In Johann Sebastian Bach’s six organ sonatas, three independent voices sound interchangeably. The right hand plays the highest voice, the left hand the middle voice and the feet the bass. A true musician wants to play each voice as if for the first time, responding spontaneously to what the others bring up. To bring such a sung conversation to life with hands and feet, he listens with equal attention and love to all the voices simultaneously. It is a miracle that it can be done. When it succeeds, it all seems simple and natural. A world opens up to the listener, in which it is hardly imaginable that there is anything more beautiful than a trio sonata by Bach.

Looking for a smart, never-out-of-style singer who turns in a perfectly solid collection of Christmas songs, including a few surprises? J.T. is your man on James Taylor at Christmas, which is nicely balanced between pop and jazz selections, with more stately hymn-like fare and balladry. Always fine in his charmingly understated voice, Taylor and company try out the old gospel standard "Go Tell It on the Mountain" and the memorable "Some Children See Him." He smoothly cuts through "Winter Wonderland" and "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" with a bit of jazz flavor, and reprises Joni Mitchell's increasingly popular Christmas song (even though it's about getting away from the holiday), "River." One of the album's most satisfying delights is Taylor's funky version of "Jingle Bells," sung in a kind of barroom stomp with the most intriguing phrasing since Barbra Streisand sang it in the '60s. Soulful and bright and moody as well (when Taylor sings "In the Bleak Midwinter," you believe it's indeed rough), there's barely a clinker here.

Alisa Weilerstein and Inon Barnatan present Brahms' two Cello Sonatas, alongside their arrangement of his Violin Sonata in G Major on the cello. This Brahms portrait is a logical next step after the duo's acclaimed interpretation of Beethoven's complete Cello Sonatas, released in 2022. While Beethoven's sonatas reveal the gradual ascendancy of the cello as the proper solo instrument over the piano, Brahms opens a new chapter in the history of the cello sonata, realizing a glorious marriage of equals between the two instruments. This congenial relationship between cello and piano is further enhanced by Weilerstein and Barnatan, whose musical partnership (in addition to their thriving solo careers) has been a stable factor over the years. Since signing an exclusive contract with PENTATONE, Alisa Weilerstein has released Transfigured Night (2018) as well as Bach's Cello Suites (2020), while also featuring on Old Souls (2019) and Inon Barnatan's Beethoven Piano Concertos Part 1 (2019), on which she performed the composer's Triple Concerto. This album was part of Inon Barnatan's complete Beethoven piano concertos recordings on PENTATONE, of which Part 2 appeared in 2020. 2021 saw the release of his solo album Time Traveler's Suite, while Rachmaninoff Reflections appeared in 2023, followed by Darknesse Visible in 2024. Brahms Cello Sonatas is the second PENTATONE album by Weilerstein and Barnatan. Their interpretation of Beethoven's complete Cello Sonatas appeared on the label in 2022.

“I have long imagined a recital program dedicated to the opposing themes of heaven and hell, spiritual and corporal, saints and sinners,” writes pianist Andrew von Oeyen of his album Angels and Demons. Combining works conceived for solo keyboard with transcriptions of music from the orchestral, operatic and choral repertoires, he takes the “angelic” route with Bach (transcribed in one instance by Busoni), Debussy, Fauré and Messiaen, and the “demonic” route with Liszt, Saint-Saëns and Edward MacDowell. As he leads the listener on a journey into the darkest corners of human emotion, but also towards rapture and catharsis, the American-born pianist proves an assured and inspiring guide. After all, in the words of the Chicago Tribune, “He leaves you convinced that he can do absolutely anything he likes with a keyboard.”

To the Rising Moon is Stephan Micus' 26th solo album for ECM. It features instruments from Colombia, India, Xinjiang (China), Bavaria, Cambodia, Egypt and Borneo, but taking centre stage is the Colombian tiple, slightly smaller than an acoustic guitar. The sunny plucked sound of the tiples alternates with darker bowed strings which bring a more meditative mood. It's only in the final track, "To the Rising Moon", that the two worlds of the plucked tiples and bowed strings finally come together. It's like a hymn to something that is eternally up there in the night sky, something consistent while there is so much turbulence in the world below. Once again, Stephan Micus takes us on a unique musical journey to places unknown that couldn't have been created or played by anyone else.

»In dulci jubilo« – besondere Weihnachtslieder mit dem Windsbacher Knabenchor und der lautten compagney BERLIN
Der Windsbacher Knabenchor gilt als eines der besten Ensembles seiner Art. Seit seiner Gründung im Jahre 1946 steht er für die Synthese von Musikalität, Vielseitigkeit, Genauigkeit und Reinheit des Klangs. Ludwig Böhme ist seit 2022 der neue Künstlerische Leiter der Windsbacher. Das neue Weihnachtsalbum, zu dem sie sich für einen besonderen Klang mit Musikern der lautten compagney BERLIN zusammentaten, ist die erste Aufnahme unter seiner Leitung.

