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KORNGOLD, E.W.: Opera Highlights and Orchestral Works - Das Wunder der Heliane / Märchenbilder / Die tote Stadt (Linz Bruckner Orchestra, C. Richter) (C7350)




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Impressions of China - Winning Works from the 2018 Huang Zi International Chinese Piano Composition Competition (G. Luisi) (8.579070)

All of the works in this programme were prize winners in the hotly contested 2018 Huang Zi International Chinese Piano Composition Competition, an event marking the 80th anniversary of the death of this influential composer and educator. Themes explored include the charm and unpredictability of China’s landscape, alongside elements of Chinese musical and theatrical aesthetics. Joint First Prize winners were Emile Naoumoff, whose Celestial Parade describes the composer’s wonderful experiences while in Shanghai, and Zhiliang Zhang, whose Qiao Ling Liu Dan portrays six widely differing ‘Dan’ or female characters in Sichuanese opera.




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HERNÁNDEZ, S.: Piano Music Initiation to the Shadow / Terra Santa / Fantasia for Piano / Don't Forget About That (S. Hernández) (8.579072)

The distinguished Spanish composer and pianist Sira Hernández is known especially for her involvement with multi-discipline arts projects at major international festivals and cultural events. Many of her works are inspired by Italian artists as can be heard on this album. Minimalist techniques and the significance of tonality and timbre in communicating darkness and light are heard in Iniciación a la sombra and the sewing-machine ostinatos of Fantasía para piano. The presence of God amidst the bleak spaces of madness are expressed in Terra Santa, and the intensity of Don’t Forget About That invites us to resist oblivion.




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Harp Recital: Plachá, Barbora - KRUMPHOLTZ, J.-B. / DUSSEK, J.L. (Works for Harp) (UP0216)




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FISCHER-DIESKAU, Dietrich: Lied Edition, Vol. 1 - ZELTER, C.F. / REICHARDT, J.F. / SPOHR, L. / WOLF, H. / PFITZNER, H. (C992205)




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DOHNÁNYI, E.: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 (Gülbadamova, Rheinland-Pfalz State Philharmonic, Matiakh) (C5387)




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CLARKE, N.: Mysteries of the Horizon / Dial 'H' for Hitchcock / Swift Severn's Flood (Vanhoorne, Grimethorpe Colliery Band, Thornton, Clarke, S.Smith) (8.574097)

Nigel Clarke has always been fascinated by virtuosity and timbre—it is the brass band genre that has lent itself most to his passion for musical athleticism. Dial ‘H’ for Hitchcock is an imaginary film score in the film noir vein, complete with classic and chilling sound effects, while the heroic, brooding and violent Swift Severn’s Flood was inspired by a line from Shakespeare. Cornet concerto Mysteries of the Horizon examines the atmosphere of paintings by René Magritte, and Earthrise celebrates one of the most iconic photographs in history and the drama of the Apollo 8 mission.




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CHOPIN, F.: Scherzos Nos. 1-4 / Impromptus Nos. 1-3 / Fantasy-Impromptu / Allegro de concert (Mao Fujita) (8.574052)

Chopin turned the Scherzo into a new form of piano composition: an independent virtuoso work which he laced with drama, Polish folk song, tranquillity and nuance. With their rhythmic lilt and filigree ornamentation the Impromptus are infused with Romantic freedom, while the Allegro de concert, Op. 46 was originally conceived as a movement for a projected piano concerto but was instead revised for solo piano.




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Cello, Soprano and Piano Recital: Ruh, Janina / Kusnezow, Boris - POULENC, F. / DEBUSSY, C. / FRANCK, C. (Dialogues) (SWR19030CD)




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BOITO, A.: Mefistofele [Opera] (F. Furlanetto, Filianoti, Theodossiou, Zaramella, Palermo Teatro Massimo Chorus and Orchestra, Ranzani) (CDS581)




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BEETHOVEN, L. van: String Quartets Nos. 13 and 15 / Grosse Fuge (Tetzlaff Quartet) (ODE1347-2D)




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BALZAC, H. de: Cousin Bette (Unabridged) (NA0458)

