Rwap Raupp / Cyz / Bertok / Bulank / Various - 1000 Jahre Bautzen - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

The guitar is traditionally the preserve of the Spanish. But Timothy Bowers, born near London in 1954, has found a rather more English side to the instrument understated emotion expressed in an accessible language, unforced elegance, crisp and clean textures and a degree of reserve; extending it's frame of reference, much of this music has the unhurried delicacy of a Japanese water-colour and the hint of folksong that comes with the guitar itself. This album, the first dedicated to Bowers' guitar music, has the stamp of authenticity it is performed by musicians with whom he has worked closely, and the recording was supervised by the composer himself.

100 YEARS or, InchThe Country at One HundredInch is a large suite, a collective work of the Prague Six, the composers concentrated around the Concept Art Orchestra big band. The composition originated as a tribute to the one hundredth anniversary of the foundation of Czechoslovakia in 2018 and consists of six parts in which the authors allude to various periods in the history of the Czechoslovak and later Czech Republic, with originality and energy typical of the big band. Štepánka Balcarová, Jan Jirucha, Luboš Soukup, Martin Brunner, Tomáš Sýkora and Vít Krištan each have authored one of the six movements in which they make full use of all the orchestration possibilities offered by a big band, expanding these with non-traditional instruments such as Ondes Martenot, the chimes or Moog synthetizer. The individual compositions also include sensitive references to period music and samples and citations from political speeches. The fourth movement, dedicated to the period of the so-called normalization in the 1970s and 1980s and based on the motives of a song by The Plastic People of the Universe, features a special guest, the saxophonist Vratislav Brabenec. This, already third recording by Concept Art Orchestra on the Animal Music tag confirms the indisputable place of the band (the holder of the 2015 Andel Award for the best jazz album of the year) on the current big-band scene and testifies to their capacity to create original works rooted in the current musical and historical context as well as perform them to the highest professional standards.

For the 75th anniversary of the Detmold University of Music, GENUIN is presenting a collection of lovingly restored recordings from the 1970s and 80s. As we gradually leaf through the booklet and listen through the four albums, we are treated to a veritable cornucopia highly personal recordings by great musicians who played a significant role in shaping not only the history of the Detmold Institute, but also that of German post-war music history. The deeply stirring interpretations include works by Reger, Schoenberg, Brahms, and Beethoven, performed by Tibor Varga, André Navarra, Helmut Winschermann and many others!