A rendition of a tango operita, commissioned by the Argentinian Ministry of Culture (this rendition anyway), was revived by violinist Gidon Kremer, who had such a love for the original LPs from Piazzolla and Horacio Ferrer that he wanted to recreate the music. Ferrer was kept on as El Duende (the Goblin) – the role that he created when he wrote the libretto thirty years earlier. Regrettably, Piazzolla had passed on prior to the remake. Nonetheless, the arrangements and orchestrations are remarkable. The suffering and the passion of Maria (the main character in the show) are perfectly portrayed by the tango. The music changes forms as her character progresses, taking on traditional tangos, modern tangos, milongas, waltzes, and other styles to reflect changes in Maria. The music is always well-composed. This is an opera for the display of modern music, and the tango of Piazzolla is modern music at its finest.

Inspired by the idea of performing in a musical in Japan for the first time, the album brings together newly recorded songs and beautifully reimagined favourites, including pieces that many Japanese audiences will recognise from films and commercials. Sunset Over Broadway is currently available exclusively in Japan through Amazon Japan, Tower Records, and at Sarah’s performances of Sunset Boulevard at Tokyu Theatre Orb.

Flemish composer Adrian Willaert – who served as maestro di capella at the Cathedral of San Marco in Venice from 1527 until his death in 1562 – contributed so much to the Italian renaissance; while he wasn't the first to develop the Venetian polychoral style, its propagation in the mid-sixteenth century may well be laid at his feet. Willaert helped introduce the forms of canzona and ricercare, which greatly aided the growth of instrumental music in the years to come. The nearly overarching interest in chromaticism among Italian composers in the late renaissance can be traced to Willaert's door. Nevertheless, toss a dart into a crowd of music scholars and chances are you won't manage to hit one that has much of an opinion about Willaert's work or his music – it is seldom recorded and CDs devoted to Willaert alone are rare. On their own, these aspects make Oehms Classics' Adrian Willaert: Musica Nova – featuring the talents of expert vocal ensemble Singer Pur – special, valuable, and significant for purposes of study and filling a major hole in the renaissance repertoire. But beyond that, it is a fine listening experience as well.

The acclaimed British soprano Louise Alder returns for her second recital on Chandos, joined once again by star pianist Joseph Middleton. Enthusiastic praise was widespread for her Chandos début, Lines Written during a Sleepless Night: The Russian Connection, which earned significant accolades in the USA and continental Europe in addition to the UK. For this recording the pair explore a rich and varied selection of French songs from the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Louse Alder writes: 'I have always held French song very dear to my heart and when we settled on this wildly varied programme, I quickly grew excited at the prospect of exploring the art form in virtually all its styles. From Ravel to Yvain, I hope we paint pictures of a French evening, of mystery, intrigue, discovery, seduction, love, and blissful night.'

Gustav Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde is a symphony of six songs, usually performed by a tenor and a mezzo-soprano or baritone, as specified in the score. This 2017 Sony Classical release features superstar tenor Jonas Kaufmann as the soloist throughout, so the expected alternation of singers is replaced with one artist's unified interpretation. Joined by Jonathan Nott and the Vienna Philharmonic, Kaufmann displays a phenomenal tessitura that enables him to sing the tenor songs with great intensity while losing little of that power in his lower range. Even so, there is a qualitative difference between Kaufmann as tenor, where his tone is penetrating and heroic, and Kaufmann as baritone, where his voice is much rounder, warmer, and intimate.

My Romance is an album by the U.S. singer-songwriter Carly Simon, released in 1990. It is her fourteenth studio album, and her sixteenth album overall, as well as being her second album devoted to standards. The album peaked at No. 46 on the Billboard 200, and remained on the chart for 17 weeks. Simon's version of In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning from this album was featured in the hit 1993 film Sleepless in Seattle, as well as being included on the film's soundtrack album.

If music… features star countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński performing 17 songs and arias by Baroque composers Purcell, Handel, and Fux. Accompanied not by a period ensemble but by pianist Michał Biel on a modern Steinway, the album explores both well-known and lesser-known repertoire. Orliński describes the collection as a personal artistic diary, reflecting his evolving interpretations and artistic growth, with works such as Handel’s Ombra mai fu and Purcell’s Cold Song exemplifying his refined and expressive approach.