Lisbeth Fischer has lived in the shadow of her beautiful cousin Adeline for much of her life. Pampered while Lisbeth works in the fields, Adeline makes an enviable leap in status when Baron Hulot offers her his hand in marriage. Out of kindness, they bring Lisbeth to Paris, where she falls in love with the artist Wenceslas, her protégé. However, when she is jilted for Adeline’s daughter Hortense, her jealousy and rage exponentially intensify, and she resolves to bring the Hulot family to ruin, employing the cold seductress Valérie Marneffe as her vehicle for revenge. A classic tale of obsession, self-destruction and unabated desire, Cousin Bette is a blazing portrayal of libertine France, and the fatal excesses which drive the novel to its dark end.




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BALADA, L.: Clarinet Works - Caprichos Nos. 6 and 7 / Double Concerto (Ivanov, Rominski, Polaczyk, Eryılmaz, Larson) (8.579056)

Barcelona native Leonardo Balada’s creative style has been labelled ‘Dalí’s surrealism in music’—an aspect of his work explored in this programme through the technique of ‘sound transformation’ in which abstract musical materials become familiar melody. Fusing traditional and contemporary elements, Caprichos Nos. 6 and 7 engage intimately with Spanish culture and history, while the virtuoso Double Concerto, heard here in an arrangement for flute, clarinet and piano, blends well-known Mexican folk tunes with the composer’s distinctive avant-garde style.




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Violin Recital: Arnoldi, Roberto - ANZAGHI, D. / ARNOLDI, N. / GARBARINO, G. / SPINOSA, R. / VACCHI, F. (New Music for Solo Violin) (TC940003)




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SIERRA, R.: Cantares / Loíza / Triple Concierto (Trío Arbós, Cornell University Chorus and Glee Club, Xalapa Symphony, Marcelletti) (8.559876)

Roberto Sierra’s refined compositional voice is subtly combined with contemporary musical techniques and his Puerto Rican heritage in the three works recorded here. Cantares, commissioned by the Cornell University Chorus and Glee Club to celebrate the university’s sesquicentennial anniversary, evokes ancient Peruvian, Aztec and Afro Caribbean voices lost in time. The virtuoso Triple Concierto transforms the popular Caribbean rhythms of salsa, bolero and merengue into complex contemporary expressions, while the polyrhythmic layers of Loíza conjure a Puerto Rican town known for its strong African traditions.




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PROKOFIEV, S.: Songs and Romances (Gritskova, Prinz) (8.574030)

Sergey Prokofiev is acknowledged as one of the 20th century’s greatest composers, and his enduring popularity today rests on a rich legacy of orchestral and chamber works. Less well-known are his songs, which display a lyrical component that suited his liking for clear and simple forms. This can be heard particularly in Five Poems of Anna Akhmatova, but all of these pieces show Prokofiev to be a worthy successor of the great 19th-century tradition of art songs. Margarita Gritskova’s voice was described by Opera News as ‘a spectacular instrument’ in her recording of Russian Songs on Naxos 8.573908.




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Piano Music (French) - BOULEZ, P. / DEBUSSY, C. / MESSIAEN, O. / RAVEL, M. (Rare French Piano Music) (van Raat) (8.573894)

This album of French piano rarities features seldom-heard and recently discovered works by composers who had an influence on Pierre Boulez, as well as the premiere recording of Boulez’s Prélude, Toccata et Scherzo. This large-scale early work looks back on virtuosic Romantic music, while at the same time exploring the new compositional styles that Boulez would subsequently embrace. Among the rarities is a posthumously discovered piano study by Debussy, a reconstructed birdsong work by Messiaen, and a tiny masterpiece by Ravel found in a notebook.




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Opéra-Comique Overtures - BOIELDIEU, F.-A. / DELIBES, L. / GOUNOD, C.-F. / HALÉVY, F. / HÉROLD, F. / LECOCQ, C. (Vienna Radio Symphony, M. Halász) (8.574122)

Opéra-comique emerged in the 19th century as an intermediary between grand opera and burlesque operetta. This album charts its progression as a distinct genre, tracing the origins from Boieldieu and Méhul early in the century via the classic vitality of masters such as Hérold and Maillart into the operetta style of Offenbach and Lecocq. With innovative features, colourful orchestration, drama, wit and atmospheric writing, the operas proved very popular and these overtures encapsulate their immense vivacity and charm.




