What makes a piece of music difficult? This album introduces a pair of riveting, technically ambitious, historically important, and never-before-recorded polyphonic masses of the fifteenth century, performed by an ensemble that has developed a new approach designed to honor the music’s variety and unflagging intensity. Both works stand out for their notational complexity.

“Vox humana” or “Vox celestis”? For César Franck (1822-1890) the one is often a metaphor for the other; whether in sacred or secular vein, spirituality is inherent in all his vocal music, even the most modest of his choral works. Certain of these form the focus of attention in this first recording.

Icelandic bass-baritone Andri Björn Róbertsson, and pianist Ástríður Alda Sigurðardóttir, perform Robert Schumann’s Liederkreis op. 24 and Liederkreis op. 39, along with seven songs by the Icelandic composer Árni Thorsteinson. The two Liederkreise were composed during Schumann´s Year of Song in 1840.

The Polish soprano Aleksandra Kurzak needs no introduction. After having dazzled the opera stage and the discographic world both in duets and solo, she has devoted the whole of her new recording to Mozart.

The pianist Jonathan Fournel, recent prizewinner of the prestigious 2021 Queen Elisabeth Competition (where he won not only the Queen Elisabeth Grand Prix, but also the Queen Mathilde Prize, the Musiq3 Audience Prize and the Canvas-Klara Award) has joined the Alpha label for several recordings, starting with a Brahms programme recorded in the superb acoustic of the music room at La Chaux-de-Fonds just before the Competition: ‘Over the years, for me Brahms has become a figure I admire so tremendously, a composer I can never tire of.

My Morning Jacket release their ninth studio album. The band’s first new music since 2015’s Grammy Award-nominated The Waterfall, My Morning Jacket reaffirms the rarefied magic that’s made My Morning Jacket so beloved, embedding every groove with moments of discovery, revelation, and ecstatic catharsis.

Recorded at Hansa Studio in Berlin and Windmill Lane in Dublin, "Achtung Baby" was U2's seventh studio album and went on to win the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance, becoming one of the most significant records of the 1990s. The Grammy-winning album debuted at number one in the US and spawned five hit singles, including "One", U2's highest song on the Rolling Stone list of the 500 greatest songs of all time, ranked at number 36. This Deluxe editon features the original album plus an additional 14 tracks including B-sides and remixes.

Guitarist Herb Ellis is joined by rhythm guitarist Freddie Green, pianist Ross Tompkins, bassist Ray Brown and drummer Jake Hanna for this lightly swinging but uneventful program which has been reissued on CD. Since Green as usual does not solo, his contribution is purely as a background player. Ellis, Tompkins and Brown are the lead voices on a variety of swing tunes; best are "It Had To Be You," "A Smooth One" and "When My Dream Boat Comes Home".

This is a monumental recording. Not just in the sense of its historical import—and there is quite a bit of that—but also in the sense of its sheer sonic impact. This live set, recorded on the last of a six-night stand at Seattle's Penthouse jazz club in early autumn 1965, documents one of the very few times that Coltrane would perform the entirety of A Love Supreme in a concert setting.

But still these songs resonated with me and I hope that they do with you as well. The Invisible EP is out on October 22.

Blue Banisters is the upcoming eighth studio album by American singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey. It is scheduled to be released on October 22, 2021 through Interscope and Polydor Records. The album was preceded by four singles: the title track, "Text Book", "Wildflower Wildfire" and "Arcadia".

On his aptly-titled Provogue Records’ debut, What Happens Next, out October 22nd, roots singer-songwriter and guitarist Davy Knowles boldly steps forward with timeless and cohesive songwriting; sleek modern production; and a lyrical, play-for-the-song guitar approach informed from soul, folk, rock, and blues. The 12-song album is just as influenced by The Black Keys, Fantastic Negrito, Gary Clark Jr., as it is Muddy Waters, Junior Kimbrough, and R.L. Burnside. It is a cohesive body of work rather than a collection of disparate songs.

The programme for Alexandre Tharaud’s Schubert album comprises the four Impromptus D 899 (op 90), the six Moments musicaux and, in Tharaud’s own transcription for piano, four excerpts from the stage music for Rosamunde. When Tharaud performed the Impromptus at London’s Wigmore Hall in 2014, The Guardian wrote: “He got to the heart of the beauties and abysses of this music.”

Tony Allen & Hugh Masekela’s classic collaborative album Rejoice will be reissued in Special Edition formats on October 22nd, available as a 2CD Casebook, 180g Gatefold 2LP and streaming & download. For this Special Edition release, World Circuit have gone back to Allen & Masekela’s original 2010 mixes and added previously unheard parts from the follow-up 2019 sessions to create 8 reimagined bonus mixes.

The Lockdown Sessions is the upcoming 32nd studio album by English singer, songwriter, pianist and composer Elton John. It is set to be released through EMI and Mercury Records (Interscope Records in the US) on 22 October 2021. The album was recorded during the last 18 months of the COVID-19 pandemic after John paused his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour due to the pandemic. The album was preceded by the singles "Cold Heart (Pnau remix)" with Dua Lipa, "After All" with Charlie Puth, and "Finish Line" with Stevie Wonder.