John Wilson comments: My Fair Lady is the quintessential American London musical. There is not a semiquaver or a semi-colon in the wrong place. Steven Wilkie, one of the fiddle players in my orchestra, describes it as The Marriage of Figaro of the twentieth century. And when I asked the great opera conductor Richard Bonynge what the finest post-World War Two operas are, he said, ?My Fair Lady, Oklahoma!… they?

The 'American dream' is the thread that connects these three works. Amy Beach was born in New Hampshire in 1867 and composed more than three hundred works, including a monumental suite for two pianos inspired by the Romantic tradition and based on ancient Irish melodies. Nadine Dana Suesse — nicknamed the "Gershwin Girl" — was born in Kansas City in 1909. She played her own compositions on the radio from the age of thirteen and composed hit songs, notably for Bing Crosby. She refused the attractions of Hollywood and studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. Her works disappeared from the repertory after her death, although the Berlinskaya Ancelle duo are keen to revive her music with this 1943 concerto, described as "romantic, but mixed with modern harmonies and chords straight from jazz". Victor Babin was born in Moscow in 1908 and emigrated to the United States with his wife Viktoria Vronskaya in 1937. Their piano duo was very successful there: they gave the first performance of Babin’s virtuosic Second Concerto under the direction of George SzelI in Cleveland in 1957.

This album presents a powerful symphonic exploration of heroism, memory, and legacy. Jakub Hra and the Bamberger Symphoniker bring to life three deeply expressive orchestral works, each offering a unique perspective on a heros journey. Strauss Ein Heldenleben is a sweeping portrait of triumph and struggle, while Dvoks A Heros Song, Op. 111 brims with fiery energy and lyrical depth. Glazunovs elegy To the Memory of a Hero provides a poignant, reflective contrast. Together, these works form a stirring meditation on the nature of heroism in music. Recorded at Konzerthalle Bamberg Joseph-Keilberth-Saal September 2023 - February 2025.

Carl Reinecke ist einer der lebendigen Beweise dafür, dass Konservatismus und Originalität sich nicht ausschließen. Sein Schaffen ruht auf den Schultern der vorigen Generationen und verlässt nirgends die harmonischen oder formalen Vorgaben, die im 19. Jahrhundert zum Lehrstoff der Konservatorien gehörten – und doch werden wir einer Persönlichkeit begegnen, die sich nicht hinter Formeln, sondern gewissermaßen zwischen den Zeilen und im Detail versteckte. So schwelgt er in seinem 1859 uraufgeführten Oratorium »Belsazar« ausgiebig im Spannungsfeld zwischen gottesfürchtigen Israeliten und brachial-blasphemischen Babyloniern, bevor ihm rund zwanzig Jahre später ein »Concert-Stück für Chor und Orchester« gelingt, in dem vokale Sätze und instrumentale Zwischenspiele auf neuartige Weise zu einer ungewöhnlichen und ungewöhnlich poetischen Folge entzückender Sommertagsbilder verknüpft sind. Ein atmosphärisches Erlebnis …

Remember this is a bootleg album and therefore the sound is not to the highest standards that you would expect from a major record label, but it is authentic and original.

By the mid-'70s, Arthur Brown had spent some six years operating so far below the radar that many people who remembered his "Fire" chart-topper could easily be excused for thinking he'd vanished altogether. Of course, aficionados knew he'd been busy elsewhere, scouring the progressive underground with Journey and Kingdom Come, and fans of those projects were nonplussed indeed when Brown suddenly reappeared in the mainstream, turning up on the Saturday morning British TV pop program Supersonic to plug his latest single. Resplendent in gold wellies, Brown drew the Animals' "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" to new heights of dementia - the single itself was ultimately a flop, but the performance was killer, and all ears were open for the album that followed, Dance…

At the time of the release of Think (About It) in 1972, Lyn Collins had been a member of James Brown's performing revue for about two years. Her full-throated voice had earned her the nickname "the Female Preacher" and a shot to record her own album. Of course, the Godfather was in the producer's chair, writing four of the nine tracks, directing the J.B.'s as they laid down their usual funky grooves, and liberally adding vocals throughout. The title track is the main point of interest here; from Collins' throat-ripping vocals to the track's nasty groove to Brown's background interjections, this is a killer. (Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock later sampled the track for their rap classic "It Takes Two"). The rest of the record is a little uneven: "Just Won't Do Right" is a good doo wop-ish ballad with some churchy organ and great vocals by Collins and Brown, "Wheels of Life" is a nice little groover that sounds like vintage Aretha Franklin, and "Women's Lib" is a very slow ballad that lets Collins show off her anguished yowl of a vocal to its fullest.