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LISZT, F.: Wanderer Fantasy / SCHUBERT, F.: Piano Sonata No. 13 / BRAHMS, J.: Handel Variations (C. Park, Eschenbach) (C5412)




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HAYDN, J.: Cello Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 (N. Clein, Recreation - Graz Grosses Orchester, Hofstetter) (OC1895)




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HAYDN, J.: 6 Original Canzonettas, Books 1 and 2 / Lieder (Britain's Glory) (Horak, R. Fuller) (Gramola99212)




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HAUG, H.: Guitar Concertino / Wind Quintet / Guitar Quintet (Minder, Basel Philharmonic Quintet, Il Piccola Orchestra, Zemtsov) (8.551426)




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GYPSY Zingaros: Tango (EUCD2905)




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GROVEN, E.: Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2 (Kristiansand Symphony, Szilvay) (8.573871)

Many interwar Norwegian composers tried to create a new national music by combining elements of authentic folk music with new techniques. Eivind Groven was considered one of the most innovative composers in this quest, integrating the structure of folk dances from his rural upbringing into familiar formal principles. Both symphonies make use of techniques of so-called ‘progressive transformation’, which led fellow composer Arne Nordheim to declare: ‘While others made instrumentations of folk tunes, Groven created sounds, for example in his [two] symphonies which, in my opinion, are quite unique.’




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Flute and Piano Recital: Mazzoli, Filippo / Dang, Nathalie - LEFORT, A. / MASSON, L. / MORET, E. / SEITZ, A. (Chant dans la nuit) (CDS7862)




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CELTIC Brian Ó hEadhra / Fiona Mackenzie: TÌR - Highland Life and Lore (NXW76115-2)




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BOULEZ, P.: Incises (revised version, 2001) (van Raat) (9.70294)

This digital single complements Naxos 8.573894, an album of French piano rarities also performed by Ralph van Raat.




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BEETHOVEN, L. van: Folk Songs (Bohnet, D. Johannsen, Klimbacher, Herzer, Christelbauer, B. Bartos) (8.574174)

George Thomson of Edinburgh, a notable promoter of Scottish music, encouraged settings of his nation’s folk songs. In particular, he found a rich source of arrangements in Vienna, where he commissioned first Haydn and then Beethoven to set a large sequence of poems, including those of Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott. Thomson envisaged simple works, agreeable to amateurs, but Beethoven found it impossible to compose within such limitations and his settings, which include Irish and Welsh songs, with the accompaniment of strings and piano, have proved perennially popular.




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DEBUSSY, C.: Pelléas et Mélisande [Opera] (Zürich Opera, 2016) (NTSC) (BAC157)




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DEBUSSY, C.: Pelléas et Mélisande [Opera] (Zürich Opera, 2016) (Blu-ray, Full-HD) (BAC457)




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LAZAR, B. / CHEMLA, J. / HUBERT, F.: Traviata [Opera] (after A. Dumas (fils) and G. Verdi) (Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, 2017) (NTSC) (BAC156)




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LAZAR, B. / CHEMLA, J. / HUBERT, F.: Traviata [Opera] (after A. Dumas (fils) and G. Verdi) (Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, 2017) (Blu-ray, Full-HD) (BAC456)




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Chris Ianuzzi - Olga In a Black Hole

Olga in a Black Hole is a portal to an audacious, perilous, and glorious future world. Chris Ianuzzi's lifetime of building sonic landscapes is harnessed to create a spellbinding glimpse into one of our possible futures. One of wonder and cosmic discovery.




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Zilla With Her Eyes Shut - Zilla With Her Eyes Shut

Zilla With Her Eyes Shut is the latest far-out wunderkind to emerge from the same eccentric pop incubator that brought us FKA Twigs, Grimes, and MIA.




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Zoe Schwarz Blue Commotion - Chameleon

...this feels like the album that brings all the talents together.




