Though born in New Jersey, smooth soul diva Madeline Bell enjoyed her greatest success in the United Kingdom (where she began living in 1963), and her first album, 1967's Bell's a Poppin', is a thoroughly enjoyable example of British pop record-making at its most poised and professional. Bell had a world-class voice and sang supper-club soul in the manner of Dionne Warwick and Dusty Springfield (the latter of whom was a friend of Bell's and often used her as a backing vocalist); those looking for Southern soul grit will be disappointed, but Bell's a Poppin' is a marvelous example of the British equivalent of Brill Building pop. The arrangements are clever and sophisticated, the musicians are spot-on throughout, producer John Franz adds just the right amount of polish without rubbing away the personality of the music, and Bell's vocals tell a story just beautifully, boasting smarts and understated passion while maintaining a firm sense of control and balance throughout.

Beethoven's trios for violin, viola, and cello remain among his least-played works. They seem to point back to the occasional chamber music of the Classical period, and if they're not given the proper attention, that's exactly what they do. But Beethoven himself thought enough even of the very early String Trio in E flat major, Op. 3 (1794), to supervise a keyboard arrangement of the work in the 1810s, and the Op. 9 set heard here, composed in 1798, is almost as ambitious as the group of Op. 18 string quartets that followed it by about a year, and for which it can be seen as a kind of study. The hard, weighty performances by the Trio Zimmermann command attention for these works. Hear the way it sculpts out the jagged opening melodic material of the climactic String Trio in C minor, Op. 9/3, or lay into the quasi-orchestral finale of the first trio of the set. There's a good deal of motivic work here that forecasts the density of Beethoven's mature chamber music language.

Stereotomy is the ninth studio album by The Alan Parsons Project, released in 1985. Although sometimes considered better musically than its predecessor, Vulture Culture, it was not as successful commercially, perhaps due to many fewer vocals from Eric Woolfson (he only appears on a small section of the title track). The album is structured differently from earlier Project albums, containing three lengthy tracks - ""Stereotomy" at well over seven minutes, "Light of the World" at well over six minutes, and the instrumental "Where's the Walrus?" running just over seven and a half minutes (making it the longest instrumental the Project ever made) and two minute-long songs at the end.

Tanganyika Strut is the last of the three 1958 Savoy recordings made by jazz musicians John Coltrane and Wilbur Harden. The album would be Harden's last as a leader. The sessions also produced a couple of alternate takes which can be found on some compilations, most notably the ones featuring the complete Savoy recordings made by Harden and Coltrane together, The Complete Mainstream 1958 Sessions (2009) and The Complete Savoy Sessions (1999).

On her third album of adult R&B, new age princess Des'ree offers up more musical self-help tips and self-esteem makeovers for the chronically lovesick and spiritually downhearted. And while there's nothing as peacefully sublime as "You Gotta Be" (from 1994's I Ain't Movin') on Supernatural, the listen is a soothing one. Credit Brit Des'ree herself for this; her voice – a reassuring tool that envelops everything around it – has never been better. Working her softened tones around the mostly forgettable material (many of the songs try to rewrite "You Gotta Be" by essentially sticking with the same formula of making sophisticated urban soul), she creates a melodic new-age tone (complete with a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Fire") that may not stick with you a lifetime, but it sure feels like the most tranquil place on earth for its 50 minutes.

Porter Robinson had already moved beyond festival-ready EDM by the time Worlds, a full-length debut filled with widescreen electro-pop tunes inspired by anime and video games, arrived in 2014. After the album became a massive success, topping Billboard's Dance/Electronic Albums chart and influencing numerous producers, Robinson felt pressured to deliver another major statement that would live up to his reputation. He scored a gold-certified hit with "Shelter," his 2016 collaboration with Madeon, and following the duo's extensive international tour, he branched off with Virtual Self, a hyper-fun side project influenced by trance and Dance Dance Revolution, which surprisingly earned the producer his first Grammy nomination.

