Jan Bartos - Beethoven & Reicha: Piano Concertos - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Ravel's opera L'Enfant et les sortilèges captures an imaginative child's world in which the creatures and objects around him come to life. Wittily portrayed in Colette's inventive libretto and by Ravel's meticulous orchestration, furniture, crockery and animals alike are at first provoked by the child's appalling behavior, finally helping him after he bandages the squirrel's paw he had previously pricked with his pen. The unforgettably enchanting Mother Goose translates well-known fairytales into music, including the gently melodic Sleeping Beauty's Pavane, her conversation with the gruffest of beasts, and a final blessing in The Fairy Garden. Leonard Slatkin, music director of the Orchestre National de Lyon and the Detroit Symphony, has made more than 100 recordings that in total have earned him seven Grammy® awards and 64 Grammy® nominations.

?What do Bedrich Smetana and Miloslav Kabelác have in common that they feature on Jan Bartoš's new album? Both of them were distinguished composers, conductors and pianists. Both of them created modern and timeless music for piano, which, however, remains overshadowed by their symphonic works. Smetana was writing his cycle Rêves (1875) at the time when he was completing Šárka and From Bohemian Fields and Groves, perhaps the most remarkable of the six tone poems comprising Má vlast. Kabelác was composing the two piano cycles, Op. 30 and Op. 38, while also focusing on Mystery of Time, his symphonic magnum opus, which in recent years has been discovered by some of the world's most renowned orchestras, in Berlin, Cleveland, London and elsewhere. Kabelác's life serves as a prime example of the fates that befell the Czech humanists, artists and intellectuals from the 1930s to the 1970s amid the turbulent historical events. While his music garnered success worldwide, he was silenced by the Communist regime in his homeland. Kabelác's style evolved from complex to simple, thus in many respects ushering in the accession of post-modernism and minimalism. As attested to by his cycle Motifs from Exotic Lands, he was boldly inspired by non-European traditional music. Following on from critically acclaimed Leoš Janácek (Gramophone Editor's Choice) and Vítezslav Novák albums, Jan Bartoš is now presenting Kabelác and Smetana in live recordings made at the Dvorák Hall of Prague's Rudolfinum. Jan Bartoš presents to the world little-known Czech piano gems.

Percussion Bitter Sweet, released in 1961 on Impulse! Records, is one of preeminent jazz drummer Max Roach's most politically charged and musically expansive recordings. Recorded over two days in September 1960 at Universal Studios in Chicago, the record reflects Roach's deepening engagement with themes of social justice and Pan-African identity. The ensemble features trumpeter Tommy Turrentine, tenor saxophonist Clifford Jordan, and tuba innovator Ray Draper, alongside Roach's own commanding blend of cymbal textures, mallets, and explosive rhythmic detail. The inclusion of vocalist Abbey Lincoln - Roach's artistic and political partner at the time - adds urgency and emotional power to the project's most pointed statements. Elsewhere, InchMamaInch and InchPraise for a MartyrInch explore personal and collective grief through dynamic interplay and modal intensity. The Verve Vault series is always mastered from analog tapes and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.