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My Life Story - World Citizen

Pop pioneer Jake Shillingford is one of the British music scene's most overlooked heroes. Having debuted with his band My Life Story back in 1993, the group enjoyed huge critical acclaim but were not rewarded with the epic chart success they deserved. Returning after an 18 year absence to release his fourth studio album, World Citizen, Shillingford ressurects the band's legacy with what is effortlessly the band's finest release to date. 




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Jazzie B

Jazzie B interviewed by Music-News.com at The Music Walk of Fame Founding Stone unveiling for first recipients The Who on 19th November 2019.




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Marcus Fitzgerald

Following an unprecedented number of international applications from thousands of promising artists over the course of 2019




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Develop an IBM i2 Analyze data access on-demand connector

IBM i2 Analyze is an extensible, scalable, and service-oriented analytical environment that is designed to provide organizations with access to intelligence when and where they need it, so they can make faster and more informed decisions.




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Using data science to manage a software project in a GitHub organization, Part 1: Create a data science project from scratch

In this two-part series, I explain how to find project management insights from a GitHub organization and how to create and publish tools to the Python Package Index.




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Authorize with a Cloudant proxy

It is sometimes useful to have more granular access controls on a database than the controls that are provided by Cloudant. In this tutorial, you learn how to create a Cloudant proxy that is under your control. Using such a proxy, you can implement the appropriate authorization model to the system.




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Cleansing, processing, and visualizing a data set, Part 1: Working with messy data

Discover common problems associated with cleansing data for validation and processing, with solutions for dealing with them. You'll also find a custom tool to make the process of cleansing data and merging data sets for analysis.




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Cleansing, processing, and visualizing a data set, Part 2: Gaining invaluable insight from clean data sets

Learn about VQ and ART algorithms. VQ quickly and efficiently clusters a data set; ART adapts the number of clusters based on the data set.




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Using N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV) with kernel-based virtual machine (KVM) guests on IBM Power servers

This article provides the basic steps to use N-Port ID Virtualization (NPIV) technology in a kernel-based virtual machine (KVM) guest. Additionally, the article also provides the significance of NPIV allowing multiple guests to make use of a single physical host bus adapter (HBA) to access multiple storage devices.




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IBM Connections Customizer Tutorial, Part 5

IBM Connections Customizer lets developers modify the look and behavior of Connections easily and comprehensively. The Introduction to Connections Customizer tutorial series is a quick way learn about Customizer. The fifth video in the series shows how to use Customizer design properties to make sophisticated modifications to the Customizer user interface.




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IBM Connections Customizer Tutorial, Part 3

IBM Connections Customizer lets developers modify the look and behavior of Connections easily and comprehensively. The Introduction to Connections Customizer tutorial series is a quick way learn about Customizer. The third video in the series shows you how to get set up on IBM Connections Cloud, how to enable Customizer, and how to share your customizations with IBM.




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IBM Connections Customizer Tutorial, Part 4

IBM Connections Customizer lets developers modify the look and behavior of Connections easily and comprehensively. The Introduction to Connections Customizer tutorial series is a quick way learn about Customizer. The fourth video in the series shows how three sample customizations were created, to showcase the range of customization possibilities the new feature makes available.




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IBM Connections Customizer Tutorial, Part 1

IBM Connections Customizer lets developers modify the look and behavior of Connections easily and comprehensively. The Introduction to Connections Customizer tutorial series is a quick way learn about Customizer. The first video in the series introduces the concepts behind Customizer, how it works, and what it can do for you.




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IBM Connections Customizer Tutorial, Part 2

IBM Connections Customizer lets developers modify the look and behavior of Connections easily and comprehensively. The Introduction to Connections Customizer tutorial series is a quick way learn about Customizer. The second video in the series shows you how to use the Firefox Grease Monkey scripting extension and takes you through creating a Hello World customization.




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IBM Connections Customizer is available! What's New?

The formal release of IBM Connections Customizer on IBM Connections Cloud took place on Friday, December 8th 2017. This means that any tenant organization of IBM Connections Cloud on the North America or Europe data centres can now sign up for this new production offering and use it to modify the out-of-the-box IBM Connections user experience.