Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

This recording project was created to celebrate the tenth anniversary of concerts by the John Hackett and Marco Lo Muscio Duo. As in their concerts, the pieces suggest a musical journey between ancient and modern music alternating between duo and solo compositions. The repertoire starts with music from the baroque era up to the present day with the duo's original compositions. Their musical journey includes music of contemporary classical composers and ventures into the world of progressive music. The album includes three exceptional guests who have made a difference in the history of modern music: John's brother. Steve Hackett, the Genesis guitarist; David Jackson, the Van Der Graaf Generator saxophonist; David Cross, the King Crimson electric violinist.

Classical Music

Classical Music

The Smiling Carcass- An Opera on Advertising, Saturday, April 17 1999. In the Marbles Hall of the 'N�mberger Akademie', Oliviero Toscani, the Benetton advertising campaign photographer, is having a heated public conversation with Jean-Christophe Ammann, director of the Museum of Modern Art in Frankfurt, and Edi Andrist, 'Vice Chairman and Executive Creative Director' of the big advertising company McCann-Erickson. The event has been organized by McCann-Erickson in co-operation with the Pocket Opera Company of Nuremberg. Various television cameras and radio journalists and reporters are following the event. The most unusual aspect is probably the fact that the audience is actually watching a scene from an Opera. This conversation is, so to speak, the Overture of the first ever showing of 'The Smiling Carcass - the opera', the new theatrical production in music by Pocket Opera on advertising. A good part of the script is taken from Oliviero Toscani's book 'La Pub est une charogne qui nous sourit', published in France and then translated into various languages all over the world. The music is by Andrea Molino, Peter Beat Wyrsch directs it and the script was assembled and edited by Berthold Scheider.

On this recording, the four Sonate Concertanti by Johann Sebastian Bach (the BWV 1020 probably from 1734, the BWV 1030 from 1718-1723, the Sonata BWV 1032, revised twenty years later, and the Sonata BWV 1031 of uncertain date), definitely get a spirit derived from the 1717-23 period that the future Knator spent at the court of Anhalt-C�then, in the position of Kapellmeister for Prince Leopold: in this time he developed his knowledge and experience in the field of secular instrumental music. Ambassador of music and of Italian culture, Luisa Sello is one of the most surprising personalities of contemporary art, an elegant flautist and one of the most applauded interpreters of cultured music. Her working activities are supported by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and by the Ministry of Culture as a "unique artist with an exceptional versatility and enchanting charm which is able to reach the soul of each listener leaving behind an unforgettable emotion." (Il Mattino di Bolzano, ABC Madrid)

Keiko Murakami studied flute at the University of Shimane in Japan. After her studies she relocated to France to study at the Conservatoire de Strasbourg where she graduated with highest honors. Keiko performs across the world as a soloist and chamber musician. She particularly favors the study and performance of low flutes. For this release, she has chosen rarely performed and recorded works for bass flute. Most of these tracks are accompanied by some form of electronic track, and sound engineer Julien Rigaud does a fantastic job of adding to her artistry. "Breath, breathing gestures, and the poetry that arises from respiration have always been at the center of my preoccupations as a performer. Just as we unable to live without breathing, there would be no music without breath. The flute is an instrument with no intermediary between breath and sound: indeed, the entire sound of the instrument becomes a part of the performer's body once a very high artistic and instrumental level has been attained. But i see things the other way: my body has become an extension of the instrument. This sensation is even stronger when i play bass flute, as though i were submerged in the depths of the sound." (Keiko Murakami)

Classical Music

Continuing the exploration of the contemporary repertoire for voice and piano, in this album Duo Alterno analyzes the relationship between music and image.

Classical Music

Dorette Henriette Scheidler began her love affair began when Louis Spohr when he was appointed Konzertmeister in October 1805 at the Gotha court, where he remained until September 1812. Louis affectionally reminisces about their courtship in his autobiography. He proposed to Dorette by asking her "Shall we make music together forever?". They married in 1806 and had three children that survived to adulthood. Louis, with the presumed close collaboration of Dorette, wrote duos for themselves as professional performing musicians, as was normal practice among eighteenth and nineteenth century virtuoso composer-performers, and performing by memory at their concerts.