The Orlando Consort, a male vocal quartet, has a range of repertory that is unusually wide among early music groups, running from Guillaume de Machaut through contemporary concert music and jazz. The group is prolific in its recordings, having released one or more albums every year since the early '90s except during the pandemic year of 2020. The Orlando Consort was formed in 1988 as a one-off touring group assembled by Britain's Early Music Network (now the National Centre for Early Music). The group came on the scene amid a general trend toward smaller ensembles in the performance of Renaissance polyphony, and it was immediately successful and decided to remain intact for further performances. The group's original members were Robert Harre-Jones (counter-tenor), Charles Daniels (tenor), Angus Smith (tenor), and Donald Greig (baritone). As of 2023, Smith and Greig remain, while counter-tenor Matthew Venner and tenor Mark Dobell have replaced Harre-Jones and Daniels.

Laura Branigan was a Grammy-nominated pop singer/songwriter and actress. Her cinematic, synth-driven, club-friendly dance pop and groundbreaking music videos sent her singles and albums to the top rungs of the charts and made her a huge concert attraction. From her clear-throated, fist-pumping post-disco singles like "Gloria" to the sultry, Roland 808 vamps and drum machine loops in "Self Control" and beyond, Branigan was a singles artist whose career arc coincided with the rise of the MTV era. Her chart successes mirrored those of other '80s female icons such as Sade, Kim Wilde, and Kim Carnes.

Another 19th-century case in point was Eugène Jancourt, the bassoon virtuoso and composer, who brought about important changes in his instrument in order to extend its expressive potential. A longstanding performer and teacher at the Paris Conservatoire, he wrote a Concertino which transfers well to this combination of bassoon and organ, as does a Verdian rarity, discovered as recently as 2001, the youthful Capriccio.

To Notice Such Things is a studio album by former Deep Purple keyboard player Jon Lord, released in 2010. It is titled after the main work, a six-movement suite for solo flute, piano and string orchestra, composed by Lord in memory of his close friend the late Sir John Mortimer, CBE, QC. The music emanates from that which Lord composed for the stage show, Mortimer’s Miscellany, which he also occasionally accompanied. To Notice Such Things is the last line of the Thomas Hardy poem “Afterwards”, which ended the show.

Collects the original 1974 and 1975 albums from the French orchestra leader, together on one CD! Includes covers of The Carpenters' "Yesterday Once More" and Mikis Theodorakis' "Theme From 'Serpico". French composer/conductor Paul Mauriat is a classically trained musician who decided to pursue a career in popular music. His first major success came in 1962, as a co-writer of the European hit "Chariot." In 1963, the song was given English lyrics, renamed "I Will Follow Him," and became a number one American hit for Little Peggy March. Mauriat is best remembered for his 1968 worldwide smash "Love Is Blue."

The American critic Robert Reilly described the music on Volume One of this cycle of the complete string quartets of David Matthews (b. 1943) as ‘some of the most concentrated, penetrating writing for this medium in the past 30 years or more. It is musical thinking of the highest order and quartet writing in the great tradition of Beethoven, Bartók, Britten, and Tippett’. The three works in this sixth volume of Matthews’ string quartets cover a quarter of a century but share the same basic features, not least a mastery of counterpoint, an impassioned lyricism, a sublimated hint of folksong and occasionally a sly sense of humour, all deployed to touch something essential in the listener. Matthews begins his booklet note with this release by saluting ‘my now nearly 30-year relationship with the Kreutzer Quartet, which has been as invaluable to me as Shostakovich’s with the Beethoven Quartet, or Beethoven’s with the Schuppanzigh Quartet’.

Bob Marley Reggae's most transcendent and iconic figure, Bob Marley was the first Jamaican artist to achieve international superstardom, in the process introducing the music of his native island nation to the far-flung corners of the globe. Marley's music gave voice to the day-to-day struggles of the Jamaican experience, vividly capturing not only the plight of the country's impoverished and oppressed but also the devout spirituality that remains their source of strength. Backed by his all-star band the Wailers, Marley delivered classics in the ska era of the early '60s, all but invented roots music with '70s albums like Catch a Fire, and offered millions of listeners an entry point to reggae with his posthumous best-of collection, 1984's Legend. His songs of faith, devotion, and revolution created a legacy that continues to live on not only through the music of his extended family but also through generations of artists around the world touched by his genius. Robert Nesta Marley was born February 6, 1945, in rural St. Ann's Parish, Jamaica; the son of a middle-aged white father and teenaged Black mother, he left home at 14 to pursue a music career in Kingston, becoming a pupil of local singer and devout Rastafarian Joe Higgs.

