With the vast majority of Beethoven's works being frequently performed as part of the modern canon, we can sometimes forget those few pieces that often lie dormant. This Hyperion album, featuring the Nash Ensemble, celebrates three such works. The program opens with the Op. 104 C minor String Quintet, which keen listeners will instantly recognize as a transcription of the Op. 1/3 Piano Trio. The quintet version came into being as a sort of "oneupsmanship" after an amateur composer submitted his own transcription. Beethoven, who accurately assessed that he could do better, rewrote it and published it as Op. 104. If you're not already familiar with the piano trio, you may never know that the string quintet began its life in a different genre. Beethoven's writing is highly idiomatic while preserving almost the entire original score of the trio. The Nash Ensemble's performance is equally refined and stunning, making it all the more curious why this piece is not performed more frequently.

Progressive rock bands stumbled into the '80s, some with the crutch of commercial concessions under one arm, which makes the Moody Blues' elegant entrance via Long Distance Voyager all the more impressive. Ironically enough, this was also the only album that the group ever got to record at their custom-designed Threshold Studio, given to them by Decca Records head Sir Edward Lewis in the early '70s and built to their specifications, but completed while they were on hiatus and never used by the band until Long Distance Voyager (the preceding album, Octave, having been recorded in California to accommodate Mike Pinder), before it was destroyed in the wake of Decca's sale to Polygram. In that connection, it was their best sounding album to date, and in just about every way is a happier listening experience than Octave was, much as it appears to have been a happier recording experience…

Frijid Pink's self-titled debut album is a slashing, seriously soulful example of late-'60s Detroit rock near its best. Although they never registered with critics or rock historians the way MC5 or the Stooges did, Frijid Pink had obviously learned something in the course of two years on the road, and with Mike Valvano producing, they were able to channel the excitement of their work onto the grooves of this album very neatly. Those who bought the number seven single "House of the Rising Sun" weren't disappointed with the bluesy boogie sound of "I'm on My Way" or the slowed-down Yardbirds approach of "Drivin' Blues" (somehow, when Kelly Green sang "My woman loves me" it seemed to matter), and even if "Tell Me Why" was a tuneless mess, Gary Thompson made up for it with a fuzz-out guitar performance that sounded like speaker burnout in slow motion…

This release from 2005 offers 56 minutes of calming electronic music recorded live at the Liquid Sound Festival at the Toskana Therme, Bad Sulza on November 8, 2003. Mario Schönwälder, Detlef Keller (both on synths) and Thomas Kagerman (on violin) are joined by “friends”: Bas Broekhuis (on percussion), Gerd Wienekamp (from Rainbow Serpent) and Chris Lang (both on synths), and Andrea Saphira Leonhardi (on ethereal voice).
Employing gradually building strains in an improvisational milieu, the performers generate a distinguished dose of soothing sonics that steadfastly mounts in density and passion. Languid textures coalesce while percussion lurks with subtle presence. Violin drones enter the mix, flavoring the tuneage with a classical edge and injecting a romantic flair with melancholy definition…

Nine CD set. This collection gathers together the nine albums that Judy Collins recorded during the '70s and '80s: Whales & Nightingales, Living, True Stories And Other Dreams, Judith, Bread And Roses, Hard Times For Lovers, Running For My Life, Times Of Our Lives, and Home Again.. The albums are in CD-sized facsimile of the original sleeves, along with a booklet that compiles the credits and liner notes from those sleeves plus a note by Mick Houghton, author of Becoming Elektra: The True Story Of Jac Holzman's Visionary Record Label. They were all made for Jac Holzman's Elektra Records, a label she helped to shape in the '60s in her first decade as a recording artist through her adventurous spirit. Her forte was imaginative interpreting songs by her peers and she continued this trend throughout the '70s and into the '80s.