This album documents soprano Lise Davidsen’s solo recital at the Metropolitan Opera on September 14, 2023, making her one of the youngest singers invited to present a solo recital at the venue. Accompanied by pianist James Baillieu, Davidsen performed a diverse programme featuring highlights from her Metropolitan Opera roles alongside art songs by composers such as Grieg, Sibelius, Schubert, and Strauss, as well as selections from operetta and musical theatre. Metropolitan Opera General Manager Peter Gelb praised Davidsen as an exceptional Wagnerian talent, noting both the beauty and power of her voice and her refined artistic presence. The album’s release coincides with her highly anticipated Metropolitan Opera debut as Isolde.

Il Caravaggio is an ensemble founded and conducted by Camille Delaforge, bringing together a new generation of musicians playing period instruments; the ensemble will celebrate its tenth anniversary in 2027. They are joining Alpha Classics for several recording projects, starting with this programme centred on three sacred works by Purcell (The Witch of Endor), Ferrandini (Il Pianto di Maria) and Charpentier (Le Reniement de saint Pierre): “I was 17, I’d just started playing the harpsichord and I discovered the final chorus of Le Reniement de saint Pierre. A world of profound humanity opened up before me. I did not yet understand the codes of this music, but I already I sensed that a key was turning, unlocking the door to an intensely emotional space,” says Camille Delaforge. She continues: these works ““all depict a similar spiritual journey; that of a person faced with abandonment: Mary’s grief, Peter’s remorse and Saul’s terror in the face of the invisible in Purcell…" With leading singers, Camille Delaforge and Il Caravaggio perform these sacred stories with great passion; stories that have stood the test of time and still move us today.

This fabulous five disc set is replete with some of those old Stokowski warhorses all recorded in absolutely mind boggling Phase 4 sound, overblown perhaps but astounding for its time. Decca's remastering is absolutely magnificent and the discs are jam packed with almost six hours of music. This is another fine memorial to a great conductor who remained astonishingly vital until the very end of his life.

Schubert's "Winterreise" is one of the most famous song cycles that exist in classical music and musicians take it up again and again because of its beauty, sorrow and depth. It is about life itself and which performer does not want to give his or her opinion on life? Both tenor Christoph Prégardien and pianist Michael Gees have their own vision on the cycle. Playing together, a third view develops, combining their two visions into an exciting interpretation of Winterreise.

Contralto Nathalie Stutzmann shines a light on the deep-voiced female singers of the Baroque era, often overshadowed by the extravagant talents and reputations of castrato singers like Farinelli and Caffarelli. Her programme of Handel, Vivaldi, Porpora, Bononcini, Caldara and Gasparini displays the variety of operatic roles – both female and male – assumed by contraltos like Vittoria Tesi and Anna Marchesini. “We must remember that the opera composers of the early 18th century saw the female contralto and the male castrato as vocally interchangeable,” says Stutzmann, “and that the voice most closely resembling a castrato is not the countertenor – produced using a falsetto technique – but the contralto, which is a natural voice.” Stutzmann both sings and conducts Orfeo 55, the instrumental ensemble she founded a decade ago

Released in 2002 by the British archival label Acrobat, The Incomparable Volume 2 is a 20-track collection showcasing Billie Holiday during the formative era of her career in the mid-to-late 1930s. Originally recorded for labels like Brunswick and Vocalion, these sides highlight Lady Day alongside iconic jazz titans and frequent collaborators, including Lester Young, Buck Clayton, Benny Goodman, Ben Webster, Johnny Hodges, and pianist/bandleader Teddy Wilson. The compilation features several defining vocal performances of American songbook standards, including "This Year's Kisses," "They Can't Take That Away from Me," "Mean to Me," and "I Can't Give You Anything But Love." Demonstrating her extraordinary rhythmic phrasing and blues-tinged emotional nuance, this volume offers a crucial window into the early studio recordings that established Billie Holiday as one of the most influential vocalists in jazz history.