•The United States Air Force Academy Stellar Brass is a brass and percussion ensemble and has performed across the nation. Their musical virtuosity spans across performance styles and genres, including everything from arrangements of classical favorites, to original commissions. Fireworks for Brass and Organ features not only the full, rich sound of the brass ensemble, but also the wide-ranging capabilities of the organ. Combined, they can perform works such as the finale from Camille Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op. 78, “Organ” and the Hallelujah Chorus, as well as Suite for Organ, Brass Quintet, and Percussion, an original work by composer Craig Phillips. Now, Fireworks for Brass and Organ will be available at a special reduced price! Don’t miss this opportunity to experience this special pairing of instrumental groups in ways both old and new!

Tracks:

DISC 1
1 Adjutant's Call - C.M.T.C. March 2:16     
2 Sound Off, into Trombones Triumphant 0:38     
3 Officer's Center - Officer of the Day March 2:27     
4 Inspection Waltz 3:56   
5 Bugles and Drums 2:22       
6 First Call 0:12     
7 Reveille 0:24   
8 Assembly 0:12     
9 Mess Call 0:14       
10 Attention 0:09       
11 Officers Call 0:10     
12 Drill 0:11     
13 Fatigue 0:14   
14 Carry On 0:08     
15 Recall 0:12     
16 Church 0:38     
17 Adjutant's Call 0:13     
18 Retreat (Solo) 0:25       
19 Retreat 0:29   
20 To the Colors 0:39     
21 Tattoo 0:56   
22 Taps (Solo) 1:01   
23 Taps 0:57     
24 Echo Taps 1:06     
25 Taps with Brass Accompaniment 1:22     
26 First Sergeant's Call 0:09     
27 Charge 0:10     
28 Roast Beef of Old England   0:58     
29 Yankee Doodle   1:23       
30 York Marsch   2:20     
31 President of the United States  0:50   
32 Vice-President of the United States 0:39   
33 Congressional Honors 0:45       
34 4 Ruffles and Flourishes and General's March (arr. F. Kepner) 0:26     
35 3 Ruffles and Flourishes and General's March (arr. F. Kepner) 0:25     
36 2 Ruffles and Flourishes and General's March (arr. F. Kepner) 0:23       
37 1 Ruffle and Flourish and General's March (arr. F. Kepner) 0:22     
38 4 Ruffles and Flourishes and Flag Officer's March (arr. W.H. Santelmann) 0:24     
39 3 Ruffles and Flourishes and Flag Officer's March (arr. W.H. Santelmann) 0:23     
40 2 Ruffles and Flourishes and Flag Officer's March (arr. W.H. Santelmann) 0:20     
41 1 Ruffle and Flourish and Flag Officer's March (arr. W.H. Santelmann) 0:19       
42 1 Ruffle and Flourish - Last 32 of Stars and Stripes Forever 0:39   
43 The Stars and Stripes Forever 0:37     
44 Trio to the National Emblem 1:20   
45 2/4 Drum Cadence 0:42     
46 6/8 Drum Cadence 0:44     
47 The Star Spangled Banner 1:22     
48 The Air Force Song (arr. R.R. Bennett) 0:37     
49 The Air Force Song (arr. J. Wasson) 3:10   
50 The U.S. Air Force Blue March (arr. L. Ludlow) 0:59     
51 Lord Guard and Guide, "The Air Force Hymn" 1:06   
52 Lord Guard and Guide, "The Air Force Hymn" (arr. F. Werle) 1:06     
53 The Air Force Dirge (arr. G. Cray) 5:18         
54 U.S. Army Song (arr. Lake) 0:37     
55 God of Our Fathers 1:31     
56 The U.S. Navy Song (arr. P. Yoder) 0:36       
57 Eternal Father, strong to save, "Melita" (arr. C. Smith) 1:07         
58 The Marines' Hymn (arr. D. Hunsberger) 0:38     
59 The Marines' Hymn (arr. Farmer) 1:28   
60 U.S. Coast Guard Song (arr. W.C. Schoenfeld) 0:36   
61 Armed Services Medley 3:34     
62 The Stars and Stripes Forever 3:26     
63 Gary Owen March (arr. J. McFulton) 2:30     
64 Semper Fidelis 2:46   
65 Heave Ho! My Lads, Heave Ho! 2:11   
66 The Song of the Seabees 3:15 
67 American Legion March 2:17     
68 American Red Cross 2:26     

