The Mountain Goats - Songs For Pierre Chuvin - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

From Peter Hughes of The Mountain Goats InchThe theme this time around is goth, a subject closer to my heart perhaps than that of any Mountain Goats album previous. And while John writes the songs, as he always has, it feels more than ever like he's speaking for all of us in the band, erstwhile goths (raises hand) or otherwise, for these are songs that approach an identity most often associated with youth from a perspective that is inescapably adult. InchAnyone old enough to have had the experience of finding oneself at sea in a cultural landscape that's suddenly indecipherable will empathize with Pat Travers showing up to a Bauhaus show looking to jam, for example. But underneath the outward humor, there is evident throughout a real tenderness toward, and solidarity with, our former fellow travelers - the friends whose bands never made it out of Fender's Ballroom, the Gene Loves Jezebels of the world - the ones whose gothic paths were overtaken by the realities of life, or of it's opposite. InchIt's something we talk about a lot, how fortunate and grateful we are to share this work, a career that's become something more rewarding and fulfilling than I think any of us could have imagined. We all know how easily it could've gone the other way, and indeed for a long time did.Inch

After a first recording of Beethoven's Diabelli Variations acclaimed by the critics (Diapason d'Or, BBC, Guardian, Le Monde) Filippo Gorini, a student of Alfred Brendel and winner of the first Prize and Audience Prize of the Bonn Beethoven Competition in 2015, pursues a fast-growing career. His concert appearances have drawn unanimous acclaim on many prestigious stages such as the Berlin Konzerthaus, Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, Munich Herkulessaal, Società del Quartetto di Milano and the Samsung Concert Hall in Seoul. Here he returns to Beethoven and tackles the perilous Sonata no.29, known as the 'Hammerklavier', which the composer himself said would pose a challenge for future generations, along with the Sonata no.32, which according to Thomas Mann represents the supreme accomplishment of and 'farewell' to sonata form.

Beat the Champ is about professional wrestling, which was an avenue of escape for me when I was a kid. Wrestling was low-budget working class entertainment back then, strictly UHF material. It was cheap theater. You had to bring your imagination to the proceedings and you got paid back double. I wrote these songs to re-immerse myself in the blood and fire of the visions that spoke to me as a child, and to see what more there might be in them now that I'm grown.' - John Darnielle, Durham, NC.