Ashes and Dust is a masterful work of art and a particularly important statement for the Grammy Award winning artist Warren Haynes. The songs are immediately and clearly different from his usual style - encompassing beautiful acoustic arrangements, a rootsy/Americana soundscape and honeyed vocals that cut straight through to the soul. Knowing that he wanted to pursue a more folk-based approach on this project, he brought in the New Jersey-based Americana band Railroad Earth as collaborators. This 2-CD deluxe edition package features 5 bonus tracks.

Se io avessi previsto tutto questo is a collection of Francesco Guccini composed of songs chosen by the singer-songwriter himself, released in 2015, the year of his 75th birthday.

Even though Marc-André Hamelin is world-renowned for his astonishing virtuosity and a massive repertoire of the most demanding piano works, including those of Scriabin, Godowsky, and Sorabji, he has startled many with his sudden turn toward the placid domain of Classical music. First came his critically acclaimed recordings of Franz Joseph Haydn's keyboard sonatas, which were surprise best-sellers for Hyperion, and here he offers a double-CD of the piano sonatas of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with a handful of short pieces to round out the discs. Since Hamelin's fine reputation precedes him, suffice it to say that these are among the most meticulously played and wittily interpreted renditions of these pieces ever recorded. Even though Mozart's sonatas are tamer than the showpieces of pianistic derring-do normally associated with Hamelin, they are endlessly fascinating for their skillfully crafted details, subtle phrases, and elegant expressions. Since the issue isn't how Hamelin manages all the notes, but instead how he shapes them into such entertaining and moving performances, there is much food for thought in this album, and anyone who attentively follows his playing will find a deeper appreciation of Mozart. Highly recommended.

Cannibal Apocalypse (Apocalypse Domani) is a movie released in 1980 and this soundtrack was done by A. Blonksteiner, whose "A" in his name stands for Alessandro. This is taken from the 2015 remaster released by Death Waltz Recording Company and is a vinyl rip.

Lots of other groups than the ones Bach would have known have decided they wanted a piece of him, from Stokowski's Philadelphia Orchestra to recorder consorts, brass groups, and even teams of electronic musicians. All these settings involve a degree of compromise. A string quartet, for example, brings a grammar of articulation to Bach that may give him a disagreeable accent. This project, originating in Russia, offers something of a middle ground for listeners who may enjoy the sound of Bach played by a contemporary ensemble: it has been carefully done so as to keep the structures of the Goldberg Variations front and center, with no more variety of texture than they would receive on a piano. Arranger Andrei Eshpai, whose career as a composer dates back into the Soviet era, chooses the combination of two oboes, an English horn, and a bassoon for his wind quartet – all double reeds.

From the fanfare of the opening crawl to the abrupt cutaway zing of the closing credits, John Williams' soundtrack to The Force Awakens does not disappoint. Williams has always been an integral part of the Star Wars experience, as familiar as the movies themselves, comforting and nostalgic. The fan anticipation and legacy baggage that came with the seventh film in this iconic series was overwhelming, being the first new film since 2005's Revenge of the Sith and the direct sequel to 1983's Return of the Jedi, yet the results are not crushed by outlandish pressure. For The Force Awakens, Williams began work in late 2014, before recording began in Los Angeles in June 2015 (the first time a Star Wars film score was not recorded at Abbey Road). He enlisted a freelance orchestra and, with the help of William Ross and Los Angeles Philharmonic conductor Gustavo Dudamel, produced a 23-song journey connecting the past and the future of the Star Wars universe. Here, Williams combines the old and the new with expert subtlety, creating a lush experience that rewards repeat listens. Those familiar with his work on other big-budget sagas (Jurassic Park, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones) will instantly recognize the blaring horns that propel the action, the stirring strings that intensify the tension, and the bombast that contribute to the excitement as much as the scenes portrayed on the screen.

The “Sonate da Camera”, Op. 4, one of eight consecutive opuses (1-8) of published chamber works by Turin-based Giovanni Battista Somis, is a work for solo violin, cello or harpsichord. The seven 3-movement sonatas basically eliminate the slow “Corellian” third movement, thus changing the traditional alternation. Some of the harmonic sequences also recall Vivaldi and the Venetian school in general. Founded 1995, the Ensemble Guidantus and their principal violinist Marco Pedrona, noted for score mastery and clear, individual interpretations, play a lively part in the Italian music scene.

