Given the depth, range and quality of the Deutsche Grammophon catalogue, it’s hardly been difficult to put together another anthology of great recordings and great artists. The structure is as before – here are 53 original albums (including three double-sets), featuring the great names of Deutsche Grammophon’s recording history, presented, once more, in alphabetical order of artist. Claudio Abbado leads off with a complete Carmen and Krystian Zimerman rounds off with his memorable account of the Chopin Ballades.

One has to admit, the German psychedelic rock reissue label Garden of Delights puts a lot of care in its sampler albums. They are generous - occasionally to the detriment of an album - and packaged with informative and lavish 16-page booklets. For every tenth release of their catalogue they pick a track from each of the nine previous releases and compile them under a volume of this series. All catalogue numbers are an integer multiple of ten. The tracks chosen for these samplers comprise recordings from the field of progressive rock music in all its different shades, ranging from psychedelic to symphonic, fusion and blues-rock, provided that there are progressive elements in it.

In the CD programme Psychedelic Gems, psychedelic and progressive bands and their background are featured bands, whose overall output of published or unpublished material would not be sufficient to justify a CD on their own. Most of them played during the late sixties and early seventies, having published no more than a demo tape or a single, which is why several of them are presented together on one CD. Each group - so far all of them coming from German-speaking countries - is accorded a full-page colour picture of the cover of their single, a band history in German and English and, if space is available, a photo of their label. In contrast to bootleg labels such as Visions of the Past, Electrick Loosers or Prae-Kraut Pandaemonium, all licenses were legally obtained from the artists or their record companies…

Hava Nagila, man erkennt es sofort, als musikalische Blaupause für alles Jüdisches, als eine fröhliche Party-Melodie, zu der man auf Hochzeiten, Bar Mitzvahs und sogar bei Major League Baseball Spielen tanzt. Es produziert ein wehmütiges Lächeln, Erinnerungen an vergangene Generationen… Aber der Song ist viel mehr als ein kitschiges jüdisches Märchen und schlechte Bar Mitzvah Mode. Es enthält eine komplette historische Konstellation, Werte und Hoffnungen für die Zukunft. Auf seine ganz eigene »Glaub-Es-Oder-Nicht« Art und Weise, schließt »Hava Nagila« die gesamte jüdische Reise der letzten 150 Jahre ein. Es entfesselt zudem die gesamte Kraft eines Liedes, Identität ausdrücken und bewahren zu können und Lehren zwischen Generationen auszutauschen sowie kulturelle Unterschiede zu überbrücken und uns alle auf einer universellen Ebene zu vereinigen…