It’s always worth checking in on our audio and video streaming databases, just to see what new treasures have been added:

Star Wars, Episode VI, “Return of the Jedi”: John Williams conducting the London Symphony Orchestra

Sony/Naxos
Sony/Naxos

The Naxos Music Library continues to amaze; just look at what has suddenly appeared, from a galaxy far, far away! To say that John Williams is the most famous and successful composer working in cinema today is hardly likely to cause even so much as a ripple in “The Force”, and his extraordinary scores for the Star Wars films continue to inhabit a very special place in the pantheon.

Frida Kahlo: ArtHaus DVD, Art & Design Series

Arthaus/Naxos
Arthaus/Naxos

The reputation of the remarkable Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo, continues to soar. This documentary from the Naxos Video Library comes from the 1980s and remains a fascinating exploration and tribute to a woman who led a most extraordinary life in the face of both physical and political upheavals and trials.

Roy Orbison at the Rock House: Roy Orbison with the Teen Kings, Sun Records 1956/57

 

Sun Records/Alexander Street
Sun Records/Alexander Street

Who doesn’t love Roy Orbison? This early album from the Big O, available on the Alexander Street Press American Song database was recorded at Sun Records in the late 1950s and is considered a kind of “alternate universe” Orbison album, released in the early 1960s by Sun in an attempt to capitalise on the great success he was starting to have with rival Monument Records. Sounds like Roy to me!

Kadri Gwadloup (The Quadrille of Guadeloupe): Reynoir Casimir dit Négove & Signature 

Buda Musique/Alexander Street
Buda Musique/Alexander Street

The thing I love about the Alexander Street Press Contemporary World Music database is the fact that you can just jump in and discover something entirely new and beguiling. This quadrille-based dance music from the island of Guadeloupe descends from a period of European colonisation and its associated slave trade, with the music of the colonisers being adopted and transformed by the local population into something uniquely Guadeloupean and (surprisingly given the circumstances) joyous.

 

Pop Goes The Basie: Count Basie and the Count Basie Orchestra

Warner?Naxos
Warner/Naxos

Count Basie and his orchestra helped define the sound of big-band jazz throughout the middle part of the 20th century, and he is firmly established as one of the greats of American jazz. If this doesn’t get your toes tapping they must be nailed to the floor!

All this and more is just a click away here in the building and, if you’re one of our Victorian registered users, yours to enjoy at home as well.

 

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