Fantastic singing by the Finnish ensemble, who display a remarkable ability to convey the 'polyphony' - the sounding together of 'many tunes'. For their focus is very much on ensuring each voice is phrasing & singing their 'tune', with the lovely harmonies a result rather than their main target. It's good to hear an ensemble singing this way, all too often we hear the same 'vertical' (harmonic) approach that is the basis of the last 200+ years of concentration on tune+harmony, rather than a truly 'horizontal' focus on the lines of the music.

Ronald Brautigam presents two of Franz Schubert’s late masterpieces, the Sonatas D 959 and D 960. They are played here on a fortepiano built by Paul McNulty after an instrument from around 1819 by the Viennese instrument maker Conrad Graf and presumably similar to the instrument on which Schubert composed. Although it is tempting to see Schubert’s final works as the testament of a doomed artist who feels his end is nearing, the reality is quite different: the composer displayed vitality, optimism and a prodigious capacity for work. His last two sonatas also show that he had reached a new level, having successfully emancipated himself from the Beethovenian model.

For the past thirty years, Paolo Pandolfo has been one of the leading viola da gambists of his generation, researching and promoting the repertoire of his instrument in all directions. In 1989, he was appointed successor to Jordi Savall as professor of viola da gamba at his alma mater, the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (SCB), a position he holds to the present day. On this new recording in the SCB series on Glossa, Pandolfo presents the complete solo pieces for ‘lyra viol’ included in Alfonso Ferrabosco’s 1609 London publication Lessons for 1. 2. and 3. Viols. The lyra viol is a special type of viola da gamba that includes sympathetic resonant strings under the normal strings, thereby creating a fascinating sonority that often seems produced by more than one instrument.

Acclaimed pianist and organist Jae-Hyuck Cho, one of the most active concert artists in South Korea, returns to Orchid with an album of piano concertos by Mozart, partnered by Hans Graf and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.For this new album Cho has created a programme which draws on two unique works featuring piano. The piano concerto No.20 in D minor, with it's distinctive interactions between soloist and orchestra, is part of the pantheon of great Mozart works in D Minor, while the Piano Concerto No.23 in A major is known for a remarkable second movement in the lesser-explored key of F-sharp minor.In addition to being a soloist in recitals and appearing in front of large orchestras, Jae-Hyuck Cho is also widely known as a musical mediator, initiating new concert formats and making regular appearances on various broadcasting formats. He has been described as "a musician who is nearing perfection with an extraordinary breadth of expression, flawless technique, composition, sensitivity, intelligence, insightful and detailed playing without exaggeration."

Following the release of several operas by Franz Schreker during past years on cpo (some of them in premiere recordings), our label now turns to the orchestral works of a man who in some circles continues to be dismissed as a mere 'sound magician', even though he was a melodist and harmonist of the first water and had learned his craft so thoroughly at the Vienna Conservatory that he himself became a sought-after teacher. The present program traces Schrekers path from his studies with Robert Fuchs to his first enduring success the captivating pantomime The Birthday of the Infanta (1908) after the fairy tale by Oscar Wilde, which definitely numbers among the finest creations of the musical art nouveau.

After 1683, when Polish troops saved Vienna from a Turkish siege, Turkey was no longer a threat to Western Europe and became a symbol of the mysterious Orient. For European musicians, however, Turkey was less nebulous, as Turkish instruments (including drums, cymbals, and triangles) entered the European orchestra and composers emulated the sound of the Turkish military band. A charming introduction to eighteenth century musical Orientalism in Europe, this album features exquisite performances by Concerto Köln and Sarband, a traditional Turkish ensemble. The opening track, a scintillating rendition of the overture for Mozart's Oriental opera Die Entfuhrung as dem Serail, features traditional Turkish percussion that adds zest to the performance.

With this latest volume in their ongoing cycle, recorded in 2023, the Quartetto Noûs passes the halfway mark of Shostakovich’s 15 quartets. The previous instalments have been recognised and praised for their full-blooded intensity and uncompromising address to the detail of these absorbing scores.

To commemorate the bicentennial of Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations, the Divine Art label proudly presents “ 200 Years: Diabelli Variations”. Originally introduced by Anton Diabelli with words of admiration for its innovation and artistic brilliance, the Diabelli Variations have since transcended time, becoming a cornerstone of the piano repertoire, rivalling even the esteemed works of J.S. Bach.