2013

Royal Swedish Orchestra (Kungliga Hovkapellet) / Lawrence Renes<br/><br/>Henk de Vlieger's orchestral arrangement of Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle boils down this monumental music drama in four parts to a symphonic poem with a duration of a fifteenth of the original score. Unlike certain other arrangements, de Vlieger's follows the chronology of the operas so that the irrevocable process towards the twilight of the gods is clearly delineated. His method has been to select and link together the most important orchestral passages in the score, already closely interconnected as a result of Wagner's leitmotif technique The excerpts have in most cases been taken over without alterations; only occasionally has an essential vocal line been replaced by wind instruments. Quite possibly, Wagner himself would have objected to the undertaking, but in fact one of his own strongly held convictions was that the text - or rather its content - should be continuously present, by means of the hidden-away orchestra exploring the dramatic background to the action presented on stage. With this orchestral arangement the turn has thus come for the Royal Swedish Orchestra to take its place on centre stage, in music which has been part of its repertoire for close to 120 years at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm. (Some of that impressive history is reflected in the CD booklet through images from Ring productions past and present.) The conductor Lawrence Renes, recently named music director at the Royal Swedish Opera, has admired de Vlieger's arrangement since it was premièred, in 1991, by his own mentor, the conductor Edo de Waart. The arrangement has been recorded previously, but never before by a bona fide opera orchestra. The result is indeed an adventure, as well as a sonic spectacular, and an excellent calling card for a fine orchestra all too often relegated to the shadows.<br/><br/>"Hovkapellet stryker sångpartierna och rensar bort 86 procent av musiken. Så här har ni aldrig hört Wagners operor förr." <br/>/CarlHåkan Larsén (Sydsvenskan) <br/><br/>.

Ford Lita: Lita + Dangerous curves 1988-91 (Rem) [CD]

Aviciis debutalbum "True" är vad AVICII själv säger "sant för honom" och innehåller 10 starka popspår med intressanta samarbeten som Nile Rodgers, Adam Lambert och svenskar som Vincent Pontare och Linnea Henriksson.

I maj 2012 klev Judas Priest in på Hammersmith Apollos scen för en sista spelning på deras avskedsturné Epitaph. Det blev en fantastisk karriärtäckande konsert med 23 låtar.

"..one of the best albums we ever did.." according to Lemmy in his autobiography White Line Fever. "Death Or Glory" is one of two studio albums with the short-lived Lemmy, Würzel, Zööm and Mikkey Dee lineup and was originally released in 1993 as "Bastards", the eleventh Motörhead studio album. Despite this being the heaviest album the band had put out at the time, it somehow manages to contain two ballads, one kind of power ballad called "Lost In The Ozone", and then there's the almost entirely acoustic "Don't Let Daddy Kiss Me." On this album the band returned to their roots: rock n' roll with a punk and metal edge, just the way it should be. LOUD AND FAST!

Magnus Öström anses vara en av sin generations stilbildande trumslagare. Hans 15 år i triosamarbetet med Esbjörn Svensson och Dan Berglund i ett av världens mest framgångsrika band -E.S.T. - har satt oförglömliga spår på den musikaliska kartan. <br/><br/>Hans första solo-album, "The Thread of Life", blev nominerad till en svensk Grammis. Dessutom vann han "Echo Jazz Award - Best International Drummer" (Tysklands motsvarighet till Svenska Grammis). BBC Radio 3 utryckte det så här: " Vilket extremt vackert och tilltalande album det här är. Perfekt spel, kompositionerna är sannerligen inspirerande och arrangemangen är magiska". <br/><br/>På uppföljaren Searching for Jupiter har Öström med sig ett starkt och tight band som består av gitarristen Andreas Hourdakis, basisten Thobias Gabrielson och pianisten Daniel Karlsson. <br/><br/>De har sakta mejslat fram ett starkt och övertygande jazz/rock- och progressivt rocksound - The Moon (And The Air It Moves) tex påminner om Pink Floyd inte bara till namnet och där finns ny spirande optimism. Nu är det melodierna som åter spelar en viktig roll och albumet slutar i hoppets tecken med At The End Of Eternity.

The Legacy<br/>The New Order<br/>Practice What Your Preach<br/>Souls Of Black<br/>The Ritual