Four CD set. Best known for their 1965 hit, the brooding garage pop masterpiece 'Take A Heart', Coventry band The Sorrows cut a clutch of similarly vital 45s and the Take A Heart album before frontman Don Fardon left in 1966. While Fardon went on to a solo career, The Sorrows regrouped and moved to Italy, where they had a couple of minor hit singles and released the psych-rock album Old Songs, New Songs before breaking up at the end of the decade. While those two distinct phases of the band have been individually anthologized before, Pink Purple Yellow And Red represents the first time that they have been assembled under one roof, and as such stands as the definitive document of The Sorrows' fascinating career. In addition to those pivotal mid-Sixties singles, the package includes the entire "Take A Heart" album in both mono and stereo, the "Old Songs, New Songs" LP and an earlier acetate-only demo album that was scrapped when two members of the band left. The set also features their collaborations with soundtrack maestro Ennio Morricone, their title song to the Italian spy movie Ypotron, a superb acetate-only early 1968 single, spin-off singles by The Eggy and Renegade, a 1980 live show from the reformed band and, in a thrilling new archival find, four previously unissued 1964 recordings with legendary producer Joe Meek. Housed in a clamshell box, and including a lavish booklet containing many rare photos and a detailed essay on the band's activities, the set Pink Purple Yellow And Red is an essential purchase for anyone with more than a passing interest in Sixties British pop.

Three CD set. Coming together at the end of the Sixties, Essex band Dear Mr. Time were a five-piece progressive rock outfit influenced by the likes of King Crimson and The Moody Blues. The independent Square label released the band's seven-ages-of-man concept album Grandfather in early 1971. With Vertigo's interest in signing Dear Mr. Time scuppered by the fact that Square had signed them to an exclusive three-year deal, the band decided to split before a second album could be recorded. By the early Nineties, original copies of Grandfather were selling for large sums of money, and the album was counterfeited several times before finally being legally reissued in 2010. Buoyed by the reception that the official reissue received, the core members of Dear Mr. Time reconvened, recording two further albums - Brontosaurs And Bling and Time - as well as recording tracks for a proposed fourth album. This anthology of the band's work assembles all three Dear Mr. Time albums and adds that proposed fourth album. We also add some fascinating early Seventies home demos from guitarist and chief songwriter Chris Baker, performing a batch of songs that would have formed the basis of that aborted follow-up to Grandfather. With a booklet that illustrates the band's story with rare photos and new quotes, our expanded release of Grandfather is the final word on a progressive rock band who, although they made a limited impression at the time, have now attracted collector interest for more than three decades.

First-ever complete 3CD anthology of cult late 60s UK psychedelic pop band The Mirage. Features all of their singles (including pseudonymous releases), numerous demos, previously-unreleased recordings and BBC sessions.After serving an apprenticeship on the mid-60s Hertfordshire beat scene, The Mirage became house band at Beatles’ publisher Dick James’ Oxford Street demo studio. After forming a friendship with The Hollies, The Mirage cut a couple of singles for CBS before James and his regular business partner, Kinks/Troggs manager Larry Page, oversaw the band’s subsequent, heavily Beatles-influenced releases on the Philips and Page One labels. The Mirage then moved over to Mervyn Conn’s Carnaby label, where they cut a single as Portebello Explosion before releasing a 1970 album under the name Jawbone. A lavish 3CD digipack set, ‘The World Goes On Around You’ is the first-ever complete Mirage anthology, featuring all of their singles, the Jawbone album, numerous studio out- takes, alternative versions and BBC sessions.

The Seer is the third studio album by the Scottish band Big Country, released in 1986. The album featured very traditional Scottish musical settings, reminiscent of the band's debut album The Crossing (1983). Kate Bush worked on the title song in a duet with lead singer and lyricist Stuart Adamson. The album's first single, "Look Away", was an Irish number one, and was also the group's biggest hit single in the UK, reaching #7. The album reached number 2 in the UK Albums Chart.

