The Human LeagueElectronic band from Sheffield, England. Formed in 1977 by Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh. Originally called 'The Future', but changed their name to 'The Human League' in 1978 with the addition of vocalist Phil Oakey and the release of the single "Being Boiled".

Reuniting with all their original members plus original producer Stephen Street just over a decade after their swan song Wake Up and Smell the Coffee, the Cranberries recapture the sound of their earliest records on 2012's Roses. Nearly 20 years have passed since their breakthrough Everybody Else Is Doing It So Why Can't We?, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that there are some signs of age on Roses, notably in an increased sense of professionalism in the band's craft and also in a slight stripping of the ethereal echo that gave their debut an appealing floating quality. Without this dreaminess, the Cranberries are merely pretty, but unlike the turgidly ambitious Bury the Hatchet and Wake Up and Smell the Coffee – or on Dolores O'Riordan's pair of perfectly fine solo albums – Roses has definition and momentum, momentum that doesn't derive from artificially enhanced electric guitars, either.

Ernest Chausson’s death in 1899 in a bicycle accident robbed French music of a major talent. Almost his entire orchestral output fits on this extremely fine CD. Yan Pascal Tortelier’s performance of the richly romantic Symphony is the best since Munch’s Boston Symphony recording. Like Munch, Tortelier knows how to keep the music moving along–he’s only an insignificant two minutes slower than Munch for the whole work–without overindulging the more luscious moments, which in Chausson’s opulent setting really do take care of themselves. Even better, rather than some overplayed encore piece by another composer, the symphony is coupled with two very attractive, rarely heard tone poems and two charming orchestral excerpts from the composer’s incidental music to Shakespeare’s The Tempest. The orchestra plays with conviction, Chandos’ sonics are gorgeous, and if you don’t buy this disc, you’re missing out on some marvelous stuff.

Jazz pianist par excellence, Cyrus Chestnut, returns to the HighNote catalog with this superb piano quartet recording. This highly anticipated album showcases Chestnut's rhythmic precision, emotive touch, and improvisational flair complemented by an ensemble that provides both subtlety and drive. The combination of Chestnut's expressive piano playing with the string bass of Gerald Cannon and the propulsive beats of Chris Beck creates a sound that provides a luxurious background of vibrant colour for the saxophone of Stacy Dillard.

Pianist Florian Noack's new album pushes back the gates of time to rediscover the lifeblood of the Roaring Twenties, which saw twentieth-century music trace a path between partying and war. During the 1920s, Berlin and Paris were awash with jazz, Dada and cabaret, rocked by the liberating music come from America. The arts truly roared between the two world wars, trying to forget the first and stifle their anxieties over the inevitable second. This is the bold journey through time offered by Florian Noack, a musical odyssey through his own transcriptions of Fats Waller, Gershwin and Kurt Weill, voluble and refined arrangements that alternate with original gems by Francis Poulenc, Erwin Schulhoff and Clement Doucet. An album filled with charm and virtuoso acrobatics that finds the poetry of those years of upheaval in the joy and radiance of their music.

Acclaimed soprano Carolyn Sampson, partnered by Robert King and The King's Consort,with whom she has been associated throughout her professional career, turns her talents to Handel's two most dramatic cantatas, linked by the theme of abandoned women.

The Hallé completes its highly regarded Ring cycle, with the live recording of its acclaimed Bridgewater Hall performance under Sir Mark Elder. Roaring jubilation and radiant beauty from Elder and the Halle. Elder is a superb Wagnerian, acutely conscious of the complex relationship between tempo and pace, and immaculate in his judgment both of the span of each act and the ebb and flow of detail within it. Thrilling climaxes alternated with moments of astonishing beauty and quiet, almost exquisite terror. (The Guardian on the Halles performance of Siegfried) The third element of Wagners Ring cycle contains humor, drama and a concluding ecstasy as the eponymous hero meets his heroine Brünnhilde, setting up the explosive finale of the concluding opera.

"Drive" is the lead single and first track from American alternative rock band R.E.M.'s eighth studio album Automatic for the People in 1992. Although it was not as commercially successful as previous lead singles "Losing My Religion," "Stand," or "The One I Love" in the United States, it became R.E.M.'s then second biggest hit on the UK Singles Charts, peaking at #11. It managed a peak of #28 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song did hit number one on the Modern Rock Tracks and number two on the Mainstream Rock Tracks.

