Acumen - Mark Vii - VINYL LP

The Lady Sings... Jazz and Blues Stolen Moments was recorded at the Ritz Theatre in New York City on December 4, 1992. The nineteen Jazz standards, which are highly associated with the late Billie Holiday, had been sung by the Motown diva twenty years before for the soundtrack of her award-winning film Lady Sings the Blues. With Ross in her element, obviously enjoying the moment, and with this elegant venue imbued with the smoke and mirrors of yesteryear, her performance utterly transcends a mere concert setting and becomes, truly, the performance of a lifetime.

PJEV - Medna Roso [VINYL LP] date 05/05/2023

The 24-year-old Boccherini's departure from his native Lucca in 1767 proved to be the making of him. By 1770 he had become court composer and cellist to the royal chamber of Prince Luis Antonio de Borbón, youngest son of Philip V of Spain. The ensemble at his disposal must have included an excellent flautist, for he wrote several sets of chamber music in which the flute plays the starring role, including the Quintets, Op.17 in 1773, and the Quintets, Op.19 in 1774, all dedicated to Prince Luis. The writing for the flute is orchestral in nature, as if these were concertos in disguise, with rapier-like dialogue between the two violin parts. All 12 works follow the same two-movement formal pattern, with a moderately quick opener followed by a more graceful dance, except for Op.19 No.6, subtitled 'Las parejas' (The Couples) after the ceremonial horse parade of the same name that was held at the Aranjuez palace every spring; it's movement titles (Entrada-Marcia, Galope and Entrada-Marcia) reflect the different sections of the event. The Op.55 Flute Quintets on album 3 date from 1797, having been written with an especially talented flautist/oboist in mind. By then Boccherini was set up in Madrid with a generous pension, Prince Luis having died some years earlier, as composer to separate courts in Osuna and Prussia. These later works enjoy a more relaxed temperament, by and large, though the solo writing for the flute is still highly florid and expressive even in the more stately movements such as the grave Lento to conclude Op.55 No.5.