befits a classic, Henry Mancini's artistry evolves with each passing day.

A trombone solo album is not exactly an everyday commodity, because the instrument is considered somewhat bulky, unwieldy and grumpy. In the hand of a master like Ray Anderson, however, one wonders how these prejudices could have come about, because he simply makes music with the trombone. "I've had this idea in my head since I started playing solo concerts in 1982," Ray Anderson recalled. "Anthony Braxton recorded the solo record ‘For Alto’ in 1969, where the challenge of playing an instrument alone without accompaniment is particularly interesting. So why not on the trombone too? Albert Mangelsdorff has recorded beautiful solo albums, and that by George Lewis is also very inspiring.”

CONTENTS:

• Roswell Rudd: Keep Your Heart Right
• Ray Anderson: Marching on, Blues for John Lewis
• Ellington: Just Squeeze Me
• Ray Anderson: Early Morning in the Andersonorious Jungle
• Coltrane: Equinox
• Irving Kahal, Sammy Fain, Pierre Norman: You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me
• Ray Anderson: Choppers
• Ray Anderson: The Sisyphus Effect
• Mancini, H: Moon River

REVIEW:

Trombonist Ray Anderson draws on New Orleans parade traditions, Chicago street smarts, New York assertiveness and a lifetime of often challenging experiences to provide this enriching album.

-- Downbeat

Composer, arranger and conductor Henry Mancini is renowned for his involvement in music for the movies, none more so than his memorable and legendary collaboration with lyricist Johnny Mercer on "Moon River" for the classic Audrey Hepburn film "Breakfast At Tiffany's". However, he also wrote and recorded non-movie material for singles and albums, and this collection dips into both strands of his work during the early era of his recording career. This great-value 52-track 2-CD set comprises A & B sides of his s singles during these years on the Liberty, Coral and RCA labels, plus selected titles from his Liberty album "Driftwood And Dreams" and his RCA albums "The Blues And The Beat" and "Combo", which included arrangements of pop standards as well as his own compositions. It features his hits from this era, including the Academy Award winning "Moon River" and "Days Of Wine And Roses", plus the themes from "Mr. Lucky", "The Great Impostor" and "Hatari". Other movie and TV music featured in the set includes the themes from "Peter Gunn", "The Brothers Karamazov", "Experiment In Terror" and "Phaedra" plus "Baby Elephant Walk" from "Hatari". It's a fascinating and varied showcase for Mancini's unique skill as a composer of screen music but also offers a window onto his wider contribution to popular music.

Composer, arranger and conductor Henry Mancini is renowned for his involvement in music for the movies, none more so than his memorable and legendary collaboration with lyricist Johnny Mercer on "Moon River" for the classic Audrey Hepburn film "Breakfast At Tiffany's". However, he also wrote and recorded non-movie material for singles and albums, and this collection dips into both strands of his work during the early era of his recording career. This great-value 52-track 2-CD set comprises A & B sides of his s singles during these years on the Liberty, Coral and RCA labels, plus selected titles from his Liberty album "Driftwood And Dreams" and his RCA albums "The Blues And The Beat" and "Combo", which included arrangements of pop standards as well as his own compositions. It features his hits from this era, including the Academy Award winning "Moon River" and "Days Of Wine And Roses", plus the themes from "Mr. Lucky", "The Great Impostor" and "Hatari". Other movie and TV music featured in the set includes the themes from "Peter Gunn", "The Brothers Karamazov", "Experiment In Terror" and "Phaedra" plus "Baby Elephant Walk" from "Hatari". It's a fascinating and varied showcase for Mancini's unique skill as a composer of screen music but also offers a window onto his wider contribution to popular music.

Zoltan & Peter Katona write: “A couple of years ago we were invited to play a Hollywood themed programme in Grafenegg/Austria. We quickly arranged a handful of well-known film music pieces and performed them along with some original compositions for two guitars by M. C. Tedesco, a prolific film music composer in the forties and fifties. We couldn’t omit the king of gypsy jazz: Django Reinhardt, whose compositions often enliven Hollywood films. The concert was a huge success and we received an unusually high number of requests for a film music themed record. From this, our Hollywood and Swing album was borne. Some of our choices of repertoire might seem over ambitious, especially when reducing the whole orchestral sound to two guitars. We hope nevertheless, that our interpretation of these iconic Hollywood film scores like “The Deer Hunter” or the beautiful tunes from the “West Side Story“ will provide the listener with as much pleasure as we had playing them.”

