Markiyan Melnychenko - Postcards from Ukraine, Vol. 3 – Folk Dialogues - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

The first album of Postcards from Ukraine gave a potted history of Ukrainian music in the form of a series of miniatures for piano and violin. In this second instalment four representative chamber works demonstrate how quickly Ukrainian music developed a proud and independent tradition - although all four composers here were bullied by the authoritarian regime to the north. One of them, Vasil Barvinsky, even spent ten years in the Gulag, during which time the Soviets destroyed his manuscripts. Upon his , unbowed, he set about reconstructing those lost scores, though he died before he could complete the task. His glorious A minor Piano Trio gives an indication of what was nearly lost - and how much remains to be discovered.

Deluxe 8-LP Boxset Featuring A Comprehensive Collection Of The Early Works Of The Doom Legends. Includes Newly Half-Speed Mastered Albums, Additional 48-Page Book, Plus Posters And Prints. My Dying Bride remains a productive and captivating vessel for tragedy and despair, with their studio output spanning fourteen full-length albums to date. As part of the InchPeaceville ThreeInch, along with fellow countrymen Paradise Lost and Anathema, My Dying Bride truly became a primary force in highlighting Britain as an epicentre of this Doom revolution of the time, creating a highly distinguishable sound assisted by the inclusion of violin & a more poetic approach to the delivery of morbid and salacious topics, lending an additional air of eccentricity and eloquence to the darkness. Anthology of Sombre Reflections is an expansive and comprehensive collection of the early and much-celebrated works of the Doom Gods, from the formative deathly rawness of the revered Towards the Sinister demo, 'God is Alone' 7Inch tracks and subsequent debut album, As the Flower Withers, through to the gothic-tinged funereal seductive delights of 1996's highlight, Like Gods of the Sun. With the addition of all-time genre classic opuses Turn Loose the Swans, and The Angel and the Dark River also representing My Dying Bride's much-loved early to 90's period, the band's three cult EPs are also featured in this deluxe eight-vinyl boxset, with each record presented on 180gm heavyweight black vinyl. The four studio albums themselves have also been treated to new half-speed masters courtesy of Air Studios.

Ukrainian classical music is not even two centuries old, and for most of that time has had to contend with active attempts at suppression by a bullying neighbour. But Ukrainian composers have stood their ground, not least by taking inspiration from the folk-music that has long thrived in Ukraine's mountains and fields. In this first of a series of Postcards from Ukraine the Ukrainian-Australian violinist Markiyan Melnychenko presents a programme of largely unknown miniatures for violin and piano, all based on, or inspired by, that folk-culture. Alternately sparkling and soulful, these violin showpieces make the case for a more thorough examination of the riches still to be discovered in Ukraine's musical heritage.