Giacomo Parimbelli - Harmonic Caprices for Spanish Guitar - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

The largest part of the output of the Hamburg-born composer and writer Walter Niemann (1876-1973), a student of both Humperdinck and Reinecke, is piano music an astonishing 1,000 or so pieces, divided into 189 opus numbers. Most of them are lyrical miniatures in a warm and approachable late-Romantic style, some evoking the music of the past - often with a touching degree of dignity and restraint, but also with an occasional flash of good humour.

This new presents an absorbing portrait of Abel Carlevaro (1916-2001) through his music as performed by Cristiano Poli Cappelli, an Italian guitarist making his second album for Brilliant Classics. The first was of guitar music by another relatively forgotten figure, Alexander Tansman, and it was enthusiastically reviewed by Classical Guitar magazine 'Highly recommended!' Like Tansman, Carlevaro studied with Andres Segovia, the father of the modern guitar, during the 1930s. However, he broke away from his master's teachings in order to make his own experiments in both guitar manufacture and composition. His music caught the ear of Heitor Villa-Lobos, another South American innovator, and it embraces the widest stylistic range captured by Poli Cappelli on this album, from the delicate watercolours of the Preludios Americanos (1969-74) to the vivid brushstrokes and abstract form of Cronomias (1972). Carlevaro's later music returned often to the milonga, a tango-related dance popularised in the classical sphere by Astor Piazzolla. Milonga para Ling (1999) is brief but saturated with melancholy, while to the Milonga Oriental (1994) belongs one of the composer's happiest melodic inspirations. Later still, a pair of milonga suites describe a peaceful return to the composer's heritage. An essential acquisition for guitar aficionados, but also a collection of beautiful South American melodies that deserve to travel more widely.

Seelie Court - the world's premier tag for rare and previously unreleased archive recordings of underground folk, rock, proto-metal, and psychedelic music presents Hellmet's legendary 1970 LP. Emerged from decades of obscurity to redefine proto metal and heavy psych. Long thought lost or mythical, the album blends the raw power of early Led Zeppelin with Cream-inspired improvisation and Steve Day's demonic, baroque lead guitar. It's five tracks, including the epic Judgement Day, traverse heroin addiction, torture, and doomed romance under a dense, melancholic, doom-laden atmosphere. Initially cut as acetates at Oak Studios and vanishing into legend, the LP resurfaced in 2020-21, thrilling collectors and prog enthusiasts alike. With Gustave Doré-inspired artwork and searing, complex compositions, Hellmet stands as a monumental rediscovery in heavy prog history.