Klaus Trumpf performs classical works for double bass: Jan Krtitel Vanhal's Concerto for Double-bass and Orchestra in D Major; Johannes Matthias Sperger's Sonata for Double-bass and Piano in D Major and Quartet for Double-bass, Flute, Viol and Violoncello in D Major on this 1998 German release of recordings made in 1984.

I bought this CD because I wanted to own once again a performance of the marvelous Karelia Overture, the Opus 10 of the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. Unlike the Karelia Suite, which has been recorded many times, the Overture is neglected. In the 1970's, Eugene Ormandy put out a first rate rendition with the Philadelphia Orchestra when they returned to RCA to do their recording, but I don't believe that it has ever been released on CD. This recording by Neeme Jarvi is pretty much one's only plausible option.

The concertos for flute and orchestra by Giuseppe Saverio Mercadante (1795-1870), are undoubtedly a type of repertoire which interpreters like to perform and audiences enjoy to listen to, being among the few examples of authentically Italian 19th-century instrumental music written by a composer who was mainly renowned in the operatic field. The writing is virtuosic, aimed at impressing the listener with the performer’s skill, and keeps to belcanto stylistic models, though not without more slowly-paced and melodic passages. The form is mainly in three movements and follows the Italian fast-slow-fast scheme. This recording edition differs from the other existing ones in that it is based on the manuscript sources, some of them autograph, as well as on a 19th-century printed copy.

Universal extends its series of discount-priced "best of" compilations with the unwieldy name "20th Century Masters/The Millennium Collection" to the quasi-classical realm with this Leonard Bernstein entry, which treads a fine line a bit awkwardly as a crossover release. Bernstein was, indeed, a popular composer, with a brace of hit songs (and one or two perennially popular cast albums) derived from his scores for the musicals West Side Story, On the Town, and Candide, and one towering achievement as a soundtrack composer, for Elia Kazan's On the Waterfront, to his credit; and he was also a vastly successful and popular recording artist in the classical field.

Bona Fide is a studio album from the legendary British rock band Wishbone Ash. It is the first studio album in six years (since 1996's Illuminations) and is the only studio album to feature guitarist Ben Granfelt. The band began on a two-year, worldwide tour in support of the album beginning in 2002. In the main, the album remains firmly within the parameters established by the band over many years, guitar driven vocal rock being the order of the day. The brief dabbling with prog nuances of the early albums are pretty much absent here, the emphasis being on gathering together a collection of highly accessible numbers.

Guitarist John Cephas and harmonica man Phil Wiggins, both natives of Washington DC, first joined forces in 1977, and for nearly 30 years now they've been turning out modern, shined-up interpretations of traditional rural blues, with Cephas increasingly adding his own songs to the mix. To their credit, the duo doesn't really try to replicate the traditional material they tackle, but rather they interpret it within their own framework, which means a lot of the rough edges are knocked off, an approach that is either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on where one stands on the issue of performance purity in the blues. Cephas & Wiggins just do what they do, and what they do is take marginal music (marginal as far as the general public is concerned, that is) and spiff it up for accessibility…

The first lady of jazz piano, Marian McPartland, is spotlighted in her dream recording project. Her first recording with string orchestra, Silent Pool, captures Marian’s distinctive, encyclopedic jazz piano playing and her lyrical, original compositions - many of them now jazz standards - in a truly mesmerizing setting. Wrapped in lush and inventive string orchestrations from the pen of acclaimed arranger Alan Broadbent, Silent Pool stands out as a landmark recordings in Marian's long and distinguished career in music.

In 1970 members Linda Rothwell (vocals), Malcolm Grundy (guitar), Joseph Rosbotham (woodwinds), John Williamson (bass), Eric Eastman (drums, percussion) released their debut and only album self titled. Scouring the web is nigh impossible for finding information on this band, suffice to say if you like Traffic, Gravy Train or even early Greenslade then Goliath's lighter jazz infected crossover progressive sounds may well work for you. From the UK.

Arriving 12 years after the release of the film, Vangelis' soundtrack to the 1982 futuristic noir detective thriller Blade Runner is as bleak and electronically chilling as the film itself. By subtly interspersing clips of dialogue and sounds from the film, Vangelis creates haunting soundscapes with whispered subtexts and sweeping revelations, drawing inspiration from Middle Eastern textures and evoking neo-classical structures. Often cold and forlorn, the listener can almost hear the indifferent winds blowing through the neon and metal cityscapes of Los Angeles in 2019. The sultry, saxophone-driven "Love Theme" has since gone on as one of the composer's most recognized pieces and stands alone as one of the few warm refuges on an otherwise darkly cold (but beautiful) score…