Some great new arrivals in pop, rock, jazz, classical, musical theatre, film soundtracks and opera feature the following.   

Art Official Age by Prince.

Warner Music Australia, 2014

Warner Music Australia, 2014

Purple Rain : music from the motion picture by Prince and the Revolution.

Warner Bros., 1984

Warner Bros., 1984

With the recent passing of Prince, two albums from different stages in the rock-pop legends career are featured.  Art Official Age is the hit 2014 balled inspired R & B, soul, funk, sci-fi concept album.  Tracks such as Clouds and Art Official Cage are dreamlike and pulsating.

Purple Rain is the sixth studio album by Prince, the second to feature his backing band, The Revolution, the soundtrack to the 1984 movie of the same name and widely regarded as his greatest work.  On an album full of chart-topping hits, When Doves Cry, Let’s Go Crazy, I Would Die 4 U, Baby I’m a Star and Purple Rain are standouts and overall great dance music .

Greatest hits : rediscovered by Tom Jones.

Universal Music, 2010

Universal Music, 2010

Pure Maria Callas.

Warner Classics, 2014

Warner Classics, 2014

Compilations feature two superstars of popular music and opera.  Greatest hits rediscovered by Tom Jones contains many of the Welsh born singers most popular recordings spanning almost five decades.  Highlights include some of his most rapturously received hits from the ’60s such as It’s Not Unusual, What’s New Pussycat, Thunderball, Green Green Grass of Home and Delilah.

Pure Maria Callas is a collection of the most famous and loved opera arias by Bizet, Bellini, Donizetti, Puccini, Rossini, Verdi and many more, performed by the legendary Maria Callas.  This disc showcases her unique voice and heartbreaking portrayal of tragic heroines.  Featured operas include Lucia Di Lammermoor, Tosca, Madama Butterfly and Carmen.

All of these CDs are currently available on the Listening Posts in Arts.  The online catalogue indicates which Listening Post the CD is available on.  There are eight jukebox listening posts in the Arts Reading Room, where you can listen to CDs from the audiovisual collection.

Group of people using listening post in Arts room © Andrew Lloyd

Group of people using listening post in Arts room © Andrew Lloyd

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland : a family opera by Will Todd.  Performed by Opera Holland Park.

Signum Records, 2015

Signum Classics, 2015

The Most Happy Fella : original Broadway cast recording. Music and lyrics by Frank Loesser.

Masterworks Broadway, 2012

Masterworks Broadway, 2012

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a reworking of the children’s fairy tale by Opera Holland Park, an English opera company who produce an annual festival of opera in Holland Park, London during the northern Summer.   Composed by classical composer and jazz pianist, Will Todd, this version of the original Lewis Carroll story is more music theatre and cabaret than grand opera with lots of fun tunes such as Wonderland Blues and The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party.

The Most Happy Fella is the original Broadway cast recording of the 1956 musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser – a musical romance based on the play They Knew What They Wanted by Sidney Howard.

In what was highly unusual for the time, this cast album was virtually a recording of the entire show, including all but a few lines of the dialogue.  As the score was so extensive, the cast album had to be released as a three LP record set.  This two-disc CD set is a Masterworks Broadway Sony 2012 rerelease.  Standing on the Corner is a very popular song from the score, rerecorded by groups such as The Mills Brothers and Celtic Thunder.

Le Monde Musical de Francois Truffaut. Includes music by Georges Delerue, Bernard Herrmann, Vivaldi.

Universal Music S.A. France, 2014

Universal Music S.A. France, 2014

 

Planet of the Apes : original motion picture soundtrack. Music composed and conducted by Jerry Goldsmith.

Varèse Sarabande/Universal

Varèse Sarabande/Universal, 1997, c1968

Film soundtracks include a five disc set, Le monde musical de François Truffaut, featuring music from the movies of French film director, Francois Truffaut.   Featured composers include such luminaries as Bernard Herrmann, Georges Delerue and Maurice Jaubert, and films such as Fahrenheit 451, Jules and Jim and The Last Metro, covering the period from 1959-1983.  

Planet of the Apes with music composed and conducted by Jerry Goldsmith, is the ground-breaking avant-garde score to the 1968 science-fiction adventure movie that paved the way for a series of five successful sequels, and later further remakes.  The disc also features music from Escape from the Planet of the Apes.

I hear music : Cleo Laine & John Dankworth : a celebration of their life and work.

Union Square Music, 2007

Union Square Music, 2007

 

In good company by Don Burrows and James Morrison.

ABC, 2015

ABC, 2015

Career retrospectives of four jazz music legends are covered in two releases.   I Hear Music is a 4-CD set that celebrates the life and work of English jazz-pop vocalist, Cleo Laine, and her musical director husband, saxophonist John Dankworth.  It includes material from seven decades of performing and recording between the 1940s and 2010, combining their finest solo performances, as well as collaborations with each other and other musicians such as Ray Charles, guitarist John Williams, Dudley Moore to name a few.

In Good Company features a collaboration between two greats of Australian jazz, Don Burrows and James Morrison, and the final album from Don Burrows.  The album includes classic compositions by Cole PorterJohnny Mercer, Antônio Carlos Jobim, and many others.  This deluxe edition is also accompanied by a bonus disc of recordings from their early years together, including a live recording from the Sydney Opera House.

Proverb / Nagoya Marimbas / City Life by Steve Reich (online)

Nonesuch, 2005

Nonesuch, 2005

An album featuring three compositions, Proverb, Nagoya Marimbas and City Life by renowned American composer Steve Reich is also available through the Naxos Music Library database.  It is available free online in the Library, or from home if you are one of our Victorian registered users.  The multi-layered and dynamic City Life, with its use of instrumental and urban sounds, was recently performed by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra as part of their 2016 concert series.

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  1. Excellent -some great new content has arrived!

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