In 2024, Warner Classics celebrate ten years of success with Camille and Julie Berthollet. They present a compilation album: '10 ans!'. Discovered in the French 'Prodiges' TV show in 2014, the Berthollet sisters became real cross-over stars in France, releasing 7 albums in 10 years. '10 ans!' features hits, showcasing their eclectic talent, including Vivaldi's 'Four Seasons', Karl Jenkins 'Palladio', Rimsky-Korsakov's 'Flight of the Bumblebee', Scott Joplin's 'Ragtime'.

Throughout his decades-long career, Oscar Peterson accomplished the near impossible: greatness with every note played and the acquisition of new generations of fans worldwide, regardless of the obstacles life threw at him. In 1994, only one year after suffering a stroke that rendered his left hand weakened, Peterson took the stage in Munich to prove to his collaborators, fans, and himself, that his earned title of "Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington still rang true. By reinventing his playing style at 68 years old, he demonstrated his undiminished inventive prowess and mastery of piano gymnastics.

Raff completed the score of Die Eifersüchtigen (‘The Jealous Ones’) a few weeks before his death. He wrote the libretto himself and was scrupulous in differentiating his characters through their music and adopting a precise formal construction. With tight organisational control, a strong grasp of musical and dramatic relationships, and speech melodies based entirely on German prosody, Raff’s final opera is marked by clarity, concision and economy of means.

Guns N' Roses are the bridge separating 1980s and 1990s hard rock, the band responsible for ushering in an era of grim, gritty rock & roll. Where such peers as Mötley Crüe reveled in the decadence of Sunset Strip sleaze, Guns N' Roses focused on the grimy underbelly of the urban jungle, with guitarists Slash and Izzy Stradlin cranking out mean riffs that matched the dark fantasies of Axl Rose, the vocalist who led GNR with a serpentine charm. Rose countered his nasty tendencies with a romantic side, one that flourished on "Sweet Child O' Mine," the soaring ballad that went to number one in 1988, turning the band into superstars in the process. Over the next few years, GNR's 1987 debut album, Appetite for Destruction, sold in monstrous numbers, with "Welcome to the Jungle" and "Paradise City" both reaching Billboard's Top Ten and "Patience," from the 1989 EP GNR Lies, also reaching that exalted position.

"Gladiator II" by Oscar-winning director Ridley Scott is the long-awaited sequel to an epic saga of power, intrigue and revenge in ancient Rome.

Brenda Lee's 1964 release is the perfect pop/country Christmas album! You'll find some classics, some new tunes that are now classics all delivered in Brenda Lee style. This album was released when I was almost 2 and has been on turntable for Christmas ever since. Perfect blend for the season.

Mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio, most from the original master tapes or best sources available. The best pre-1965 Beach Boys album featured their brilliant number one single "I Get Around," as well as other standout cuts in the beautifully sad "Wendy," "Little Honda" (one of their best hot rod tunes, covered by the Hondells for a hit), and their remake of the late-'50s doo wop classic "Hushabye." The nostalgic "All Summer Long," another great production, seemed (whether intentionally or not) like a sort of farewell to the frivolous California beach culture that had supplied the lyrical grist for most of their music up to this point, with a longing, regretful chorus that was totally at odds with the bouncy arrangement.

This is a unique blend of free jazz and electronica. Beginning with three live concerts, each recorded in four instrumental layers, some performances (notably the trumpet) were left intact, other layers were either re-performed or invented anew. Some layers migrated from one performance to another. Other completely new layers were made by canibalizing parts from previous works and reshaping them. This collection is an interesting blend of live concert recordings and studio mixes which makes for a haunting and ethereal soundscape.

Continuing its excellent series of Guarnieri Symphonies, the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra under John Neschling presents another program of marvelous music that deserves the widest possible exposure outside of its native Brazil. Guarnieri's First Symphony was composed in 1944 and dedicated to Serge Koussevitsky. It's as fine an example of American (in the widest sense) neo-classicism as anything by Copland, Harris, or Piston, and it's worth pointing out that this confidently mature work actually precedes much of those composers' symphonic output, as it does, say, Tippett's, whose rhythmic complexity and contrapuntal business it in some ways resembles. The central slow movement, marked "Profundo", is particularly well sustained and supports the composer's claim to be regarded a major 20th century symphonist.