1994 Grammy winner for Best World Music Album. American composer, musicologist and guitar legend Ry Cooder teams with North Indian musician Vishwa Mohan Bhatt to create an exquisite musical realm, with both musicians playing exceptional slide guitar. Their collaboration evokes musical elements from many cultures and styles. Percussion by Sukhvindar Singh on tabla and Cooder's 14-year-old son Joachim on dumbek. The album is included in Tom Moon's 2008 book 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die.

The new edition moves from New York classics by Liquid Liquid and Bill Laswell's Material to early Detroit machine music, Belgian New Beat and a healthy dose of UK originals from Pigbag, Quando Quango and more on seminal labels like Y and Factory. Watch out too for rare gems from unexpected sources including Sisters Of Mercy side project The Sisterhood, '70s prog collective Isotope and free jazz legend Ornette Coleman.DISCO NOT DISCO is packaged in a deluxe digipak with full booklet featuring sleeve notes by Bill Brewster, author of 'Last Night A DJ Saved My Life', extensive track by track notes and rare photos.

Ernest and persuasive while it's spinning, the better qualities of this 2006 recording of Tchaikovsky's Piano Trio dissipate soon after the disc stops. With pianist Yefim Bronfman, violinist Gil Shaham, and cellist Truls Mørk as partners in the proceedings, the playing itself is first-class. Each is a highly regarded virtuoso, and collectively they form an agile but cogent chamber ensemble. Interpretively, their focus is on expressivity.

Originally released in 1982 by Arista in the U.K. and reissued on CD by the Dutch Disky imprint in 2001, Celebration serviceably culls some of the better moments from Simple Minds' first three albums: 1979's Life in a Day and Reel to Real Cacophony and 1980's Empires and Dance. Given the sadly neglected status of the band's early catalog – meaning anything that was released prior to 1982's breakthrough New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84) – through the early 2000s, it is doubly unfortunate that a compilation like this remained out of print for an extended period of time.

The father of Swedish music’ and ‘the Swedish Handel’ are two descriptions of Johan Helmich Roman (1694 – 1758), one of Sweden’s most important composers. Roman composed around twenty Assaggi (Assaggio has been translated as ‘sample’, ‘essay’, ‘study’ or ‘experiment’) and they range from multi-movement works to single movements, with some surviving as just fragments. They are beautifully written for the violin and reveal a startling musical imagination at work.

Nils Kugelmann likes telling stories. That much is clear from the titles of his compositions…from the way he talks when he introduces them at concerts…and – naturally – from the music itself. ‘For me, making the connection between music and stories, feelings and situations is so important,’ says the bassist/ composer/ bandleader, now based in Berlin. ‘At concerts I consciously talk to the audience and go into the background of each piece in some detail. It’s something I enjoy. I can hardly imagine presenting music on stage without having this kind of communication.’ Above all, however, the music which Nils Kugelmann plays and composes has real urgency, strong energy and hypnotic power. As an artist he has broken through in a way that no other double bassist of the under-30 generation in Germany has done, in particular his way of making his instrument the central feature of his music. Immediately after completing his master's degree in 2022, Kugelmann launched his debut album ‘Stormy Beauty’ on ACT. German media called him a ‘bass berserker’ and a ‘mega-talent.’ Awards, sold-out concerts duly followed. Kugelmann has a core trio, but beyond that he is free to play in the contexts and styles he likes – first and foremost in a duo and quartet with pianist and composer Shuteen Erdenebaatar.

The young Argentine cellist Sol Gabetta has emerged at the top of the heap with some speed in the 2010s. She merits the double greatest-hits album represented by this release, and it will be welcomed by listeners who haven't quite focused on her meteoric career. You get only one full-scale concerto, but it's a good one: Gabetta has a real way with Elgar, and the compilers did well to feature his music on most of disc one. You get the fresh interpretations of repertory recital and encore pieces that have really endeared Gabetta to ordinary concertgoers. Sample the marvelous Fauré Pavane, Op. 50, an excellent example of how with Gabetta, less is often more.