Amongst a pantheon of great Czech composers it is Bedrich Smetana who is revered as the musical personification of his country’s national spirit and the founder of its modern musical character. Composed after the onset of Smetana’s incurable deafness, Má vlast (My Fatherland) is an unprecedented cycle of six related symphonic poems that evoke ancient Czech legends and celebrate the majestic beauty of the country’s landscapes. Acclaimed with ‘unending storms of applause’ at its 1882 premiere, Má vlast reflects the unique characteristics that form the living heart and soul of the Czech nation.

Recorded on 25 and 26 April 1991 at the Teatro Bulevar Casa de Cultura in Torrelones (Madrid) and originally released in October 1991, it was a respectful flamenco vision of Spanish classical music in a flamenco style. In it, Paco de Lucía performs with the Cadaqués Orchestra, conducted by Edmon Colomer, the concerto for guitar and orchestra that Joaquín Rodrigo wrote under the title Concierto de Aranjuez. To complete the album, he recorded with Juan Manuel Cañizares and Jose María Bandera three pieces, arranged by Juan Manuel Cañizares, from Isaac Albéniz's Suite Iberia. The result was absolutely devastating and is one of the best known and recognised versions of Maestro Rodrigo's masterful work.

As long-standing supporters of independent record stores all around the globe, the John Lennon Estate are excited and proud to be able to join the fun with this new, exclusive, limited-edition 4-track 12” EP release. As a teaser to the forthcoming “Ultimate Edition” anniversary release of the Mind Games album (coming later this year in a collection of incredible new formats,) this extremely limited-edition EP sets the tone for what will be an extraordinary year for the music and legacy of John Lennon. Offered in two color variants – a luminous glow-in-the-dark 140g color vinyl or a 180g black vinyl version for Record Store Day 2024.

Nonetheless is the fifteenth studio album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released on 26 April 2024 through the band's own label x2 and Parlophone. It was produced by James Ford and mostly recorded at his East London studio. The band's first album for Parlophone since Elysium in 2012, its four-year gap with Hotspot (2020) marks their longest period between studio albums to date. It was preceded by the single "Loneliness", released alongside the album announcement. The album was released on 26 April 2024 in a variety of formats, including digitally, and physically on CD and multiple variants of coloured vinyl. The 2-CD and double white vinyl editions include a four-track EP titled Furthermore, featuring new recordings of "Heart", "Being Boring", "Always on My Mind" and "It's a Sin".

Humanoid is the seventeenth studio album by German heavy metal band Accept, released on 26 April 2024. It is the band's first studio album on Napalm Records, with whom Accept had signed with in February 2022, and also marks the first time since 2017's The Rise of Chaos that they had recorded as a five-piece band rather than a six-piece. Humanoid has received positive reviews from critics. Dom Lawson of Blabbermouth.net gave the album a rating of seven-and-a-half out of ten, writing, "For those who enjoyed the previous five, there is absolutely nothing here that fails to live up to expectations. Accept are, and have always been, exceptionally good at heavy metal. It's their thing", and added that the album "can be devoured as another generous serving of fresh metal anthems." Lawson also referred to "Unbreakable" and "Mind Games" as "among the finest songs that the band have written since 2009", and "Straight Up Jack" as "so unapologetic about its debt to AC/DC that resistance is useless."

The new focus on Bohemian classicism in the second half of the 18th century, manifested in recent recordings and articles in professional journals, has amply demonstrated the calibre of these composers and the quality of their music. Among them, Josef Mysliveček enjoyed considerable fame during his lifetime. He was known to such important figures as the soprano Caterina Gabrielli and was a friend of Mozart’s, who esteemed him.

"Nicholas Harnoncourt's venture into the late 19th-century repertory tends to provoke ideologically-motivated reactions, either for or against, "historically-informed" performance practice. I think it's more rewarding to approach his outstanding recording of the Bruckner 7th symphony, done with the Vienna Philharmonic, as stemming from a strong interpretive vision of the 7th, one that is allied to some of the performance practices that Harnoncourt has advocated in his career."

American pianist and academic Michael Kaykov follows his first Odradek release, Liszt: Unrivalled, with Unrivalled Volume 2, an album devoted to the composer's extraordinary late piano works.

Chopin's Etudes Op. 10-3, Lullaby, Nocturne No. 2, No. 7, Waltz No. 2-15, No. 19, No. 18, Cello Sonata (w/Tortellier), etc. Recorded in 1957-1968.

Warner Classics brings you the for the first time for streaming, a remastered recording of Paavo Berglund with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and composer & pianist John Ogden. Ogden was a fierce promoter of the works of Richard Yardumian (1917-1985) who was an Armenian-American composer, and whose post-Romantic music was popularized by his close partnership with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Ogden had a particularly close connection with the Passacaglia, Recitative and Fugue featured in this album, this piece is still very rarely put on record, it's rich yet easily accessible. This recording also features Glazunov's Piano Concerto No. 1.