It is perhaps no surprise that Crescendo magazine, reviewing the Artemis Quartet’s recent Virgin Classics CD of Schubert’s C major Quintet with Truls Mørk, said that the performance “could not be highly enough praised“. Perhaps more unexpected is that the Berlin-based string quartet has now joined forces with the Chilean pianist Jacques Ammon for a programme of music by Astor Piazzolla (1921–1992), the Argentinian master of the tango. Eckart Runge, the Artemis‘ cellist, has in fact been collaborating with Ammon over the past decade to create celloproject, a duo playing the music of Piazzolla, his predecessor Carlos Gardel, and composers from the worlds of jazz (such as Chick Corea) and film (such as Charlie Chaplin and Nino Rota). As Runge says: "In the mid-1980s, when I first heard the music of Astor Piazzolla, little known in Europe at the time ... it was like being struck by lightning. With its almost cruelly shattering immediacy -- reminiscent of Schubert, somewhere between dream-like beauty and deathly sadness – and a refined subtlety between joy and tears, reminiscent of Chaplin, it moved me deeply. Only some years later did I dare to play this music for myself for the first time. Immediately I began to do my best to bring together everything I could find out about this music and its history, and consequently visited Buenos Aires.“ Although tango is understood as a ’popular‘ rather than classical genre, Piazzolla studied with the famed composition teacher Nadia Boulanger and his musical collaborators over the years included figures from jazz and popular music – for instance the saxophonist Gerry Mulligan, the vibraphone player Gary Burton and the Italian chanteuse Milva – and classical musicians such as Salvatore Accardo, Mstislav Rostropovitsch and the Kronos Quartet. His output includes orchestral works, an opera and an oratorio. Perhaps his best-known work features on this disc, the Estaciones Porteñas (Seasons in Buenos Aires), inspired by Vivaldi’s Quattro stagioni and here performed by a piano trio. Runge explains: “The idea of the Piazzolla Project was to bring the authentic sonic and expressive palette of the tango to life with the inexhaustible possibilities of the string quartet, the piano trio and the piano quintet. Sometimes melting into the melancholy tones of the bandoneon, sometimes breaking out into the raw heterogeneity of the tango quintet, it represented a completely new encounter with sound, rhythm, style and gesture. It was a pleasure for me to share with my quartet colleagues the experience I had gathered over the years in my engagement with this culture. They were enthused by the depth and variety of the tango. For all of us, this music was a great inspiration and it exercised an enriching influence on our involvement with the classical chamber repertoire.”

《期待美梦成真》是红粉马丁尼阔别乐坛5年后的第二张生涯大碟。 在上一张《往日情怀》专辑大卖之后。在红粉马丁尼灵魂女主唱吉娜．福毕丝与钢琴手汤玛斯．劳德戴利的号召之下，重新加入了更多的国际乐手以及音乐家，因此，在新旧成员们的集思广义下，新型态的红粉马丁尼作品便诞生了。 专辑《期待美梦成真》除了保有《往日情怀》专辑中大家最爱的浪漫巴黎情怀外，以往出现的古巴骚沙和巴西的婆娑娜瓦节奏仍旧少不了，并保持着轻快、热情却不吵杂的舞曲型态。 此外令人感观为之一振的是专辑中所尝试的音乐新元素，例如专辑中的第一张国际单曲 《拿坡里之夜》(UNA NOTTE A NAPOLI)便结合了意大利民谣及骚沙节奏，成为了一首活力四射的嘉年华舞曲，而首曲《永不停止坠入爱河》(LET’S NEVER STOP FALLING IN LOVE)则是首令人瞬间摒息的古巴爵士以及专辑中的同名曲《期待美梦成真》(HANG ON LITTLE TOMATO)则是改编自意大利70年代的一首励志诗歌，由主唱吉娜．福毕丝以香颂般的温情口吻，悄悄道出：「继续坚持，总有一天美梦成真…」的道理。 专辑中众多的新风格也包含了首次尝试的日本演歌《Kikuchiyo to mohshimasu》以及融合了西班牙佛朗明哥的《U plavu zoru》内容十分的丰富。 对于曾经听过第一张专辑的人，这像是一次风格与视野的延伸。

世界音乐厂牌 Putumayo 第 106 张唱片《世界雷鬼》，展示多样化却又内在统一的新世纪雷鬼乐。Putumayo 一改上一张世界集锦《世界各地的萨尔萨》的单调，这张选集的选曲注重展现了不同的地区特质，是一份优秀的雷鬼乐简介。（罗伊）

《Jasmine》是Keith Jarrett和伟大的贝司手Charlie Haden再度联手合作的最新作品，它标志着三十多年来Keith Jarrett和他曾经的标准三重奏之间又开始了首次录音合作，70年中期前他们一直是紧密合作的搭档。亲密、自然和温暖，这张表现爱情的歌曲专辑在Jarrett的家里录制，以他们的自然、率直，说明了他们的亲密关系。《Jasmine》专辑里的节目包含非常经典的歌曲如'Body and Soul', 'For All We Know' , 'Where Can I Go Without You', 'Don't Ever Leave Me'等，还覆盖了一首现代的流行歌曲“One Day I'll Fly Away”，这对于Keith Jarrett来说很少见。Jarrett和Haden弹奏音乐非常忘情和投入，除了音乐其他毫无干扰——也只有他们俩能做到这样！

“雅”难道不是日本人自古以来就持有的感觉吗？凝视着传统中的美丽与芬芳，交融于日本的美丽风景之中，然后用钢琴SOLO的形式表现出来。越是在追求高速的现代，就越应该借着“幽雅”的音乐回到那悠久的过去，去感受那温情雅致的时光。我是带着这样的心情创作了这些曲子的。 ——渡边雅二 雅 - Courtly elegance 主要是想表现日本人由传统继承而来的美丽与馨香。同“浮华”不同的“幽雅”，不正是日本从古培养，并延续至今的传统吗？ 春光璀璨 - Shower of spring sunlight 春天是我最喜欢的季节。从慵懒的冬天醒来，沐浴在璀璨的阳光只中，大自然生机勃勃，满是新鲜的色彩。我用这首曲子来表现那时满心欢喜的感觉。 风之手枕 - Hand pillow by the wind 阳光穿过树林洒在小路上，温和的风沙沙地抚摩着我的脸颊。风忽然驻我耳旁唱起了那童年的歌谣。

“新乐府”是十三月文化经过多年音乐作品积淀、吸取民族文化精髓，打造出来的世界音乐厂牌，具有强烈的中国元素属性。“乐府”本为中国传统诗歌的一种体裁，原指和音乐以唱的歌诗，十三月创立厂牌“新乐府”，旨在取原生态音乐与传统戏曲之素材，冠以世界音乐之形式，重拾中国民族流行音乐的审美。结集出版同名音乐专辑《新乐府》。