'María de Buenos Aires brought me inner peace, a partial serenity that has changed my way of approaching music. I reached the zenith of my musical life at the time. (Astor Piazzolla) Piazzolla himself equated María to the tango and it's historical ups and downs; and this is probably also the primary aid to understanding the reception of the contents of the piece. Next to that, there is also a musical diction that is entirely unique in the second half of the 20th century, indeed in the New Music scene as a whole. 'I learnt something: to be patient, to be self-critical, to co-ordinate reflection with passion. Now I am told: 'That is a different Piazzolla', but that is not the case. I am the same man, but I have reached a synthesis'. (Astor Piazzolla)

This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

Also available on standard DVD
Juan Diego Flórez dazzled audiences and critics alike when he played the virtuoso role of Orphée in La Scala’s first ever staging of Gluck’s opera in its French version: “Juan Diego Flórez delivered a lesson in style. His tone is darker and his projection more self-effacing than in the past, but class is permanent. His agility and legato are utterly thrilling. The ovations were never-ending.” (Corriere della sera) The present release is a production by Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London Recorded live at Teatro alla Scala, Milan, March 2018. Gluck’s Orpheo ed Euridice was first performed in 1762. It is the first of Gluck’s “reform” operas, in which he attempted to replace the abstruse plots and overly complex music of opera sera with a “noble simplicity” in both the music and the drama. The present production was staged by Hofesh Shechter and John Fulljames.

Also available on Blu-ray

Juan Diego Flórez dazzled audiences and critics alike when he played the virtuoso role of Orphée in La Scala’s first ever staging of Gluck’s opera in its French version: “Juan Diego Flórez delivered a lesson in style. His tone is darker and his projection more self-effacing than in the past, but class is permanent. His agility and legato are utterly thrilling. The ovations were never-ending.” (Corriere della sera) The present release is a production by Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London Recorded live at Teatro alla Scala, Milan, March 2018. Gluck’s Orpheo ed Euridice was first performed in 1762. It is the first of Gluck’s “reform” operas, in which he attempted to replace the abstruse plots and overly complex music of opera sera with a “noble simplicity” in both the music and the drama. The present production was staged by Hofesh Shechter and John Fulljames.

A short article can hardly hope to do justice to the memory of Boris Christoff, the famous Bulgarian bass born in Plovdiv on May 18th 1914 who died in Rome on June 28th 1993. One could write endlessly about his career which began almost by chance after he graduated in law, or about his relationship with his teacher, the great baritone Riccardo Stracciari, or about his clashes with directors (for example in the 1948 version of Boris Godunov directed by Peter Broook) or colleagues (the 1956 Medea in Riome with Maria Callas). One could give a detailed description of his concept of art, of opera, of music and of life itself. But, alas space is short. Let us concentrate then, on this production of Khovatchina, recorded live at the Foro Italico on August 3rd 1958 in Rome during the then magnificent RAI seasons. It should be noted at once that this recording fills a most serious gap and brings us one of the key roles Christoff was to perform during his career. It is incomprehensible why he was made to record the complete edition of Mussorgsky's melodies - a monument to Christoff's art - two versions of Boris Godunov (in 1952 with Issay Dobrowen and ten years later with André Cluytens) but never his colorful interpretation of Dossifej. Khovanshchina was written between 1872 and 1880 in St. Petersburg, Russia. When the composer died in 1881, the opera remained unfinished and unperformed. The work deals with Russian history, particularly the rebellion of Prince Ivan Khovansky, the Old Believers, and the Muscovite Streltsy against the regent Sofia Alekseyevna and the young Tsars Peter the Great and Ivan V.

Nabucco is an Italian opera in four acts, composed by Giuseppe Verdi in 1841. The work, featuring libretto by Ternistocle Solera, is based on biblical stories from the Book of Daniel and the Book of Jeremiah, as well as the play by Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois and Francis Cornue. This recording features the Orchestra Sinfonica e Coro di Roma della RAI, conducted by Fernando Previtali, as well as soloists Paolo Silveri, Mario Binci, and Caterina Mancini, among other talented vocalists.

Charade [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] by Henry Mancini - Reflecting the European setting of Stanley Donen's 1963 comedy thriller Charade, Henry Mancini's soundtrack provides an easy listening tour of continental musical history: Parisian cafe songs on "Bistro," Eastern European gypsy music on "Bateau Mouche," Schubert quartets on "Bye Charlie," and some beer barrel polka on "Punch and Judy." Thrown in for variety's sake are dashes of Bond soundtracks, Cossack songs, and Strauss waltzes. A great Mancini recording made during the same fruitful, early-'60s period that produced two other fine soundtracks of his, Breakfast at Tiffany's and The Pink Panther.

Track Listing
1. As Time Goes By
2. One For My Baby
3. Everything I Do (I Do It For You)
4. Stella by Starlight
5. Windmills of My Mind
6. Crazy World
7. That Old Black Magic
8. Unchained Melody
9. Mona Lisa
10. Call Me Irresponsible
11. Two For the Road
12. It's All There
13. Summer Knows, The
14. Tender Is the Night
15. Charade