DISC 2
1 Liberty Fanfare 0:25   
2 Emperata Overture 0:22     
3 Ceremonial Fanfare 0:44       
4 3 Jubilant Fanfares: No. 1. Fanfare Jubilante 0:29     
5 Aloft! 0:28     
6 America The Beautiful (arr. C. Dragon) 3:15     
7 Battle Hymn of the Republic (arr. S. Nestico) 4:33     
8 God Bless America (arr. E. Leidzen) 2:17       
9 My country 'tis of thee, "America" 1:09     
10 This Is My Country (arr. F. Werle) 1:59   
11 God Bless the USA (arr. for wind ensemble) 3:08   
12 Wind Beneath My Wings 3:32     
13 Hero for Today 3:32     
14 The Last Full Measure of Devotion (arr. M. Davis) 5:03   
15 Americans We 2:48     
16 National Emblem 2:58     
17 The Washington Post March 2:38     
18 Chimes of Liberty 3:11     
19 Hail to the Spirit of Liberty 3:31   
20 Hands Across the Sea 2:47     
21 Auld Lang Syne 1:41         
22 Military March No. 1 in D major, Op. 39, "Pomp and Circumstance" (Land of Hope and Glory) (arr. C. Grundman) 5:36   
23 Amazing Grace (arr. W. Walker) 1:38       
24 Amazing Grace (arr. F. Ticheli) 4:43     
25 Eternal Father, strong to save, "Melita" (arr. C. Smith) 1:56     
26 God of Our Fathers 1:31     
27 Nearer my God to Thee (arr. P. Rawlins) 2:42

Arthur Sullivan is best remembered today for his Savoy Operas with W.S. Gilbert, but during his lifetime Sullivan was also famed for his church, concert hall and stage works. These three sets of incidental music show his versatility in the genre. The music for The Merry Wives of Windsor has a joviality and lightness that matches it's pantomime mood, while the concert suite for MacBeth weaves together nervous tension and impending tragedy. By contrast, King Arthur required one of Sullivan's specialties, a sequence of choruses, edited after his death into this evocative suite.

Sandro Fuga became a leading figure in Turin’s musical life in the mid-20th century. His passion for art and music was inherited from his eminent Venetian family which included grandfather Luigi Nono among its members. Few Italian composers of Fuga’s generation broached the sonata genre, but these three works represent the summit of his piano music, together forming a triptych of considerable significance. Fuga considered himself a ‘Romantic survivor’, believing music to represent the expression of emotions. Thanks to his rejection of avant-garde ephemera and a profound faith in humanity, his piano sonatas are expressive, eloquent and emotionally compelling.

When we think of Ludwig van Beethoven images of a stormy and passionate but tortured genius are brought to mind, alongside the transformative effect of his work on musical history. All of these things are true, but no artist lives in a vacuum, and even music that opens a portal onto ‘the infinite realm of the spirit’ has its wider context. Illustrated with music from each period, this enlightening life history by esteemed musicologist Davinia Caddy tells us about Beethoven’s place in society from his earlier career as a fine pianist, his life on the edge of the Napoleonic war, his professional triumphs and many romantic misfortunes, and that famous defiance of deafness and declaration that he would ‘seize Fate by the throat’. The musical excerpts include the ‘Pathétique’ and ‘Moonlight’ Sonatas, ‘Diabelli’ Variations, Symphonies Nos. 2, 3, 6 and 9, ‘Emperor’ Concerto, Missa solemnis and Fidelio, among many others.

Featuring performances by...

