Chen Gang: Violin Concerto "Wang Zhaojun"

For over thirty-five years, Marc Ribot’s name has been on the covers of albums by Tom Waits, Alain Bashung, Diana Krall, John Zorn, Robert Plant, Caetano Veloso and numerous other artists, and when he's not busy lending his unique guitar to others, the New Yorker takes pleasure, under his own name, in breaking down and re-building rock, jazz, funk, Cuban music and anything his fingers touch.

With the release of his new album Exile, a reflection on exile with the Baltic Sea Orchestra, the iconoclast and prolific pioneer of the neo-classical movement confirms his status as one of the most ideologically committed artists out there. Melding classical and electronic music, physical and emotional worlds, he produces instrumental works of rare evocative power.

Listening to Bruno Walter’s recordings, in light of the splendid remastered editions published by Sony Classical, you tap into a truly humanistic culture. A tremendous conductor, music was his vocation, a way of life and an art of thought. His recordings have conserved his art vocal music, intense but never sentimental, thanks to a clear linearity complemented by a versatile rhythm, ensuring clarity, coherence and vigour.