William Shield rose from relatively humble beginnings to become the ‘house’ composer to Covent Garden, for which he wrote stage works full of panache and tunefulness. He met and befriended Haydn who was to prove a lasting influence. In 1782 Shield published his Six String Quartets, Op. 3, some of the most richly rewarding works of their type in 18th-century England. The transparency of parts, use of imitation, infusion of Sturm und Drang elements as well as the bucolic and folkloric writing, all demonstrate Shield’s art, as does the progressive writing of the last of the six, in C minor.

Inspired by Californian collective Supersonic Blues Machine, of which he’s also a member, Kris Barras put together a British jam band to fully embrace his blues rock roots and work with guest collaborators.

This captivating new release from PENTATONE celebrates the glittering world of 19th-century opera and the timeless beauty of the golden age of bel canto. Featuring music by Gaetano Donizetti, Gioacchino Rossini, Georges Bizet, Léo Delibes, and Giuseppe Verdi, the album showcases soprano Erin Morley and tenor Lawrence Brownlee—two of today’s most exciting voices—joined by the Münchner Rundfunkorchester under the baton of conductor Ivan Repušić. Together, they bring fresh brilliance to the French and Italian repertoire with performances that balance vocal agility, lyrical finesse, and emotional power. This carefully curated collection of operatic gems highlights iconic duets and arias that continue to resonate with modern audiences through their passion, beauty, and dramatic flair. It marks an exciting PENTATONE debut for both Lawrence Brownlee and Ivan Repušić, while Erin Morley returns following her acclaimed performance in the label’s recording of Handel’s Alcina (2024). The Münchner Rundfunkorchester also makes a welcome return, having previously appeared on PENTATONE’s release of Gordon Getty’s Plump Jack (2012).

An intimate voice-and-piano album weaving five witty originals among six classic standards. Captures Angela and pianist Ray Gallon in a late-night, romantic mood with In the Wonder of the Night.

Seine posthume Bekanntheit verdankte der Protagonist dieser Produktion einem Irrtum: Die »Jenaer Symphonie«, die man 1909 in der Universitätsbibliothek der Stadt entdeckte, wurde als ein vermeintliches Frühwerk Beethovens gründlich studiert, diskutiert und sogar eingespielt. Seit 1968 weiß man allerdings, dass es sich bei der Komposition mitnichten um die »Nullte« des Titanen, sondern um die 14te von insgesamt 23 Symphonien handelt, die Friedrich Witt aus dem baden-württembergischen Niederstetten geschrieben und zu erheblichen Teilen auch publiziert hat. Ganze fünf Wochen älter als sein Bonner Kollege, den er um neun Jahre überlebte, war er seit 1802 Hofkapellmeister zu Würzburg, wo sein symphonisches Schaffen einen staunenswerten Aufschwung nahm und offenbar neu sortiert wurde: Die drei hier eingespielten Symphonien Nr. 1 bis 3 sind einige Jahre jünger als ihre vielgelobte Schwester, deren verheißungsvolle Qualität sie indes konsequent fortsetzen.

This recording is the first of a collaboration between René Jacobs, the Kammerorchester Basel, the Zürcher Sing-Akademie and Alpha Classics and will involve the release of four albums between 2025 and 2028; the first of these is the Missa Cellensis, then three albums devoted to Haydn’s last six masses. Haydn was commissioned in 1766 to write a Missa Solemnis, the Latin term for a fully scored mass with trumpets and timpani; it is the third and largest of Haydn's fourteen masses. It was under this erroneous name that the 1766 Missa Cellensis remained known until 1975, when a fragment of the autograph score containing the title page, Kyrie I and Christe was found in Bucharest and revealed that Haydn had in fact composed two Missæ Cellenses. It is the first of these (1766) that is recorded here. René Jacobs puts all his expertise and enthusiasm at the service of this music that he loves so much, in collaboration with soloists with whom he works regularly, an orchestra that is also a longstanding partner, and the remarkable choir of the Sing-Akademie of Zürich.

While one has to wonder whether the demand for Malo's product is wide enough to merit a four-CD box set rather than individual reissues of some or all of their albums, Celebracion certainly does a great job of presenting the band's legacy in total. Each of their four 1972-1974 Warner Brothers albums is included in gatefold sleeves, with a 20-page booklet that goes over the band's history with some depth, bolstered by interview quotes from several bandmembers. Two to five bonus tracks are added to each disc/album, though unfortunately these are just shorter single edits of album tracks. There's one previously unreleased cut, "Pana," but that's just an unreleased single edit of the same track of that name that appears on their debut album…

Long-term ELP fans will doubtless recognize much of this box set as a reprise of sundry, previously released collections and anthologies, most notably the three Manticore Archives box sets of the early 2000s. The cumulative cost of those boxes, however, makes this a magnificent alternative, cherrypicking the very best of those earlier releases to create a one-stop portrait of one of the world's most exciting live bands at its best. With 43 tracks spread across four discs, the first three CDs are sensibly divided between the three primary eras of the band - soundboard quality collections of "the early 1970s," taking us up through the band's 1974 tour; "the late 1970s," rounding up the Works tours of 1977-1978; and "the 1990s," capturing the reunions…