Bob Marley Reggae's most transcendent and iconic figure, Bob Marley was the first Jamaican artist to achieve international superstardom, in the process introducing the music of his native island nation to the far-flung corners of the globe. Marley's music gave voice to the day-to-day struggles of the Jamaican experience, vividly capturing not only the plight of the country's impoverished and oppressed but also the devout spirituality that remains their source of strength. Backed by his all-star band the Wailers, Marley delivered classics in the ska era of the early '60s, all but invented roots music with '70s albums like Catch a Fire, and offered millions of listeners an entry point to reggae with his posthumous best-of collection, 1984's Legend. His songs of faith, devotion, and revolution created a legacy that continues to live on not only through the music of his extended family but also through generations of artists around the world touched by his genius. Robert Nesta Marley was born February 6, 1945, in rural St. Ann's Parish, Jamaica; the son of a middle-aged white father and teenaged Black mother, he left home at 14 to pursue a music career in Kingston, becoming a pupil of local singer and devout Rastafarian Joe Higgs.

Pianist-composer Vijay Iyer follows his 2021 ECM disc Uneasy — the first to showcase his trio featuring bassist Linda May Han Oh and drummer Tyshawn Sorey — with Compassion, another album in league with these two gifted partners. The New York Times captured the special qualities of this group, pointing to the trio’s flair for playing “with a lithe range of motion and resplendent clarity… while stoking a kind of writhing internal tension. Crucial to that balance is their ability to connect with each other almost telepathically.”

Intensity of feeling and drama, joy of playing and energy: on its second album Symphonic Dances, the Cologne-based Xenon Saxophone Quartet presents a rich palette of emotions and a different facet of musical expression with each work. In the eponymous Symphonic Dances by Rachmaninoff, in which the quartet is expanded to include the pianist Sergey Markin, the five play to the full the "Russian soul" of Rachmaninoff. Their recording of Franck's Prélude, Fugue et Variation brings the almost mystical character of the work to life, and in Ligeti's Six Bagatelles, their profound avant-garde modernity becomes clear.

Tracking down the miracle of Bach's music: masterworks such as the Brandenburg Concertos have awakened the ensemble's spirit of discovery. In order to better understand their inner architecture and genius, ensemble member Christoph Harer, in collaboration with his colleagues, has created baroque transcriptions from Bach's originals, producing three "Neubrandenburg Concertos". A harpsichord concerto becomes music for three competing string trios; solo and chamber music is transformed into colourful concerto movements for different instrumentations. And a simple vanitas song is transformed into a dreamy string aria. Performing these works, la festa musicale reaches top form: solo parts are distributed across the entire orchestra, and the concertos are carried by the virtuosity and imagination of many. The creative play with originals opens up new and unexpected perspectives on Bach's great music.

Nobody knows why Mozart wrote three symphonies—his last, as fate decreed—in less than three months in the summer of 1788. Some say it was divine inspiration, others that he desperately needed a new income stream. Whatever the case, they stand among the great landmarks of the symphonic repertoire. The Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra and its founder-conductor, Marios Papadopoulos, in their expansive, lyrical interpretations of the last two of these works convey their nobility and classicism. They articulate countless details of rhythm and phrasing that all too often fly by in period-instrument performances, especially in the finale of Symphony No. 40 and the “Jupiter” Symphony’s opening “Allegro vivace,” the latter graced by superb string playing. While the prevailing mood is serious, there’s room for charm and lightness in the minuets of both symphonies.

Those elusive qualities of ‘transcendental beauty paired with an enchanting simplicity’, eloquently glossed by Alban Gerhardt in his booklet note, might also be said to characterize his playing in this outstanding new recording.

Visitors to Venice had borne witness to Vivaldi’s prowess as a violinist, although some found his performance more remarkable than pleasurable. He certainly explored the full possibilities of the instrument, while perfecting the newly developing form of the Italian solo concerto. He left nearly five hundred concertos. Many of these were for the violin, but there were others for a variety of solo instruments or for groups of instruments, including a score of such works for solo flute or recorder, with strings and harpsichord. He claimed to be able to compose a new work quicker than a copyist could write it out, and he clearly coupled immense facility with a remarkable capacity for variety within the confines of the three-movement form, with its faster outer movements framing a central slow movement.

45 years after his debut Philips recording of Beethoven’s 9th, Seiji Ozawa returns to this epic masterpiece. The Mito Chamber Orchestra features many international star players including Radek Baborák (horn), Ricardo Morales (clarinet) and Philippe Tondre (oboe). The German baritone Markus Eiche leads a quartet of leading Japanese soloists and the Tokyo Opera Singers in a fascinating performance on a chamber orchestra scale.