Take one of the hottest composers and keyboard players in instrumental pop, add in featured performances from the likes of Gerald Albright, Paul Taylor and Nils Landgren, hook them up with ten wonderful new tunes and what do you have? The answer is ‘Fritzenized’, the latest album from the Billboard chart-topping, artist Jonathan Fritzén. It is the Swedish American’s fifth solo CD and follows the critically acclaimed ‘Magical’ from which the title cut blasted a path to #1 on every smooth jazz airplay chart on the planet.

The funky, post-punky, always danceable !!! show no signs of slowing down on their sixth album, As If. Their last record, Thr!!!er, lived up to its title and this record is all-thriller, no-filler too, jammed with songs that almost dare the listener not to dance. Recorded and produced by the band with help from James Ford, Jim Eno, Ewan Pearson, Chris Coady, and Chris Woodhouse, and culled from an intense session of songwriting done by driving force Nic Offer and bassist Rafael Cohen, the album was recorded in studios around America. Despite the various locales and collaborators involved, the album is focused and tight as it deals out pounding grooves and thundering basslines. Add in wire-tight guitar, wobbling old synths, and Offer's unhinged vocals and it's vintage !!! with a little extra energy added…

Although Joseph Haydn is still regarded principally as a master of instrumental music, he was also one of the forward-looking opera composers of his day, devoting a significant portion of his working life to the genre. As the opera director for Prince Esterházy, he oversaw more than a thousand opera productions at the Esterházy court, which included popular stage works of the time, as well as his own. These two operas are unusual and ahead of their time in that it is women who take centre stage. These female protagonists are people of real flesh and blood, strong, pragmatic, and clearly representative of the spirit of the Enlightenment.

This new 4CD / 1DVD Super Deluxe Box Set version comprises a host of bonus material including; B-sides and extended mixes; BBC sessions; a previously unreleased Glasgow Barrowlands concert; promo videos; Top Of The Pops and Oxford Road Show footage; a booklet containing sleeve notes and interviews plus track by track annotation and a reproduction concert programme…

Masters of Classical Music is an informative and captivating guide to twenty of the most important works in music history. Outtakes from the original scores within the documentaries, assist the viewer by making it easier to follow the music and to overall comprehend the structure of the works. The viewer will travel back in time to experience the birth places of these compositions and will thereby gain insight into the lives of the composers whilst receiving a thorough introduction to the works.

Digitally remastered two CD set containing a trio of albums by the blues great. Includes Taj Mahal's three Warner Bros albums from 1976, 1977 and 1978. From his early days as a member of the Rising Sons with Ry Cooder, Mahal has had a long, commercially successful (and critically acclaimed) career. Music Fuh Ya' made the US Top 200, and he followed it by the soundtrack for the civil rights film Brothers' Evolution was his last for Warner Bros and a major label. Fifty years on, Mahal is still actively gigging and loving the music he plays. This set is slip cased, and comes with extensive liner notes.

It was during a visit with my wife at Mart in Rovereto that I discovered Schiele and Austrian expressionism. Although many of the Austrian expressionists were part of the exhibition (together with Klimt), I was deeply impressed by Schiele's work and finally decided that I had to write something inspired by his story and production. Since I had to start a new year under Stefano Battaglia's direction in Siena, I thought that I couldn't have a better chance to test my ideas. I started collecting every type of material I could find about Schiele, and in a few weeks I wrote some of the music you can listen to on this CD. Despite all of the effort I put in it, I only managed to finish the whole job a year later. The music in the meantime changed, as did the group: new musicians gave my music a new and different life and it was thanks to them that I could bring the “Egon project” to a (hopefully) joyful end.

In collaboration with Litto Enterprises Inc., Music Box Records is very proud to present one of its most ambitious releases yet - a classic Bernard Herrmann score from one of his last efforts and an important milestone in his immense career for Brian De Palma´s classic melodrama Obsession (1976) written by Paul Schrader and starring Geneviève Bujold, Cliff Robertson and John Lithgow. In a career often spent paying tribute to Alfred Hitchcock with the likes of Dressed to Kill, Blow Out and Body Double, Obsession even today stands as De Palma’s ultimate fever dream homage to the director who’d made Bernard Herrmann a household name as the romantic master of musical suspense during an eight film collaboration, no more so than with 1958s Vertigo. Yet Obsession’s reincarnation of that masterpiece showed just how devious De Palma always was in his admiration, cloaking a truly seditious plot twist that would’ve given even Hitchcock pause within sleek, star-filtered visuals. Obsession remains his most fervently romantic, and dare one say innocent attempt to recreate the studio gloss of a time when outright violence and sex were left to the mind’s eye, its rage and sensuality truly made explicit in its music. It’s a powerful, stylistic subtlety that increasingly made Obsession into the filmmaker’s most discerning cult film.