Les Lunes du Cousin Jacques - Magnificent Mr Handel - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Handel Complete Italian Cantatas For Bass / Raimund Nolte, Batzdorfer Hofkapelle, Composer George Frideric Handel, Performer Raimund Nolte, Orchestra/Ensemble Batzdorfer Hofkapelle, Number of Discs 1. In their recording of the complete Italian cantatas for bass solo by George Frideric Handel, the bass-baritone Raimund Nolte and the Batzdorfer Hofkapelle have tackled a repertoire which makes extensive demands on the singer. The two cantatas Nell'africane selve HWV 136a and Cuopre tal volta il cielo HWV 98, probably composed for the bass Antonio Manna in Naples in the summer of 1708, belong to the most spectacular works Handel ever wrote with their exorbitant vocal range, breathtaking leaps and bizarre changes of register. As Karl Böhmer illustrates in his informative booklet text, these two cantatas are deeply embedded in the tradition of the Italian Inchcontra bassoInch singing style mastered only by a few exceptional singers who were able to combine an extremely low register with a sinuous baritone register. The other two cantatas included on this recording, Dalla guerra amorosa HWV 102a (already a 'hit' during Handel's lifetime) and Spande ancor a mio dispetto HWV 165 are somewhat more moderate in their technical demands. These two works also focus on the description of natural phenomena and the metaphor of the war of love for the emotional state of mind expressed by the protagonist.

While it has only been 18 months since Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band's self-titled debut, they have traveled what feels like thousands of miles. Where the Messengers Meet is in real time, an expansion of the sound of the band's eponymous debut. They take those frantic, skewed elements and stretch them out, allowing room to breathe and blossom. Thematically, Where the Messengers Meet is an exercise in contrasts The delicate and gentle, the dark and furious. Mt St Helens Vietnam Band collects powerful compositions into a cohesive whole held together with rich production and a haunting atmosphere.

Deerhoof / RUNNERS FOUR The Runners Four is Deerhoof's double-LP concept album about friends banding together as honorable outlaws in a corrupt world, deciding what to save in an apocalypse, passing secret messages of warning and hope from a remade future back to a soon-to-be-destroyed present. Abundant with lyrical allusions to the flood, where cargo hold claustrophobia inside meets a watery chaos outside, it was written and self-produced by Satomi Matsuzaki, John Dieterich, Chris Cohen and Greg Saunier while they holed up in a rented Oakland rehearsal room for the winter months 2004-'05. Reissused on Pink & Blue Vinyl Double LP!