Afrika Mamas - Iphupho - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Afrika Mamas / Fassie,Brenda / Kekana,Steve - Afrika Mamas [COMPACT DISCS] date 03/25/2016

Born in Bergamo in 1822, Carlo Alfredo Piatti was to the cello what Nicolò Paganini was to the violin a musician who extended the possibilities of his instrument in performance and who inspired countless composers to do the same in writing for it. His remarkable talent was immediately evident, to the extent that by 1843 he was already travelling throughout Europe on concert tours, accompanied by his father. It was Franz Liszt who described him as 'a Paganini of the Cello', presenting him with an Amati instrument as a token of his admiration. Piatti's concert-tours culminated in a visit to London, where he settled in 1846. In the mid-1800s, musical life in the British capital was full of energy and opportunity. When Verdi learnt that it would be Piatti leading the cellos in the first performances of his new opera, I Masnadieri, he wrote a Prelude consisting of a cello solo with an orchestral accompaniment, which he dedicated to the great cellist. In his own compositions Piatti reconciled virtuoso figurations with a highly lyrical approach to melody which is on show here in two of the songs he wrote for English audiences O Swallow, Swallow (to a text by Alfred, Lord Tennyson) and La Sera ('I love the hour of the dying day'), an evening-time, sentimental ballad incorporating a cello solo clearly modelled on the opening of Rossini's William Tell Overture and astutely calculated to tug at the heartstrings of his well-to-do patrons, who would also want to perform such songs themselves. However, the bulk of Piatti's music was designed to show his own skill as a cellist to best advantage. This he triumphantly did with the stupendously virtuosic Capriccio Op.22 on a theme from Pacini's Niobe. The better-known Capricci Op.25 are not included here; instead, the opportunity has been taken by Andrea Noferini to record some of Piatti's lesser-known, standalone pieces such as the

Three CDs + All Region Blu-Ray Audio disc set containing all of the Summers/Fripp material. CDs include the original albums 'I Advance Masked' & 'Bewitched' with additional tracks and a 3rd album 'Mother Hold the Candle Steady' compiled from previously unreleased / unheard newly mixed material and assembled by David Singleton plus an alternative take of InchMaquillageInch and an early slower version of InchParadeInch Blu-ray includes Both original albums and the new 3rd album - newly mixed by David Singleton in 5.1 DTS-HD MA surround & 24/96 hi-res stereo. Both original albums - the original stereo mixes, newly mastered in 24/96 hi-res stereo. A 'fly on the wall' audio documentary - 'Can We Record Tony?' - taken from Robert Fripp's own archive cassettes of the 2 guitarists' original improvisations and conversations, also in 24/96 hi-res. Presented in a 10-panel book-sized digi-sleeve with 16-page booklet including photos & sleeve-notes from new interviews with Andy Summers and Robert Fripp by King Crimson biographer. Sid Smith. Plus a fascinating 'Tale of the Tapes' page by David Singleton on how / where the previously unreleased material was recently discovered / sourced. Having crossed paths briefly in the '60s in Bournemouth where Fripp took over Andy's guitar chair in the band at Bournemouth's Majestic Hotel, it wasn't until 1981 - when Summers wrote to Fripp - that the two guitarists would work together. With King Crimson fresh from recording the now classic album 'Discipline' after a considerable break, Fripp was immediate in his response to Summers's suggestion of working together. And though The Police were busy with the recording and touring of 'Ghost in the Machine', the two guitarists somehow managed to find time to experiment, develop and record the first of their two albums.