This double CD contains 29 live Compay Segundo performances. The first CD contains a conversation with Compay about his childhood and what he feels about his music. This is the original Spanish. The CD split into "club" concerts and "theatre" concerts.

Carl Friedrich Abel was known in 18th-century London as the greatest gamba player of his day. Having been taught in Leipzig by JS Bach, Abel later worked closely with ‘the London Bach', Johann Christian, and his own music shares a quality of liminal fantasy with that of his friend, poised as they were (in retrospect) on the threshold of the Baroque and Classical eras.

The definitive reissue of Terry Riley’s pioneering works for Columbia Masterworks. This deluxe 4-CD box set from Sony Music brings together the seminal Columbia recordings of Terry Riley, a visionary composer whose influence on minimalist and electronic music continues to ripple through generations. Thoughtfully presented with archival materials, this collection offers an essential document of Riley’s most transformative period when the pulse of innovation met the possibilities of high-fidelity sound. This box set is more than a collection of recordings it is a rare window into a time when the avant-garde found a home in major-label studios and groundbreaking artists like Riley were given space to explore uncharted sonic territory. From his mesmeric electric keyboard and saxophone improvisations to his pioneering use of analog tape delay, every track here pulses with the spirit of experimentation. Starting with the original 1968 recording of In C, captured at Columbia’s legendary 30th Street Studio, by revered engineer Fred Plaut, the set includes four seminal works by Riley that helped shape not only the minimalist movement but much of the late 20th century avant-garde landscape.

With Living Being IV: Time Reflections, Vincent Peirani and his quintet present a workdeeply rooted in the reflection and musical exploration of time. Composed of Émile Parisien, Tony Paeleman, Yoann Serra and Julien Herné, this new project invites us to explore a sound where each note is imbued with the complexity and nuances of therhythm of life.Born in the particular context of the first months of the Covid pandemic, this record isthe fruit of a moment of forced pause for Vincent Peirani, a break in his daily life that led him to meditate on the way in which time shapes our lives and our perception of the world. ‘Time Réflections’is a mosaic of contemporary beats and echoes of traditional dance, with a nod to baroque music, which finds an unexpected and poetic place here. Vincent Peirani’s collaborations with artists from diverse backgrounds add anintertextual dimension to his music. In this album, the influences of Beninese guitaristLionel Loueke and German pianist Michael Wollny are clearly evident in two tracks specially dedicated to them.These resonances illustrate the richness and diversity that characterise Peirani’s work,offering a musical experience that is both introspectiveand universal.

Conductor and composer Jörg Widmann leads the Stuttgarter Kammerochester in this album of masterpieces for string orchestra. The precocious Mendelssohn is represented with his String Symphony No. 10 in B minor. It consists of a single movement, in which a sweeping slow introduction is followed by an allegro and coda. Widmann’s own Ikarische Klage takes its subject matter from a poem by Baudelaire: "Burnt by the love of beauty / I will not have the sublime honour / of giving my name to the abyss / that will serve as my grave”. Of Korngold’s Symphonic Serenade, Widmann says "What a piece, full of glittering magic!". In this work we hear dreams of a real or imaginary Vienna in the time of Mahler or Berg: a vision that looks to the future, is heart-rending but never sentimental.

In keeping with the fascinating rediscoveries of French music made by the Palazzetto Bru Zane, this programme of sacred music presents works by well-known composers such as Saint-Saëns and Fauré as well as lesser-known works such as the Kyrie by Clémence de Grandval and Charlotte Sohy, the Ave Maria by Léon Boëllmann and Fernand de La Tombelle, and a Cantique de Jean Racine composed by the deeply religious Mel Bonis to a different text from that chosen by Fauré, in memory of her deceased son Édouard. Instruments were added ad libitum for performances in the most prestigious religious buildings to encourage performances of the said works in other places as well. Fauré's Tantum ergo, for example, with organ, piano or harp and double bass, could be played in church, in concert, or at home. These discoveries are what make this programme so interesting, bringing the Chœur de Radio France together with vocal and instrumental soloists of the highest calibre under the expert direction of Christophe Grapperon.

Lumen is the deeply personal and introspective new solo album by pianist and composer Bill Laurance. Recorded in the stillness of night inside an empty church, the album captures a rare and intimate moment of communion between artist, instrument, and space. Though not religious, Laurance describes the experience as almost spiritual—guided more by the music itself than by his own intention, as if he were merely a vessel.

Relive the iconic sound of Talking Heads with this electrifying collection of live radio broadcast performances. Featuring their earliest hits delivered with the band's signature energy and innovation, this album offers a rare glimpse into their unforgettable live experience. Perfect for fans and new listeners alike, it's a vibrant tribute to one of the most influential bands of new wave and alternative music. Live Icons selects some of the choicest cuts from their live radio broadcast repertoire.