With this new volume, Alexandre Melnikov has chosen to delve into three distinct periods of the composer’s career, ranging from the dazzling though seldom-heard No. 4 to the magisterial No. 9. In between those two, the sonata no. 7 once again evokes the troubled atmosphere characteristic of the three so-called ‘war sonatas’. Sviatoslav Richter claimed to have learned the piece in a mere four days.

The marvellous Ton Koopman plays Bach's complete works for organ in wonderful performances full of power, passion, and grace! These digital recordings were made in 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, and 1999.

Fernando is the abandoned first draft of Handel’s opera Sosarme (performed at the King’s Theatre in February 1732)… Curtis’s pacing and shaping of Handel’s music is consistently subtle, astutely rhetorical and firmly connected to the libretto text. Although it might be possible to explore firmer muscularity and create a more vivid sense of surprise in the quicker music, there is something to be said for Curtis’s shrewd reservation of such effects for when it is truly vital for the drama. For instance, Marianna Pizzolato’s powerful arias “Vado al campo” and “Cuor di madre e cuor di moglie” are potently delivered moments of severe agitated passion that are all the more effective for the sweeter elegance that pervades much of this lovely score.

Tracks 1-12 recorded live by the SFX Radio Network on 19 November 1999. Tracks 13-17 recorded recorded at the BBC Television Centre, White City, London on 30 November 1999 and broadcast on Later….with Jools Holland on 4 December 1999.

Although printed "Recorded live in Washington D.C., 15th November 1984.", it was actually recorded on 16th November 1984 at the Ontario Theatre. Track 2-10 "Forever" mistitled "Five".

Recorded live in Alabamahalle, Munich, Germany 10-26-1994.

ANGE is, no doubt about it, the most popular of the French Progressive rock bands. Its music is based on Christian DECAMPS' unmistakable and melodramatic voice, his brother Francis' powerful organ sounds as well as on the development of energetic and intense medieval lines. The line-up invented its own style, both epic and delirious, and that blends madness, emotions and exacerbated feelings. The excellent live album "Tome VI" (1977) gives the possibility to re-discover the best tracks of this era with the fantastic energy and exuberance showed on stage.

Reggatta de Blanc is the second studio album by British rock band the Police, released on 5 October 1979 by A&M Records. It was the band's first release to top the UK Albums Chart and features their first two UK number-one singles: "Message in a Bottle" and "Walking on the Moon". In early 1980, the album was reissued in the United States on two 10-inch discs, one album side per disc, and as a collector's edition with a poster of the band. The album's title loosely translates in French to "White Reggae". It was the band's second album to bear a Franglais title, after their 1978 debut album Outlandos d'Amour. Reggatta de Blanc proved more popular and successful than its predecessor. The title track earned the band their first Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. In 2003, Reggatta de Blanc was ranked at number 369 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Breakaway is the second solo studio album by Art Garfunkel. It was released in 1975 on Columbia Records. It was produced by Richard Perry who has produced albums for other artists such as Carly Simon and Ringo Starr. It includes three Top 40 singles: "I Only Have Eyes for You" (US #18, UK #1), "Break Away" (US #39) and the Simon & Garfunkel reunion duet, "My Little Town" which peaked at #9. "I Only Have Eyes For You" is noted also for being Garfunkel's first #1 single in the UK. Breakaway has proven to be Garfunkel's most successful solo album; although peaking at number 7 in the United States, which was lower than his first album Angel Clare (US #5), it has been certified platinum.