City of London Choir | Béla Drahos | Kenneth Schermerhorn | Kodály Quartet | Jay Baylon | Inga Nielsen | Kölner Kammerorchester | Nina Tichman | Capella Istropolitana | Maria Kliegel | Michael Halász | Sergio Gallo | Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra | Westminster Boys' Choir | Helmut Müller-Brühl | Hilary Davan Wetton | James Taylor | Nicolaus Esterházy Sinfonia | Nashville Symphony Orchestra | Stefan Vladar | Edmund Battersby | Lori Phillips | Stuttgart Piano Trio | Jeno Jandó | Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

This fun release features both old and new songs and dances from Israel, presented with energy and enthusiasm by Gevatron and by Effi Netzer and Yonathan Gabay. The music is from modern Israel, from the Kibbutz and with Eastern European, Mediterranean and Arabic influence. The Gevatron are representatives of Israeli folk music and songs of the good and lovely Israel. The group was established in 1948, and has since been composed of members of the Kibbutz and its surrounding area. Effi Netzer is a musician, composer, and music director. Choreographer Yonathan Gabay was one of the pillars of Israeli dancing, who passed away in 2011. He left us with a legacy of unforgettable Israeli dances.

Viguela have been dedicated to traditional music from the center of the Iberian Peninsula for thirty years. In 2014 Viguela began reviewing their own approach to the interpretation of traditional music, taking a step further in recovering their archaic musical language- focusing on the person's interpretation and musicality rather than techniques taught at academies. They perform not only at renowned festivals such as WOMAD in 2017 but also on the streets of Spain. As a 100% acoustic band, Viguela can bring their street "ronda" to any place and sing to your public face to face. "... one of the greatest folk groups from the heart of Spain... " (World Music Central) "... Filled with creativity, optimism and joy." (Folkways) "... Full of reality, human presence, intensity- musically and technically perfect." (Mazurkas of the World Festival)

"When the Wigmore Hall Live label released an archival recording of a 1998 recital by the great mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson last year, it raised the hope of more such posthumous finds. And just as that hope had begun to fade, here comes another treasure, this one unearthed from the archives of Emmanuel Music in Boston.

As it happens, this release serves as tribute not only to Hunt Lieberson, who died in 2006, but also to her frequent close collaborator Craig Smith, the founder of Emmanuel Music, who died in November. And the material is choice: spacious arias from two Bach cantatas and extended excerpts from Handel’s oratorio “Hercules.”

The disc begins with a 1992 recording of the aria “Kommt ihr angefochtnen Sünder” from Bach’s Cantata No. 30: Something of a tease as the opening instrumental passage heightens the anticipation of Hunt Lieberson’s entrance, more than two minutes into the disc. But that glorious Voice, when it appears, meets every expectation.

The “Hercules” excerpts, from 1999, trace the travails of the hero’s wife, Dejanira, culminating in a harrowing mad scene.... Although Hunt Lieberson’s compelling stage presence added mightily to any performance, the voice alone amply conveys her characteristic intensity here....

Dare we hope for more?"

– James R. Oestreich, New York Times [8/10/2008]

The early death of Lorraine Hunt Lieberson deprived the world of an exceptional artist and one, moreover, who left all too few commercial recordings. However, some archive recordings are now beginning to emerge and this new release, featuring previously unissued live recordings is one such. The CD also forms a tribute to one of her mentors, Craig Smith, Music Director at Emmanuel Church, Boston from 1970 until his death in November 2007 at the age of sixty.

Smith founded Emmanuel Music, which, besides fulfilling a liturgical function at the church, evolved also into a concert ensemble of no little distinction. Perhaps Smith’s greatest achievement was to inaugurate the practice whereby each Sunday between October and April, the main Sunday morning church service includes a cantata by Bach appropriate to the day. That tradition continues to this day and later this year the thirty-ninth consecutive season of liturgical cantatas will commence.

It was through Emmanuel Music that the then Lorraine Hunt took some of the first steps on her solo singing career and she maintained the connection, I believe, for the rest of her life, including appearances in the Sunday cantata series. This disc, therefore, takes us back to her singing roots.

