The Claudio Abbado recording of the Dvorak New World Symphony has managed to secure itself a place among the top digital versions of this much-recorded work, alongside the Dresden performance of James Levine, also on DG. Taken from live performances in 1997, it shows every sign of spontaniety without any loss of dramatic bite or xxcitement. Abbado makes full use of his theatrical background to bring about this effect both in the symphony and in the welcome, perfectly-chosen fill-up, and elicits peerless and attentively-detailed playing from the Berliners.

“Something new every moment.” If we are to believe Shunske Sato, leader of Concerto Koln and soloist on this sparkling new release of Antonio Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons,” what is at the heart of this recording is the idea of freedom. Freedom, too, in more ways than one. True to the principles of historical performance practice, the ensemble delivers the vitality of spontaneous playing in Vivaldi’s music.

Rising star Aleksandra Kurzak is a Polish coloratura soprano who tackles a diverse repertoire of arias on her 2011 Decca debut. Beginning with Rossini, Kurzak's "Una voce poco fa" demonstrates her power, solid technique, and unique dark vocal color. Her sound is clean, and she is clearly a wonderful musician, as she gives careful attention to each phrase and score marking: she is not simply a singer with a good, big sound.

This is a relatively new venture for the outstandingly imaginative recording outfit that is Opera Rara. The label's fifty-fourth recording sees them venturing on an uncompleted work by Donizetti, the composer they love the most. The composer had decamped from Naples to Paris when the censors, on the king’s personal instructions, banned his opera Poliuto.

After performing at Italy's finest venues for two years on the Work In Progress joint tour with Lucio Dalla, for his next outing, De Gregori decided to return to his humble beginnings. The Pubs and Clubs tour was exactly that, De Gregori and his band performing in the kind of small clubs where in the early '70s the singer/songwriter begun to build his reputation as one of Italy's greatest cantautori.

As the title of one of his most famous songs states, Lucio Dalla was born on March 4, 1943, and became one of the most important, as well as most popular, figures in Italian pop music of the second half of the 20th century. Dalla's career was a fascinating musical rollercoaster through several distinct periods.

In this tribute to the great nineteenth century mezzo-soprano, Maria Malibran, Cecilia Bartoli sings selections from the repertoire for which Malibran was known. Malibran also ventured into soprano roles, and Bartoli bravely and entirely successfully follows her into that territory. In fact, the primary impression the CD creates is astonishment and awe at the extraordinary range of these selections, and Bartoli's ease, absolute security, and seamless delivery, from above the treble staff to the middle of the bass staff.

If you thought violinist Gidon Kremer and pianist Martha Argerich's 1986 DG recording of Schumann's two published violin sonatas was the last word in overwhelming passion in the German Romantic composer's late chamber music, try this 2008 ECM disc of the two published sonatas plus the unpublished sonata by violinist Carolin Widmann and pianist Dénes Várjon.

Following releases by Set Fire to Flames, Sylvain Chauveau, and Max Richter himself, Songs from Before is the fifth release on FatCat's 130701 imprint, established as a creative outlet for music of a more orchestrated, instrumental variety. Following 2004's critically acclaimed the Blue Notebooks, Songs… provides a further refined, perhaps even subtler take on Max's narrative landscape, beautifully recorded and cinematic in scope.

The conceit that informs this disc is that Bach and Webern's meditations of life, death, and eternity are essentially complementary, that Bach's Lutheran faith and Baroque aesthetic and Webern's Catholic faith and Modernist aesthetic speak of a shared belief in the luminous and the numinous. Indeed, so pervasive is the conceit that complementary performances of Webern's orchestration of Bach's Ricercata in six voices from The Musical Offering opens and closes the disc. And so successful is the conceit that this otherwise tired trick is incredibly effective.

Francesco Cavalli was the most successful Venetian opera composer of the mid-seventeenth century. This new production is orchestrated and conducted by the internationally reputed baroque specialist Federico Maria Sardelli. It is directed by the young Frenchwoman Mariame Cl+ªment, who is currently making a name for herself with her infectious directing in German and French opera houses. The title role is sung by the promising counter-tenor Christophe Dumaux.

Selena Gomez has been a lot of things in her short career – a Disney star, a steady source of tabloid fodder, an aspiring actress – but what sometimes gets overlooked is that, since 2009, she's been making really good records that put her right at the top of her generation of pop singers. For You collects some of the biggest singles and best songs from her four albums, her "duet" with Selena ("Bidi Bidi Bom Bom"), and a couple new songs as well.

Miley Cyrus' Time of Our Lives EP spawned the carefree mega-hit “Party in the U.S.A.,” but on her second album, she does just about everything she can to distance herself from that look and sound to announce that she has grown up. On Can’t Be Tamed’s cover, she’s clad in black from her heavily lined eyes to the tips of her toes, sporting pale skin and chestnut hair several shades darker than Hannah Montana blonde.

Technically, Breakout is Miley Cyrus' second album, but her first was part of the two-disc set Hannah Montana 2/Meet Miley Cyrus, which attempted to capitalize on Cyrus' huge popularity as The Disney Channel's pop star in disguise and establish her as a real pop star under her own name. Though she scored a tween-pop hit with "See You Again," the songs Cyrus recorded as herself on Meet Miley Cyrus weren't significantly different than her Hannah Montana fare.

Despite the severely modern appearance of this 2006 ECM New Series album, from the abstract cover art to the booklet's somber black and white landscape photos, this is really a collection of early music by Arcangelo Corelli, Giulio Caccini, Maurizio Cazzati, and other less familiar composers of the Baroque era. Stephen Stubbs and his brilliant ensemble Teatro Lirico are masters of their period instruments, and their historically informed performances – in many cases, revivals – of obscure Baroque repertoire have garnered attention worldwide.