Frank Sinatra was arguably the most important popular music figure of the 20th century, his only real rivals for the title being Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, and the Beatles. In a professional career that lasted 60 years, he demonstrated a remarkable ability to maintain his appeal and pursue his musical goals despite often countervailing trends. He came to the fore during the swing era of the 1930s and '40s, helped to define the "sing era" of the '40s and '50s, and continued to attract listeners during the rock era that began in the mid-'50s. He scored his first number one hit in 1940 and was still making million-selling recordings in 1994.

The very title of Joe Cocker's Hymn for My Soul suggests that this, his 2007 studio album, is a gospel affair, or at least something inspired by faith – something that isn't true to the letter, yet there is something true about the spirit of this sentiment, for these are songs that serve as a tonic to Cocker's soul. He's pulled songs from several familiar sources – Stevie Wonder, George Harrison, Bob Dylan – and found other newer songs that share a similar sentiment, offering reassuring thoughts in troubled times.

40 years ago today, Live Aid, the benefit concert organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise further funds for relief of the famine in Ethiopia, was announced with a press conference on the pitch at Wembley Stadium. The show was held simultaneously on Saturday, 13th July 1985, at Wembley and John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia. One of the day's highlights was the surprise duet of the Motown classic, 'Dancing In The Street', between David Bowie and Mick Jagger.

In retrospect, it's a bit shocking how fully formed the signature Aerosmith sound was on their self-titled 1973 debut – which may not be the same thing as best-executed, because this album still sounds like a first album, complete with the typical stumbles and haziness that comes with a debut. Despite all this, Aerosmith clearly showcases all the attributes of the band that would become the defining American hard rock band of the '70s. Here, the Stones influences are readily apparent, from the Jagger-esque phrasing of Steven Tyler to the group's high-octane boogie, but the group displays little of the Stones' deep love of blues here.

When Willie Dixon left his native Mississippi and traveled north to Chicago, he almost single-handedly dragged the blues with him into the modern era, giving the country blues a hard, new sheen with his deft songwriting, sturdy bass playing, and his considerable talents as a producer and arranger. This two-disc, 47-track set catches Dixon wearing all of his hats, with the first disc featuring him in the studio and in concert (including several live tracks with Johnny Winter) and the second spotlighting his bass playing and production work with the likes of Robert Nighthawk, Eddie Boyd, Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Lowell Fulson, Bo Diddley, Willie Mabon, and Howlin' Wolf. What emerges is a well-rounded portrait and introduction to one of the major architects of the modern blues sound.

The combination of interpretative flair and meticulous scholarship may be an uncommon one, but it’s very much a hallmark of Mahan Esfahani’s playing. His ongoing, widely praised, Bach series demonstrates a seemingly inexhaustible abundance of both as it reaches one of the landmarks of the keyboard repertoire: Book 1 of the ‘48’.

Soprano Rowan Pierce joins Florilegium and Ashley Solomon in Tra le fiamme - a new recording of secular cantatas by G. F. Handel and J. S. Bach. Tra le fiamme is one of Handel's Italian style cantatas, combining vocal virtuosity with deep emotional expressivity. Bach’s cantata Ich bin in mir vergnügt is an elegant example of one of his secular cantatas. This cantata stands out for its reflective exploration of themes of inner peace, contentment, and stoic philosophy - qualities that reflect Bach’s interest in moral and philosophical themes outside of his sacred music. Also included here is the final virtuosic Alleluia from Vivaldi’s motet In furore iustissimae irae together with instrumental concertos by Vivaldi and Handel.

The Flanders Symphony Orchestra and its chief conductor, Kristiina Poska, take a new step in their journey of recording the complete Beethoven symphonies. Beethoven’s symphonies have been a point of reference for the orchestra over the last few decades, serving as a bright beacon at the very heart of symphonic literature. This third volume includes the iconic Fifth and Eighth Symphony. In his Fifth Symphony, Beethoven showcases a musical work that is, in a sense, conceptual, taking motivic development to the extreme. One idea spans the entire piece, drawing the audience into a hypnotic musical journey. In the Eighth Symphony, Beethoven challenges the musicians with a difficult and at times seemingly illogical score, in which he looks to the past. He references the classical structures of his predecessors, as if he needed to revisit history in order to recalibrate before taking his next step.

Castor et Pollux is Rameau’s third opera and is packed with arias that show off the soloists to their best advantage: Tristes apprêts for Télaïre, Nature, Amour for Pollux, Séjour de l'éternelle paix for Castor, and Soulevons tous les dieux for Phébé. In this new recording Judith Van Wanroij, Reinoud Van Mechelen, Tassis Christoyannis and Véronique Gens are the outstanding performers, alongside the Purcell Choir and the Orfeo Orchestra conducted by György Vashegyi, in a new edition of Rameau's work prepared under the aegis of the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles. Research that was begun several years ago on questions of performance practice has now been complemented by their intensive work on the score and the division of roles, respecting what we now know about performance practice at the Paris Opera in Rameau's day.

Spunicunifait is the curious name adopted by a group of five musicians, all of whom have a great deal of experience in chamber music as well as in prestigious orchestras such as the Chamber Orchestra of Europe; they have founded this ensemble to be able to devote themselves to the in-depth study and period instrument performance of Mozart's six string quintets. Their choice of a name is also a trifle facetious, copying the example set by Mozart in a letter to his cousin Maria Anna Thekla Mozart in which he wrote the three mysterious words "Spuni Cuni fait"; these could mean spun or woven / coney or rabbit / and "made," the past participle of the French verb faire: to make: something woven from rabbit skin, like the shawl his beloved cousin Bäsle wore in a self-portrait.