The disc begins and ends with arias taken, I presume, from complete Sunday service performances of Bach cantatas. The aria "Kommt ihr angefochtnen Sünder" comes from the cantata Freue dich, erlöste schar, written for the feast of St. John the Baptist. Alfred Dürr writes thus of the cantata: "The underlying mood is joyful, relaxed and unproblematical, not only in the opening chorus but in the four arias, where a dance-like style is often clearly evident." Unfortunately, to judge by this aria at least, Craig Smith seems to have a different conception. Presumably with the agreement of his soloist, he sets and extremely slow tempo and the aria lasts 8:46.

This sent me scurrying to my shelves for comparisons. John Eliot Gardiner, in his Bach Cantata Pilgrimage performance takes a mere 5:27 but he is surely too fleet – at his pace the aria sounds like a gambol through the Elysian meadows. So that might seem to suggest that Smith is "simply" old fashioned in his conception. But turn to Fritz Werner’s 1971 performance and you find a tempo that seems to me to be just right – he takes 6:03. Beside Werner I’m afraid Smith sounds laboured. What saves the performance is the sheer beauty and inwardness of Lorraine Hunt Lieberson’s singing. On its own terms the performance is quite lovely and no admirer of the singer will be disappointed but I just think the basic conception is wrong.

Things are much more satisfactory in the other Bach aria, which is placed at the opposite end of the programme. This aria is from the cantata Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, which is for the Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity. Again, Miss Hunt Lieberson’s singing is beautiful and communicative and this time the pace is much more sensible, I think. The conductor here is the composer, John Harbison, who has also had a long association with Emmanuel Music and who, in fact, is currently the Acting Artistic Director. He adopts a slow pace, but this aria can take it. Again comparisons were instructive. Eliot Gardiner’s tempo is almost identical and he takes exactly as long as does Harbison. Werner didn’t record this cantata but another celebrated Bach traditionalist, Karl Richter, did. In his 1976/7 recording he takes 9:34 but his soloist, Julia Hamari, sounds cool besides either of her rivals and she and Richter, whose direction is smooth and relaxed, convey no real sense of trepidation. Nathalie Stutzmann, for Eliot Gardiner, is perhaps a touch more inward than Hunt Lieberson but she’s equally involving and it’s only by the merest whisker that I come down in favour of this present, excellent performance.

The remainder of the disc is devoted to excerpts from Handel’s oratorio, Hercules and these excerpts contain all the music for Dejanira, the wife of the eponymous hero. I presume, though it’s not clear from the documentation, that these extracts are taken from a live account of the complete work.

The role of Dejanira is an exceptionally demanding one, both vocally and emotionally. She is, in Craig Smith’s words, a "monumental character." I can well imagine that Lorraine Hunt Lieberson was a pretty formidable presence in the performance of the oratorio for these extracts show us a vivid character portrayal.

In her first aria, "The world when day’s career is run," she is fully the grief-stricken wife, yet she still retains dignity. Much of Dejanira’s music is in moderate or slow tempo but when swifter music arrives, in "Begone, my fears, fly, hence, away," Miss Hunt Lieberson excels in the passagework.

As her jealousy of the captive princess, Iole, begins to take hold and her certainty that Hercules has been unfaithful increases there’s great sadness in the aria ‘When beauty sorrow’s liv’ry wears’ and that is splendidly conveyed here. Particularly outstanding is the account of "Cease, ruler of the day, to rise," where the singing is particularly expressive. Writing of this disc elsewhere, but of another aria in the programme, the critic Michael Kennedy spoke of Miss Hunt Lieberson’s "power to humanise every note and bring the music to new life." How I agree and I’d say that this comment applies even more strongly to this deep aria.

The final excerpt is the Mad Scene. Here Miss Hunt Lieberson is intensely dramatic without ever going overboard. This is extremely demanding music and she performs it vividly and, once again, when the divisions arise she displays fine vocal agility. Hers is a tremendous performance of this recitative and aria and, unsurprisingly, it sparks an ovation from the audience who, otherwise, are commendably silent throughout.

