The Music Of Marty Regan, Vol. 1: Splash Of Indigo
Navona
CD
$16.99Nov 11, 2016
American composer Marty Regan specializes in composing music for traditional Japanese instruments, a fascination he has developed since 2000. Regan describes his Japanese-style compositions as "hybrid musical soundscapes that reflect the age in which we live, an era based not necessarily on globalization, but of partnership based on global cultural interaction." In contrast, Splash of Indigo features a complementary side of Regan's output, containing only works for Western orchestral instruments and voice. Despite the album's instrumentation, Regan's connection to Japan remains strong in Splash of Indigo. Splash of Indigo proves Regan is more than capable of inventing and developing charming and complex networks of musical ideas. In it's varied collection of chamber and large ensemble works, Splash of Indigo shows Marty Regan is a composer of considerable breadth and skill beyond his dedicated efforts to build a bridge between American and Japanese musical culture.
Herbert von Karajan broke boundaries in many aspects of conducting, among those being that he was the first conductor to become interested in filming his performances to preserve his cultural heritage. This exceptional documentary begins with his first concert productions, taken in Japan in 1957. Following those first recordings is his cooperation with director Henri-Georges Clouzot, then Karajan’s own film company Telemondial. Karajan’s language for orchestral film productions is seen here through all of its stages. This documentary also includes interviews with Karajan and his collaborators.
Picture Format: 1080i, 16:9 Sound Format: PCM Stereo Subtitles: German, English, French, Spanish, Italian, Korean, Japanese Region Code: 0 (All) Total Running Time: 84 mins
Two, a defining musical landmark in Bob James' career and his second solo album for producer Creed Taylor's CTI label, debuted in 1975 and charted at No. 28 in the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums and No. 75 on The Billboard 200. The album contains the iconic "Take Me To The Mardi Gras," one of hip-hop's most recognizable breakbeats, sampled over 400 times. The album also features a dynamic jazz-meets-classical music mash-up ("Farandole"), a tasteful soul music cover ("You're As Right As Rain"), and memorable cinematic pieces ("Golden Apple" and "Dream Journey"). There is also the notable inclusion of a bonus track ("Here Let My Life"), which was previously only released in Japan. The album will be re-issued by evosound on the 21st of April 2023.
Famed worldwide as a film composer, Ryiuchi Sakamoto began his career as a pianist, creating patterns, phrases and innovative arrangements before joining his first commercial electronic pop band in 1978, the Yellow Magic Orchestra. Around the same time, he worked on his first solo album, the Thousand Knives of Ryuichi Sakamoto (1978), which blends up-to-date electronic techniques with an old-fashioned gift for good tunes. Riot in Lagos brought him fame beyond Japan, and he went on to work with many top producers of pop, dance and electro. In 1983, Nagisa Oshima's Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence launched Sakamoto's career as a film composer, which has gone from strength to strength with scores for The Last Emperor (1987) and The Revenant (2015). All these pieces feature in Jeroen van Veen's survey, which is based on the best modern edition of these scores and often differs from Sakamoto's own, partly improvised recordings. Classical listeners will appreciate Sakamoto's breadth of reference: to Chopin (Ubi), Bach (Andata, Solari), Glass (Bibo no Aozora), Satie (Opus), Brahms (Intermezzo) and Ravel (Bachata), for example. But his language of minimalist jazz is one enjoyed around the world as music that gives listeners the space to think and work and create for themselves.
Tessarini: Sei Sonate, Op. 14; Il Piacier delle dame
Tactus
CD
$21.99Sep 05, 2025
Japanese flutist Eriko Oi, winner of the International Early Music Competition in Yamanashi (Japan), is joined by harpsichordist Tung-Han Hu in this production featuring the world premiere recording of works for flute and continuo by Italian composer Carlo Tessarini, born in Rimini in the late 17th century. A violin virtuoso active throughout Europe and a prolific composer, Tessarini - like many of his contemporaries - also ventured into writing for the flute, significantly enriching the instrument's repertoire. The performance of the two collections presented in this CD demonstrates that Tessarini was undoubtedly a profound connoisseur of the flute's unique qualities, fully exploiting it's dynamic and expressive potential.
For our first all-new 24K Gold CD releases in eight years, we worked with jazz icon Patricia Barber and Premonition Records to bring you three classics from her catalog: CAFE BLUE, COMPANION, and NIGHTCLUB. Each has been newly remastered from the original analog tapes (CAFE BLUE by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio, COMPANION and NIGHTCLUB by Bernie Grundman at Bernie Grundman Mastering). They feature our deluxe book-style packaging with booklets that pay homage to the original CDs while updating them to Impex Records' look and feel. The Limited Edition Impex 24K Gold CD Patricia Barber Series are manufactured at Memory-Tech's state-of-the-art facility in Japan.
The Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo, was founded in 1962 by Japan's three leading media companies--The Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper company, Nippon Television Network Corporation (NTV) and Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation (YTV). The orchestra performs around 100 concerts each year true to its founding mission of dedicating to promoting the universe of classical music in Japan. On this release, the ensemble pairs Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and Bartok’s The Miraculous Mandarin Suite. French-born conductor Sylvain Cambreling is a musician with big ideas. A thought-provoking, colourful and dramatic artist, and persuasive champion of contemporary music, he has a flair for grabbing the attention of audiences, yet his originality is rooted in thorough knowledge of musicology.
Hiromi's 2021 album, Silver Lining Suite, pairs her virtuosic and emotive piano with a string quartet assembled by violinist Tatsuo Nishie, concertmaster of the New Japan Philharmonic. Devised for a series of live-streamed concerts at the Blue Note Tokyo during the Covid pandemic, the results blur the lines between classical music and jazz, crafting a vibrant hybrid possessed of the fervent, rock-inspired energy and cinematic beauty that Hiromi has always instilled in her music
Pizzetti: Symphony in A & Harp Concerto / Iorio, Bassani, RAI National Symphony Orchestra
Naxos
CD
$19.99May 12, 2017
Composed in 1940, Pizzetti's Symphony in A was one of the works, which included Benjamin Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem, commissioned to celebrate the 2600th anniversary of the accession of the legendary first Emperor of Japan. This powerful and unsettling work, Pizzetti's only Symphony, is notable for its ominous mood, its compositional progress between February and June 1940 mirroring the unfolding European conflict and Italy's own declaration of war. Written twenty years later for Italy's leading harpist Clelia Gatti Aldrovandi, the sunny Harp Concerto is, by contrast, both lyrical and vivacious.
Daqun: Percussion Works / Zhengdao, Stick Game Percussion Ensemble, Gu Feng Percussion Ensemble
Naxos
CD
$19.99Feb 09, 2018
Jia Daqun is one of his country’s most internationally admired composers, whose Flavor of Bashu was named Chinese Classic Musical Composition of the 20th century by the Chinese government. The evocative percussion works here exemplify his ability to combine a variety of musical cultures and instruments in a single work. In Pole this is achieved through the fusing of Chinese traditional percussive instruments and those from the West, whilst in The Song without Words a panoply of vivid instrumentation celebrates the quarter-century of diplomatic relations between China and Japan. Jia draws on elegant folk customs and uses evocative native instruments such as gongs, ban-drum and muyus (Chinese temple block) in the exotic Sound Games.
Monteverdi: Vespro Della Beata Vergine / Suzuki, Et Al
BIS
CD
$34.99Mar 01, 2001
‘Our main purpose for this recording,’ writes Masaaki Suzuki, ‘was to perform all the music contained in the collection that Monteverdi published in 1610.’ So he begins with the Missa In illo tempore, a superb example of old-style, elaborate polyphony; moves through the Vespers themselves, following the original order of the pieces and interpolating nothing; then, after the lavish Magnificat a 7, he ends with the more modest Magnificat a 6, which Monteverdi appended as an alternative.
This straightforward approach seems almost radical given the current glut of more fanciful versions, in which conductors reshuffle the Vespers, pepper them with antiphons and works by other composers and variously ‘adapt’ them to fit specific liturgical occasions. Such diverse interpretations make the choice of a benchmark recording highly subjective. Gardiner (dramatic, on Archiv) and Parrott (intimate and liturgically correct, on Virgin Veritas) offer fine, contrasting views, and several other versions (Christie, Garrido, Junghänel, Pickett) are well worth exploring.
This new set is consistently engaging. Unlike his rivals, Suzuki uses a high pitch of A=465Hz (common in Monteverdi’s Italy), but follows current thinking in transposing certain pieces down a fourth (the Missa, the Magnificats, ‘Lauda Jerusalem’). Performances throughout are expressive, sharply focused, intensely committed. Though he dispenses with liturgical trappings, Suzuki, aided by a spacious ‘churchy’ acoustic, certainly brings out the ritualistic and devotional character of the music, from the ornate orchestral splendour of the ‘Sonata sopra Sancta Maria’ to the tender vocal passions of ‘Pulchra es’ and ‘Duo Seraphim’. Excellent.
Two CD + NTSC/Region 0 DVD. 85-minutes of live material that personifies the art of the effortless, elegant and economical, Bill Bruford. The second in a two-volume anthology of concert footage of Bill Bruford's Earthworks covering the1990s. Filmed on tour in Germany (1991), Japan (1991), and Bulgaria (1999). Chronicling the band's progress from it's electronic start to it's acoustic renaissance. Featuring Django Bates, the Ivor Novello Award-winning keyboardist and tenor horn player Eb. This 3-disc second volume of the anthology has been out of print for some time. It is re-issued here on Bruford's own Summerfold Records and was produced and overseen personally by him.