The Norrköping Symphony Orchestra (in Swedish: Norrköpings Symfonieorchester) is one of the leaders among Sweden's crop of regional orchestras. It has spawned the careers of several conductors who went on to international renown.

But that isn’t all of the good news. Along with two regular guests, the Rijeka Symphony Orchestra, and thus the Rijeka Opera, also received a new house conductor (Kapellmeister), the young, yet already established Valentin Egel. Maestro Egel, winner of the Lovro pl. Matačić Award, recently conducted the concert “From the New World”. On that occasion, the concert audience could see why the world’s music critics have rated him as a conductor of “special strength and rich interpretation,” who delivers music “emotionally, powerfully, vividly,” and can “awaken emotions in the audience.” Maestro Egel will perform on October 3 in celebration of the 135th anniversary of the opening of the Rijeka theatre building, and will conduct a concert performance of Verdi’s Aida.

The Freiburger Barockorchester (Freiburg Baroque Orchestra) is a period-instrument ensemble focused on the authentic performance of Baroque music, though its repertoire extends into the Classical and Romantic periods as well. The group is mainly led by the concertmaster and often features members of the ensemble as soloists. The Freiburger Barockorchester was founded in 1987 in the German city known as the unofficial "Capital of the Black Forest" by a group of students who shared an interest in playing Baroque music on authentic period instruments. The orchestra performed without a conductor during the first three years of its existence, preferring to select a musician from within its ranks to lead its music on a case-by-case basis. Nevertheless, in 1990, Thomas Hengelbrock was named joint musical director along with Gottfried von der Goltz, a situation that lasted until 1997, when Hengelbrock stepped down. His place was taken by Petra Müllejans, who lead the Freiburger Barockorchester in tandem with von der Goltz. Müllejans was succeeded by Kristian Bezuidenhout in 2017.

LORD AGHEROS return to the scene, after the clamor of "Koinè", is marked by an intimate approach towards what has been created, making "Anhedonia" a bridge between past, present and future. It is a sort of musical journey between esoteric and oriental sounds, Ambient-wave elements and references to Nordic musical traditions, but without losing the identity of the project made by the beauty of the atmospheres that blend inextricably with the sonic extremism of Black Metal.

This 2015 box set is weighed down by the curious inclusion of Songs from The Capeman and You're the One, the former being one of Paul Simon's weakest records and the latter being a cult favorite, but the other three records – Paul Simon, There Goes Rhymin' Simon, and Hearts and Bones – are among his best and help make this a nice bargain-priced box.

Agartha, Personal Meditation Music is a 7 CD boxed set, originally released on cassette in 1986, at the height of New Age, as an aid for meditation and alignment. Bringing to mind 20th century composers like Eliane Radigue, La Monte Young or even Brian Eno's Shutov Assembly, the time-stopping, enveloping, electronic music contained in this series sounds eerily modern, mysterious and moving. Characterized by deep analog drones, rising overtones, floating frequencies surfing on sine-waves and intervals with mystic modulation, this is truly moving, vibrational music. In Agartha, the individual notes of each Harmonic Triad proceed in a fashion that is neither improvisational nor chance-based, nor is it generative. Instead the music flows outward as if being transmitted— or channeled — from a place outside human consciousness. There is a profound sense of cosmic depth expanding ever outward as the music fills the listener with waves of emotion, and a palpable somatic response is felt, although there are subtle differences with each unique Triad. Each disc is individually packaged in original replica sleeves and housed in a heavy duty cardboard clamshell box. Digitized and remastered by Jessica Thompson. Liner notes include extensive instructions for use from the original text and an essay by library music scholar David Hollander. The original edition of Agartha, Personal Meditation Music, featured one track 30 minute track per tape repeated on both sides. Subsequent editions had unique Side B tracks on all but two of the 7 volumes. We have included all tracks in this boxed set. "if you liked Light In The Attic’s crucial box set I Am The Center, do not sleep on this." Quietus