One of the many delights coming from Frans Brüggen’s distinguished career has been the understanding which he brings to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach – such as here with the St. John Passion – whether on the concert platform or on record. Brüggen’s cultured feeling for Bach’s musical structures as much as for its style and expressive content permits a textural clarity enjoyed by few of his directing colleagues. A special wealth of experience in the music of Bach has also been gained by the members of the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century across the three decades of its existence and as part of its regular concert series (there have now been over a hundred of these tours!) and with a concentrated opportunity to focus on one work, Bach’s masterpiece was performed and recorded in Spring 2010.

Guitarist Al di Meola's second record as a leader is generally an explosive affair, although it does have a fair amount of variety. With Jan Hammer or Barry Miles on keyboards, electric bassist Anthony Jackson, drummer Lenny White (Steve Gadd takes his place on the "Elegant Gypsy Suite"), and percussionist Mingo Lewis on most of the selections, di Meola shows off his speedy and rock-ish fusion style. He was still a member of Return to Forever at the time and was a stronger guitarist than composer, but di Meola did put a lot of thought into this music. The brief "Lady of Rome, Sister of Brazil" (an acoustic guitar solo) and "Mediterranean Sundance" (an acoustic duet with fellow guitarist Paco de Lucía) hints at di Meola's future directions. A near classic in the fusion vein.

Pleasure Victim is the second studio album by the American new wave band Berlin. The original album was recorded in 1982 and released that year by independent label Enigma Records. After considerable attention received by the second single, "Sex (I'm A…)", the album was re-released worldwide by Geffen Records on January 26, 1983. The album marked the return of lead singer Terri Nunn to the group. To date, it is Berlin's best-selling album and was certified gold by the RIAA in September 1984 and platinum in February 1993.

Daryl Hall and John Oates launched a comeback effort in 1997 with Marigold Sky, but few paid attention – partially because the time wasn't right, partially because it wasn't the right album for a comeback. Six years later, the duo tried it again with Do It for Love and, remarkably, it all clicked. First of all, the climate was ripe for a Hall & Oates reunion, not just because the group was subjected to a flattering episode of VH1's Behind the Music, but because their longtime fans and '80s nostalgiaics alike were warm to the duo's hooky, sophisticated, effortlessly enjoyable blue-eyed soul. Then, there's the fact that Do It for Love is their best album in 20 years, even if it has very little to do with the sharply modern new wave-soul of Private Eyes and H2O. Although it sounds like neither, this hearkens back to the sensibility of both Abandoned Luncheonette and 1975's eponymous debut for RCA, where the emphasis was on the songwriting and the productions understatedly served the song.

Carthy's debut album rates a place alongside the album by Bob Dylan, as the debut work of a man who ultimately revolutionized folk music performance in England (Carthy is mentioned as an influence on the notes to Dylan's Freewheelin' album). This is Carthy's purest and simplest folk effort, an all-acoustic recording done in barely an afternoon that includes his version of "Scarborough Fair," awhich Paul Simon learned from Carthy (including the chords and changes from Carthy's arrangement) and transformed into a hit of his own. Also here is "Two Magicians," a song that later entered the repertory Steeleye Span, and "Lovely Joan," a folk song that is most familiar to classical listeners as the source of the counter-melody to Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Fantasia on Greensleeves." The playing and the interpretations are somewhat less ambitious and rather rougher than subsequent efforts, with Dave Swarbrick guesting on fiddle on about half the tracks, and Carthy's guitar covering all but the acapella tracks.

Duality is at once sacred and playful. It is both dark and light, organic and refined, masculine and feminine. Dead Can Dance's Lisa Gerrard partners with Pieter Bourke, formerly of Aussie band Eden, to create this compositional dance of partnership that is classical, ancient, and thoroughly modern. Gerrard's voice is multitracked at times, conjuring a cathedral choir and the droning chants of monks. Drums and synth snake from desert to brilliant stormy sky to shaking earth and the bodies that inhabit those spaces. There are lush multiple layers of strings, bagpipe drone, and, quite literally, the laughter of children. The vocals sans "real" words and multicultural instrumentation will be familiar to Dead Can Dance listeners. Yet there is something more exclusive, more womblike about the music of Bourke and Gerrard; rather than two distinct bodies making music, like mother and in utero child sharing blood and breath, they are mutually dependent.