STUNNING 1973 BROADCAST FROM JOE WALSH x26 BARNSTORMn In December 1971, Joe Walsh left the James Gang. Steve Marriott, by then frontman guitarist of Humble Pie, invited him to move to England and join his band, which Peter Frampton had recently left, but Walsh declined. Instead, he moved to Colorado and formed Barnstorm, with drummer and multi-instrumentalist Joe Vitale, and bassist Kenny Passarelli, although both of their albums credited Walsh as a solo artist. They started recording their debut immediately after forming, but at the time there were only Walsh and Vitale on these sessions. Chuck Rainey did the first bass tracks on the album but these were soon replaced by Passarelli.n Walsh and Barnstorm released their debut album, the eponymous Barnstorm, in October 1972. After taking a cue from Pete Townshend, Walsh utilized the ARP Odyssey synthesizer to great effect on such songs as Mother Says and Here We Go. Walsh also experimented with acoustic guitar, slide guitar, effects pedals, fuzzbox, talk box, and keyboards as well as running his guitar straight into a Leslie speaker 122 to get swirly, organ-like guitar tones. The album was a critical success, but achieved only moderate sales. The follow-up, The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get, released in June 1973, was marketed under Walshx27s name (although officially a Barnstorm album) and was their commercial breakthrough. It peaked at No. 6 on the US Billboard chart. The first and lead single, Rocky Mountain Way, received heavy airplay and reached No. 23 on the US Top 40 chart.n In the wake of the release of Smoker, Barnstorm toured the US and on 24th September 73 the group performed at the University of Texas in Arlington, where they put on a superb gig which was recorded for live FM radio Broadcast.n Never previously released, this concert in now available in its entirety on this new CD.

By the mid-1980s J.J. Cale was living an almost reclusive lifestyle, famously residing in a caravan with no telephone. He remained largely musically inactive too during the decade; his last album was 83’s #8, prior to his 1990 comeback with Travel-Log. This fine record paved the way for a revival of sorts, and his follow-up, Number 10 in 1992, was equally enticing. Both of these LPs were chock-full of famous names, including such luminaries as Spooner Oldham, Tim Drummond, Jim Keltner, James Burton, Hoyt Axton and Cale’s wife Christine Lakeland among their ranks. Although still preferring to remain out of the spotlight, Cale however did embark on a short North American tour in 1993, his first in three years. One of the finest performances he gave during this rare sojourn was an appearance at the High Sierra Music Festival at Leland Meadows in California on Independence Day. The entirety of this concert, which contains a wide selection of classics from across his career and was recorded and broadcast live nationwide over FM radio, is now featured on this CD and thus made available for the first time.

Step into the world of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's timeless chamber music, masterfully brought to life by the Goldmund Quartet. This album captures the emotional breadth of Mendelssohn's compositions-from the youthful passion of his String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 13 to the profound grief of the String Quartet No. 6 in F minor, Op. 80, written after the loss of his sister.The Goldmund Quartet's nuanced interpretation also shines in their adaptation of Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words, where joy, reflection, and romantic melancholy are seamlessly expressed through their exquisite string playing.

Recorded by The Australian Broadcasting Commission at the Sydney Town Hall, Australia, on 23 September 1974.

The fifteen string quartets composed by Shostakovich established him as one of the masters of this genre. These works show him at his most concentrated & most intimate. Although each is quite different in form and structure, every bar of them reveals some aspect of the composer’s character, from wild humour to black despair, with an all-pervasive nervous tension. Without texts, descriptive titles or any overt public agenda, they can be heard as revelations of the composer’s musicianship in its most essential form. For its first release on BIS Records, the Jerusalem Quartet presents three of Shostakovich’s quartets. Although the Second String Quartet was composed in 1944, its character is elusive and it makes no direct reference to the war. Yet this is a substantive work, dark, powerful and at times dissonant. The Seventh Quartet, consisting of three short mvts played without interruption, is an enigmatic and deeply personal work dedicated to the memory of the composer’s wife. For all its questioning and complex inner references, the Tenth Quartet is among the most immediately appealing of his later works. By this stage in his life, Shostakovich’s music tended to speak in a quieter voice and to a more intimate audience.

Having made an enormous contribution to the establishment of the Nashville Sound and the modernisation of country music, Anita Kerr felt the need to expand her artistic horizons and in 1965, made the move from Nashville to Hollywood. She wanted to work with different people, to get her own songs recorded, to play jazz, to conduct an orchestra, to take on more ambitious and more varied projects musically, and to form a vocal group which, rather than be confined to studio sessions, might also appear in club and concert settings. Her arrival on the West Coast was well timed. She had just fought off The Beatles to win a Grammy for the album We Dig Mancini and she was quickly able to assemble a stellar Anita Kerr Singers (B.J Baker: alto, Gene Merlino: tenor; Bob Tebow: bass, with Anita herself as soprano and soloist) and secure a contract more tailored to her needs with Warner Brothers. The result over the next two years, were these five superbly fashioned albums.