New Releases

Deluxe 2CD limited edition

• It’s the movie event of the year and sure to be one of the biggest box office blockbusters of all time!

• “ The Dark Knight” director Christopher Nolan and “300” director Zac Synder’s re-imagining of the world’s most popular superhero, Superman, has been THE topic of fan sites and social media around the globe for months and the anticipation has reached fever pitch.

• Hollywood’s leading composer Hans Zimmer (“Dark Knight”/ “Inception”/ “Gladiator”) has delivered another powerful and thrilling score, an essential part of the “Man of Steel” experience.

• This special deluxe limited edition comes in an embossed, high quality presentation digi-pack format and features:

• CD 1: The Movie Score (60 mins) CD 2: Extra music cues (30 mins)/ Hans Zimmer’s “Man of Steel” sketch book (28 mins)

• 32 Page booklet with liner notes ans photos from the scoring sessions

• 2 exclusive postcards from the movie

• A commemorative “S” symbol sticker.

• DTS surround sound download.

It’s the must-have purchase from the must-see movie of the year!

This is the fifth album in our list from the fantastic Kenneth Smith and Paul Rhodes partnership. Here we have a programme of well-loved pieces for flute and piano (with some arrangements) to produce an album which can be listened to intently (as all good music should) or enjoyed as a backdrop to any social occasion. Timeless concert classics for all to enjoy, and incredible playing too.

Tide is a composite of pieces for three solo instruments (clarinet, oboe d'amore and cello), newly composed by James Weeks. It is given here on CD1, and the three solo works are on CD2. Each is in its own right a virtuoso piece and played by leading instrumentalists Andrew Sparling (clarinet), Christopher Redgate (oboe d'amore) and Anton Lukoszevieze (cello). Both individually and together these compositions create a fascinating sound world which seem to be born of nature.

The works are split onto two discs at the composer's request but, given the total playing time, the set is sold at the price of 1 CD.

This 2CD set presents a number of works thatcan be classed as “double concertos” by two leading composers of today. All works are highly accessible, but at the same time quite challenging forthe soloists. In every case, this collection is the first time these pieces have been committed to a commercial recording.

John Philip Sousa’s swift rise to fame and greatness came at a time when band concerts were the most important aspect of musical life in the U.S. The works on this recording range from the early Revival March of 1876 and the stirring Right Forward March from Sousa’s time as conductor of the U.S. Marine band, to the “up-to-date” 1920s fox-trot Peaches and Cream and the 1923 Leaves from My Notebook, dedicated to the Campfire Girls of America. Music from Sousa’s operetta Chris and the Wonderful Lamp can be found alongside his medley of tunes from Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado, which includes many of the hit tunes from this operetta, while The Honored Dead was performed at President Ulysses S. Grant’s funeral.

Nicolas Flagello’s traditional late-romantic musical values and powerfully emotional and spiritual expressiveness are explored deeply in this program, from the grimly funereal Odyssey to his intensely somber and turbulent Symphony No. 2 and a new arrangement of the dark and tempestuous Concerto Sinfonico, his last completed work. Transcribed for saxophones, Valse Noire was originally a test piece for accordion. Arnold Rosner’s superbly crafted and highly individual works draw on archaic models, the Symphony No. 8 engaging us from a position of meditative devotion and majestic mysticism. The University of Houston Wind Ensemble has been admired for its ‘striking lightness and delicacy’ (ClassicsToday.com on Vittorio Giannini’s Symphony No. 3 8570130).