Thomas Larcher s sound world is both original and captivating in its fusion of contemplative harmonies with innovative performance techniques. Written for and performed by tenor Mark Padmore, 'A Padmore Cycle' features the composer at the keyboard. Works for solo piano performed by Tamara Stefanovich round out this programme of first recordings. Born 1963 in Innsbruck, composer Thomas Larcher studied piano and composition in Vienna. He first gained renown primarily as a pianist, performing with major orchestras and prominent conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Pierre Boulez and Franz Welser Möst. In 1998, he began to define himself more clearly as a composer. Since then he has composed works for the San Francisco Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, the Belcea Quartet, and for Leif Ove Andsnes, Matthias Goerne, Mark Padmore and Viktoria Mullova and Matthew Barley. He has recorded five CDs with ECM, most recently 'Madhares' with Kim Kashkashian, Till Fellner and Dennis Russell Davies.

Michael Gibbs And The NDR Bigband s Back In The Days is a never before released audiophile recording of this great jazz composer and arranger in a program of original modern Jazz plus three specially arranged classics recorded in separate sessions in 1995, 2002 and 2003. The legendary 'Brit-jazz' composer and arranger Michael Gibbs was born in 1937 in Zimbabwe and was originally a trombonist as well. Gibbs began to concentrate on writing and arranging because performing solos terrified him! Starting in the late 60s, he recorded a series of highly acclaimed and influential albums featuring many of the most prominent British-based Jazz players who, like Michael, were beginning to flirt with Jazz/Rock. Since the 80s, he has mostly done arrangements and orchestrations for major names such as Joni Mitchell, Pat Metheny, The Mahavishnu Orchestra, Whitney Houston, Peter Gabriel, and Sister Sledge among many others, while too infrequently recording his own music.

Bread and Roses was a 1976 album by Judy Collins that attempted to merge the singer's political convictions with the commercial success of the previous year's Judith. Political statements like the title song, originally a poem by James Oppenheim commonly associated with a 1912 garment workers strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts, were balanced with such pop compositions as Elton John's "Come Down in Time", but the album failed to achieve the commercial success of Judith.

Bernie Leadon was one of the original members of The Eagles. Natural Progressions is his only solo album (and featuring Michael Georgiades). Originally released in 1977 on Asylum Records, it rose to # 91 on the Billboard charts.

Can't Stop Dreaming is a 1996 solo album by Daryl Hall. It was originally released in Japan and as a Limited Collector's Edition in 1996 with 12 tracks. It was finally released in the USA on June 10, 2003, but it was missing one of its original tracks ("Something About You"). All versions of the album contain a remake of the Hall & Oates classic song "She's Gone".

One of the most versatile musicians of his generation, Richard Rodney Bennett was at the forefront of British musical life for nearly half a century. This new recording from the National Youth Choir of Scotland's National Girls Choir compiles a programme of Bennett's choral works from across his compositional life, as well as a collection of charming folk-tunes and nursery rhymes for piano duet (Over the Hills and Far Away). This is Signum's second release with NYCoS, who in 2011 became the first youth arts organisation to receive a Royal Philharmonic Society Award. It follows their 2010 debut release of Benjamin Britten's 'A Ceremony of Carols' and Elizabeth Poston's 'An English Day-Book' (SIGCD228).

With Wayne Henderson of Crusaders fame handling the production, Caldera showed a great deal of promise on its self-titled 1976 debut album. The Latin jazz-fusion unit isn't afraid to take chances on such imaginative pieces as Jorge Strunz's "El Juguete" and Eduardo del Barrio's "Exaltation" – chances that pay off in a major way. Though one can tell that Caldera's members were well aware of such explorers as Return to Forever, Weather Report, and the Mahavishnu Orchestra, it's also clear that they were major Earth, Wind & Fire fans and had absorbed a wide variety of Latin music. Strunz and del Barrio were hardly the only fusionists who incorporated Latin rhythms in the 1970s – Chick Corea, George Duke, Wayne Shorter, Al DiMeola, and Joe Zawinul were all well aware of the musical innovations of Latinos, but Caldera was unique in the sense that the band represented a real melting pot of Latinos bringing different ideas to the table. And on this LP, those ideas work magnificently.

Two Classic Edwin Starr Albums, from 1968 and 1969, Released on One CD. All Tracks have Been Remastered and Packaging Includes a Full Color Slipcase, Rare Photos, Track Annotations, Release Info and Original LP Artwork.

John Cage (1912-1992) was one of the most controversial composers of the 20th century. He is best known for his 1952 work 4'33" which involves not a single note of music being played. This selection of Cage's music provides a rare opportunity to get to know a range of works that were written between the years 1939-65, which were some of the composer's most productive years.