Brasil has long since moved on, but that Bossa Nova is still alive and well and still fascinating for the world—not just as a palimpsest, but...
From Sao Paulo, a city more socially-conscious than Rio, where protests against poverty in the context of the millions spent on World Cup 2014 and everything...
Ludwig Beethoven: Complete Works for violoncello & piano: Jean-Guihen Queyras: cello; Alexander Melnikov: piano Beethoven’s first two sonatas for violoncello and piano Opus 5 No. 1...
Charlie Haden was one of the first to mix the voice of legendary chanteuses in with his famous Quartet West on several albums, from 1990 at...
Every once and awhile an artist comes around to surprise everyone with the proficiency in an idiom naturally foreign to him or her. The saxophonist and...
While no one was looking, Kiran Ahluwalia knocked down doors and took the breath of audiences away in Europe and the United States of America and...
Nilza Costa is an extraordinary Afro-Brasilian musician. She has a riveting voice that—in the Western music realm would be considered contralto—is mesmerising because of its sensuous...
The uniqueness of the Garifuna Diaspora has resulted in their truly singular cultural anthropology. These are a people who descended from the Arawak and the Caribe...
Beethoven’s first published works—his Opus No.1—were three trios for piano, violin and cello and already they show a marked advance on Haydn’s trios in the comparative...
Banda Magda gave notice that a magnificent new group was breaking through. That linear leap has given way to a vertical propelling of Banda Magda into...
At first blush Simon Thacker’s Svara Kanti might give the impression that they are Shakti Redux, but could not be further from the truth. From the...
The beautiful "Suite Del Interior" by the Argentine guitarist Carlos Pavan is sometimes described as being a “mixture of classical, folk and jazz music”. But perish...
Andre Pirro’s classic, "The Aesthetic of Johann Sebastian Bach" brings to life the aesthetic of the master who changed all music since Palestrina, creating a German...
Benjamim Taubkin is the gold standard for pianists who come from a country better known for its guitarists. It is the profound beauty of his playing—his...
This album of concerti 3 and 4 is a profound recording. It creates a palimpsest of Beethoven’s creative mindset during the last years when he had...
If the eyes are shut tight and the mind ran free, it might be possible to hear, spectrally, the sound of monks chanting at vespers, in...
Gnawas abound in Morocco. In Jajouka, the Master Musicians led by Bechir Attar; in Essaouria and by grand design, the Gnawa elders have passed the torch...
The legendary troubadour of Brazil, Chico Buarque de Hollanda appears to have been somewhat of a polarizing figure, even in the Musica Popular Brasileira movement (MPB),...
The same rich ethnic cocktail that formed Brazilian society, from African, European and native ingredients, underlies its native genius for music. It also makes the country...
The Brandenburg Concertos are one of the most celebrated and captivating compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach. Paced with bracing athletic vigor and featuring some of the...
