Another fairly unknown band heading from Italy, Gruppo D'alternativa was formed in Milano in the early 70's and managed to release one album (named "Ipotesi") before they splitted and drowned into further obscurity. Some could consider them as a 'proto-RIO' band due to their activity long before the first RIO movement in the late 70's, and their alternative and experimental prog-rock sound confirms this well although they also reveal some notable Jazz-Rock/Canterbury influences in their sound. "Ipotesi" was based on the death of a friend of the band who was killed in a road accident some time before the album was written, but whenever this explains the bands musical approach is unknown. After a request for a more commercial second album from the record company, the band decided to disband. They are a very unpredictable and playful band musically, but at the same time quite challenging, especially for more unexperienced listeners.

Organ Harvest was launched at the band's most prestigious performance to date, the Klemdag festival in Holland, confir.m,i.ng R.M.I.'s rise to prominence in the field of modern electronic music. The album is a 62 minute epic consisting of six segued pieces all chosen to create a satisfying whole. For the first time there are thematic structures, on both the title track and the Floydian finale 'A Minute of Silence'. Elsewhere the spirit of improvisation still dominates; 'Geiger' and 'Rainy Day Song' are sequencer led explorations that demonstrate growing confidence in the principle "less is more". The surrounding textural sections show that R.M.I. are unique in their ability to create blissful soundworlds of depth and beauty which melt into your environment.

In 1919, the cellist Marix Loevensohn ordered a duo sonata from Henriëtte Bosmans, which he wanted to perform in one of his recitals. He received what he had requested and thus opened the "cellistic" section of the young composer's oeuvre, which was soon followed by two concertos and a Poème with orchestra (jpc 11794494) as well as various piano-accompanied pieces. Partly inspired by Loevensohn, partly by her friend Frieda Belifante, the result was a collection that bears witness to a talent that was as self-confident as it was sensitive: The massive cornerstones of the Sonata enclose lovely songfulness à la Brahms and Debussystian splashes of color, the three Impressions flirt with different eras and landscapes, the Nocturne for cello and harp can't get enough in dreamy indulgences - and the sensitive spirit willingly melts away.

Adalbert Gyrowetz, born right between Mozart and Beethoven, was one of those who had to experience the changing times in a particularly drastic way. When he died in 1850, Schumann was 40 and Liszt 39 years old; and Chopin, who had made his debut in Warsaw in 1818 with a piano concerto by the Bohemian, had already been dead for six months. Gyrowetzen's instrumental music had once been particularly celebrated; it was printed many times, performed and finally - forgotten. The composer switched to the stage, wrote church music and created a post-summer in which he must nevertheless have thought wistfully of the old pieces, which were sometimes considered to be the best Haydn. The sample from the "good old days" compiled by the tireless explorer Howard Griffiths shows how this could happen. His orchestra is no coincidence: Gyrowetz once enjoyed a high reputation on the Thames too. Now he is back.

Accordion sensation Ksenija Sidorova in a showcase demonstrating the full range and emotional power of her instrument. 'As an accordionist you sort of have to carve your own path, so I consider it my mission in this way to introduce the instrument to a wider audience', she says. The CD contains old and new repertoire, transcriptions and original works. Fairy Tales concerto by Vaclav Trojan, recorded with BBC National Orchestra of Wales, is written in an enchanting and approachable style with beautiful, heartfelt melodies. Arrangements and transcriptions of virtuosic showpieces include Moszowski’s Caprice Espagnol, the scherzo from Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (a transcription that has its roots in Rachmaninov’s arrangement) and Grieg’s Holberg Suite. Contemporary composition Who’s the Puppet? was written for Ksenija by Russian composer Artem Vassiliev. Petr Londonov’s Scherzo-­Toccata is a popular piece with accordionists but little-­known to wider concert audiences.

Flesh and Blood (stylized as Flesh + Blood) is the seventh studio album by the English rock band Roxy Music. Released in late May 1980, it was an immediate commercial success peaking at No. 1 in the UK for one week in June and then returned to the summit in August for another three weeks, in total spending 60 weeks on the albums chart in the United Kingdom. The album also peaked at No. 35 in the United States and No. 10 in Australia. The album was made after their drummer Paul Thompson had left the band, essentially making Roxy Music a three-piece band consisting of Bryan Ferry, Andy Mackay and Phil Manzanera.

As one of the most respected Czech composers of his time, Jan Anton Kozeluch (1738-1814) composed around 45 masses and Italian operas, among other things, but was overshadowed by his cousin Leopold Antonín Kozeluch (1747-1818), with whom he is still often confused today. Kozeluch also wrote two bassoon concertos. The Bassoon Concerto in C major was one of the most frequently performed masterpieces for bassoon in the 18th century, and with it the Italian bassoonist Sergio Azzolini is now opening the Kozeluch album with the Camerata Rousseau under the direction of Leonardo Muzii.

Dramma per musica in three acts by Domenico Scarlatti to a libretto by Capece [Capeci], Carlo Sigismondo; Rome, Queen Maria Casimira’s private theatre in the Palazzo Zuccari, ?10 January 1712.

Pehr Henrik Nordgren (1944-2008) is considered by many composer-colleagues, musicians and music experts as one of the leading and most interesting composers of his generation. Works on this recording (Horn Concerto, Violin Concerto Nr 4 and Rock Score) are all recorded before, but now updated to super audio CD with new soloists on ALBA records. The whole league of performers including the orchestra itself are Ostrobothnians, where the composer settled to work too.

Although the vast majority of Rolling Stones songs from the Mick Taylor era sported Jagger/Richard writing credits, there's no denying that Taylor provided an extra creative spark for the band – as the Stones never truly scaled the same heights as Sticky Fingers or Exile on Main St. again. And the same (albeit less surprisingly) could be said for Taylor after he went his merry way from Stones land. But Taylor remains one heck of a blues-rock guitar player to this day, as evidenced by 2003's 14 Below. Originally issued in 1995 as Live at 14 Below: Coastin' Home, the re-release features the same exact track listing but a different album cover.

Hardly the disco set you might guess from the title - and instead, a surprisingly soulful gem from the post-Stax years of Isaac Hayes! There's certainly a bit of uptempo grooving in the mix - but, as on Ike's Polydor years, the approach is still handled with the deeper sounds that Hayes first forged over at Stax - a way of putting together the groove that's almost like a mini-symphony in soul - still quite complex, even when aimed at the dancefloor! But not all cuts are groovers, too - as there's some key mellow moments on the record that really help balance things out, and which we really like a lot - those slow-stepping, mature masculine numbers that always marked Hayes as one of the hippest talents of his generation. There's some key Memphis help on the record from The Movement - who handle rhythm and horns.