CDs/DVDs
theartsdesk
Welcome to the first in theartsdesk's monthly CD round-ups of new music. The selection is of the most interesting releases (and re-releases) to come our way in the last month, and spans Metal to Muse, ambient Krautrock to folk, via voodoo funk from Benin and the latest electronica. Some of these have been covered in the national prints, others overlooked. Feel free to comment on the selection or the reviews, or both.CD of the MonthDavid Sylvian, Manafon (Samadhi Sound)by Robert SandallAt first sight the cover of David Sylvian’s new record looks like a sly, camp joke on its elusive creator. Read more ...
igor.toronyilalic
Early on in Phil Grabsky's documentary In Search of Beethoven (out today on DVD), handy fortepiano player and Ludwig van-lookalike Ronald Brautigam starts screwing up a section of Beethoven's very first, unpublished piano concerto. "If I concentrate on playing it," he laughs nervously, his hands covering his reddening face, "I might be able to do it." Brautigam is not just screwing up for our amusement. He's making a valuable point.The point is this: right up into his twenties, Beethoven wasn't first and foremost the great European composer; he was the great European pianist, a Lisztian Read more ...