This is Edward Gardner's sixth release on LPO Label, and the third that celebrates the 20th anniversary of the label in 2025. This Britten program was recorded at London's Royal Festival Hall (Sinfonia da Requiem and The Prince of the Pagodas) and Saffron Hall (Winter Words). A bold, early masterpiece written at just twenty-six and originally commissioned to commemorate Japan's 2600th imperial anniversary, Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem was rejected for being too solemn, but emerged as his only major purely orchestral work and a powerful response to the growing threat of war. Winter Words Britten's poignant song cycle originally for tenor and piano, set to texts of 8 poems by Thomas Hardy is presented here in a new orchestration by Robin Holloway-a world premiere recording. The Prince of the Pagodas, Britten's ballet with Edward Gardner's distilled concert suite from The Prince of the Pagodas-another world premiere recording-fulfils Britten's unrealised ambition to arrange his full-length ballet into a dramatic orchestral suite.
Libera, a boys choral group based in south London making beautiful, progressive albums in the classical and the ambient/new age style, have recorded "Beyond", their eagerly-anticipated new album - a transformative and spiritual musical experience. This comes hot on the heels of their successful 2017 "Hope" album. Even with 50 million hits on You Tube, performances for Popes and Presidents, Classical Brit nominations, and their most recent USA and Japan tours a triumph with the critics and at the box office, Libera remain one of the UK's best-kept secrets. "Beyond" includes "Sanctus" with it's extraordinary vocal range and heavenly serenity, the breathtakingly beautiful melodic elegance of "Salve Regina", the exciting and uplifting "Benedictus Deus" and, as an antidote to the angst and pressures of modern life, "Voca me" - and the exquisite voices and harmonies of Libera. "Beyond" is an inspirational journey to the depths of your own consciousness, away from the noise and bustle to find a quiet place to relax and rejuvenate the spirit. The distinctive sound of Libera has travelled the world in the last few years. The group's albums have topped both mainstream and classical charts in many countries, and their recordings hold their place in top 10s alongside major artists. Libera's unique sound has endeared the group to fans all over the world, particularly in the USA, the UK, the Philippines, South Korea and Japan, where their CDs top the mainstream and classical charts and where they pack concert halls appearing in their trademark flowing white robes on imaginatively lit stages. The boys who make up the vocal band Libera normal South London kids aged 7 to 16. However, as their recordings and performances demonstrate, the music they produce is truly extraordinary. With shimmering, mystical chords and ecstatic harmonies, they are unlike any other group you have ever heard.
On April 2, 1979, Japanese musicians and Fluxus practitioners Takehiosa Kosugi and Akio Suzuki recorded New Sense of Hearing at Tokyo's Aeolian Hall. Described by Suzuki as the "culmination" of their sound, New Sense documents their experiments with instruments both traditional and avant-garde.
Marimbist Fumito Nunoya has enjoyed international fame as one of the most in demand marimba players of our day. A native of Odate Japan, he is currently based out of Herford in Germany, where he teaches at the Academy of Music in Detmold. In addition to performing across Europe, he frequently gives concerts in the United States and Japan. For this release, he has chosen classic works, which he arranged for his instrument, like Chopin’s Barcarolle in F-sharp major, Op. 60, and selections from Bach’s Partitas and Sonatas. Nunoya is joined on this recording by pianist Momoko Shano and fellow marimbist Hiroya Honda.
Puccini’s Japanese tragedy Madama Butterfly is given a ravishing production by The Royal Opera. Its alluring imagery of Japan from the 19th-century European Imagination heightens the intense clash of East and West. When the American naval officer Pinkerton seduces the young ‘Butterfly’ Cio-Cio-San, he seems to promise every happiness – but his cruel abandonment leads to her tragic self-sacrifice. Antonio Pappano, Music Director of The Royal Opera and renowned for his interpretations of Puccini, conducts an exceptionally fine cast with the Royal Opera Chorus and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. Powerful performances show why Madama Butterfly remains one of the all-time operatic favourites. ‘‘Always at his best in Puccini, Antonio Pappano conducts with passionate sincerity.’’ (The Guardian 5 Stars) ‘‘An opera that ranks among the very greatest of the 20th century.’’ (The Daily Telegraph 4 Stars) ‘‘Ermonela Jaho is the best Cio-Cio-San London has seen in years’’ (Independent 4 Stars) -----
REVIEWS:
The Albanian soprano Ermonela Jaho is one of the great singing actresses of our time. Hers is not a sumptuous soprano, but the colors she brings to her portrayal are astonishing. Her Flower Duet with Elizabeth DeShong's feisty, sympathetic Suzuki is quite beautifully sung. Pappano - arguably today's greatest Puccianian conductor - draws ardent playing from the orchestra, superbly detailed in its commentaries.
– Gramophone
Pappano is particularly alert to Puccini borrowing traditional Japanese melodies; at times he makes you hear this score, as well as the drama on stage, as a tug of war between East and West. It’s Sharpless and Suzuki who steal the show – a consul with a tender conscience from Scott Hendricks and Elizabeth DeShong as a maid who could melt the stoniest of hearts.
![Herbert von Karajan: Maestro for the Screen [Blu-ray]](http://arkivmusic.com/cdn/shop/files/3387099.jpg?v=1786833736&width=400)
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