These extracts contain some superb Handel singing. Frequently I was reminded of Dame Janet Baker’s assumption of Handelian roles and I can pay no higher compliment than that.

Despite my reservation over the one Bach item – a reservation that does not concern the singing per se – this is a superb disc that all admirers of this much-missed singer will want to have. And if you’ve not heard Lorraine Hunt Lieberson before, buy this disc and discover for yourself what all the fuss is about.

– John Quinn, MusicWeb International

"•Wilhelm Mengelberg, the legendary and controversial conductor of the Gewandhaus Orchestra for fifty years (1895-1945), famed for his championing of both Richard Strauss and Gustav Mahler, is heard here conducting, among other Schubertian coimpositions,Schubert's final two symphonic masterpieces. • This set has received excellent reviews in the European music press."

•Conductor Herbert von Karajan leads the Choir and Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera in this New Year's Eve performance of Johann Strauss's (1825-1899) ever-popular Die Fledermaus. This unique live recording insplendid sound features a spectacular cast of singers including Hilde Güden, Walter Berry, Rita Streich and a special guest appearance by Giuseppe di Stefano.

"• Kurdish singer and composer Sakîna presents passionate and captivating songs from Kurdistan portraying life of the people in the Kurdish regions of Turkey, Iran and Iraq. • Sakina combines regional singing styles with traditional and experimental interpretative techniques. • Traditional and modern instrumental accompaniment. • Booklet contains information about the artist and each of the pieces in English and German."

Emerging around the beginning of the 19th century, Gypsy brass bands developed from Turkish military bands.; The performing ensemble on this release, Fanfara din Cozmesti, is one of the most well known Romanian Gypsy brass bands performing today.; This release includes an extensive booklet with information about the fifteen band members and each of the songs on the album.

‘Christmas In Ireland’, featuring guitarist, multi-instrumentalist and singer Noel McLoughlin & multi-instrumentalist, singer, teacher, composer and arranger Ger O’Donnell offers real traditional Christmas favorites from Ireland and ‘all over’, inviting listeners to sing along in the true spirit of Christmas. + Among its thirteen seasonal tracks are ‘The Holly and the Ivy’, ‘O’ Little Town of Bethlehem’, ‘Oh Christmas Tree’ (an English translation of the German carol ‘Oh Tannenbaum’), ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’ and ‘Auld Lang Syne’.

These live recordings were performed on traditional Indian instruments, capturing local field recordings of ceremonies, praying recitals and other unique sounds of the holy city of Varanasi in India. + The character of the city is reflected in the authentic, colorful sonic combination of Sanskrit recitals, sounds of streets and animals, ceremonial bells and drums, composed and improvised music, as well as traditional and classical Indian music. + ‘The Sounds of Varanasi’ is a unique story about the intimate atmosphere of Varanasi, about the sounds and the music that is born and lives there.

The inspiring group Afrika Mamas are three-time South African Music Awards nominees, and have toured all over the world. They sing in an a cappella or Mbube style, featuring rich textures, thick harmonies, reminiscent of Ladysmith Black Mambazo. The twelve tracks featured on this disc are a fantastic representation of the works of this moving group.

Recorded by the ethnic folk music expert and producer Deben Bhattacharya in the year of his death (2001) for the film “Music According to Deben Bhattacharya”, this album of field recordings focuses on the Murshidi (spiritual master) singers from Bangladesh. Devotional rites and esoteric poetry set in folk music, the melodies are often nostalgic and slow. Sometimes, as can be heard on this album, the rhythm is made faster so as to make the songs more attractive. Extensive information about the history, music and instruments can be found in the accompanying booklet.

This heady, brand new collection, the fourth Sabla Tolo release, features hip-swaying, high-energy percussion compositions with full arrangements for Oriental dance. It’s Egyptian percussion with an African feel, peppered with hot, driving Brazilian Samba and a hint of Indian spice mixing it up with Moroccan Shaaby and Flamenco. Noted the world over for his percussion talents, arranging and musical diversity, Hossam Ramzy is Arc Music’s best-selling artist.