Minions: The Rise Of Gru (Yellow Vinyl)

Double vinyl LP pressing.

Wagner’s tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen concludes with Götterdämmerung. The composer’s original draft, in which the gods are redeemed by the hero Siegfried’s sacrifice, had fundamentally changed by 1874. Now in this ‘cosmic catastrophe’ Brünnhilde rides into Siegfried’s funeral pyre, the Rhine overflows and Valhalla perishes, and the gods with it. It’s the longest and most complex of the four music dramas, and its orchestration is also the most colorful and sophisticated. Siegfried’s Rhine Journey and Funeral March and Brünnhilde’s immolation scene are some of Wagner’s most potent theatrical moments and bring this drama to a shattering conclusion.

A forbidding and gothic new score by Christopher Young (Hellraiser, Species, Urban Legend, The Grudge, The Exorcism of Emily Rose) for the F.W. Murnau classic 1922 silent-movie 'Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horror', one of the most influential films of all time and one that continues to cast it's long shadow across the horror movie genre even still. The perfect match of composer and movie. The recording of this new score was made with Frank Strobel, conductor, Saya Hashino, organ and Tonhalle-Orchester Z�rich.

Released on the Impulse! Records label in early 1966, the songs are a mix of new compositions and re-workings of tunes John Lee Hooker had previously recorded, and includes a cover of Barrett Strong's 1959 Motown hit "Money (That's What I Want)." With Panama Francis on drums, Milt Hinton on bass, and Barry Galbraith on second guitar, the result is some of the best John Lee Hooker material with a band that you're likely to come across

Boogie With Canned Heat, their second studio album, was released in 1968 and features the original lineup with Bob "The Bear" Lite (lead vocals), Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson (slide guitar/harmonica/vocals), Henry "Sunflower" Vestine (lead guitar), Larry "The Mole" Taylor (bass guitar) and Adolfo "Fito" de la Parra (drums), plus guest appearances by Dr. John and Sunnyland Slim. It includes the hits "On the Road Again," "Amphetamine Annie," and "Fried Hockey Boogie."

Bruckner was working on the Ninth Symphony until the day he died. He left a stark and magnificent torso that marks the end of the 19th-century symphony - but he also left fragments and sketches for a magnificent finale that would cap his life's work. In the latest realisation of a completion that has taken over 20 years, Bruckner's finale crowns his musical last will and testament with an intense and visionary splendour. 'Everything that is strange about this finale is 100% Bruckner,' remarks Sir Simon Rattle. 'And one can see the terror and the fear and the passion which he was going through in his life at that time.'

Double vinyl LP pressing. Tchaikovsky's most famous work, The Nutcracker, is presented in this stunning new recording by the world's greatest orchestra, the Berliner Philharmoniker, under the baton of their celebrated conductor Sir Simon Rattle. This musical fairytale follows Clara and her unusual prince and protector, The Nutcracker, through adventures and exotic delights in the magical Kingdom of Sweets. The Nutcracker is the most popular ballet, and it's annual holiday performances have become a treasured tradition the world over. This release features the live recording of Act II from December 2009's Silvesterkonzert, Germany's New Year's celebrations. Act I was recorded in the studio during the same period.

SHE CAME TO ME - O.S.T.

REVIEW:

Beethoven on period instruments is no longer as remarkable as it was even in the not-so-distant past. Several complete sets of the symphonies and individual recordings are readily available.

It helps that these are live recordings, dating from May and September 2013, with very realistic, vibrant sound. We can’t hear the audience, but we can hear its effect on the musicians. These truly are performances, conceived and played along a broad, long line, and not cobbled together from a short take here and a short take there. Excitement and (apparent) spontaneity are the order of the day, and even if these works are within our collective DNA.

— Fanfare

Along with Vivaldi’s ‘Seasons’ or Beethoven’s ‘Fifth’, Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos belong to those works that are so well-known that we risk taking them for granted. In order to (re-)discover the special qualities that can inspire us today, in 2001 Thomas Dausgaard and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra decided to contact six contemporary composer, asking each of them to compose a companion piece to one of the concertos. Seventeen years later, in 2018, it was time to present the result, with a performance at the BBC Proms of all the works – new and old. Recorded over a period of 18 months leading up to this event, the present boxed set provides a unique opportunity to experience six very different musical minds and idioms entering into conversation with Bach: Mark-Anthony Turnage, Steven Mackey, Anders Hillborg, Olga Neuwirth, Uri Caine and Brett Dean. Bach’s concertos are remarkable in that they are all scored for different instrumental combinations, and part of the brief to the group of composers was to reflect this. In her Aello, Olga Neuwirth has for instance used several ‘instruments’ to stand in for Bach’s harpsichord, including a synthesizer, a milk frother and a typewriter. Brett Dean, on the other hand, has stayed very close to Bach’s instrumentation, but has chosen to write his work as a preparation for Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 – an Approach to Bach’s extremely tight canonic writing. In performing the twelve works the orchestra and Dausgaard are joined by leading soloists including Clare Chase, Mahan Esfahani, Håkan Hardenberger, Pekka Kuusisto and Tabea Zimmermann.

The celebration of the Nativity has always been a source of inspiration for composers. The different elements of the evangelical narrative evoke numerous images: tender feelings before the Baby Jesus; the gentleness of his mother, the Virgin Mary; the procession of the three Wise Men; the angelic choirs in Heaven; and these shepherds gathered in the manger. All that appears in the musical repertoire linked to this holiday, as well as the presence of colourful instrumentations and themes connected to folk traditions. This set, released by Ricercar, brings together all these elements, drawn from the repertoires of the Renaissance and Baroque eras.

MAHLER: Symphony No. 2 / Kindertotenlieder (Fried) (1915-19

This volume has some glorious music in it. The Gershwin Concerto in F with the excellent pianist Eugene List is an absolute joy. (Vox Box)

If you see one opera this year, make it The Exterminating Angel, ran the headline in the New York Times after the US premiere of Thomas Ad�s' "stunningly inventive" opera based on Luis Bu�uel's surreal and satirical 1962 film El �ngel exterminador. Like the British composer's score, Tom Cairns' production is both spectacular and surprising. "Ad�s keeps the listener on edge," wrote Opera magazine, "because one never knows where his dazzling palette of possibilities will take him next." Thomas Ad�s TITLE: Ad�s: The Exterminating Angel (MET)(Blu-ray) Label: PRX/Warner Classics/Parlophone Language: English Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish Number of discs: 1 Run Time: 142 minutes