Ophélie Gaillard here explores the cello as a fragile yet enduring human voice. Conceived as an act of inner resistance, this programme expresses a profound conviction: music can carve a path toward resilience, saying no to violence without raising its voice, choosing instead depth, beauty, and attentive listening.

One of the most compulsively listenable college rock albums of the '80s, the Pixies' 1988 full-length debut Surfer Rosa fulfilled the promise of Come on Pilgrim and, thanks to Steve Albini's production, added a muscular edge that made their harshest moments seem even more menacing and perverse. On songs like "Something Against You," Black Francis' cryptic shrieks and non sequiturs are backed by David Lovering and Kim Deal's punchy rhythms, which are so visceral that they'd overwhelm any guitarist except Joey Santiago, who takes the spotlight on the epic "Vamos."

After the shock of Surfer Rosa, fans des Pixies found a tighter, less abrasive, but happily no better-behaved second album. The opening punch of Debaser, the saintly nonchalance on I Bleed, the enlightened surf pop of Monkey Gone To Heaven, the gag of La La Love You: Doolittle, released 1989 stored up all manner of gems, some troubling, others fascinating, others still surprising (everything that happens in the two mere minutes of Waves Of Mutilation is mind-bending), without ever looking like just another production of the times. This fusion of punk rock, surf music and pure pop achieves perfection here. After a record like this, we can have a better idea of where Pavement and Nirvana (Cobain named the Pixies as his favourite group) got their inspiration from.

Come On Pilgrim was a cut-and-paste job from their impressive demo tape, known as the Purple Tape, paid for by Black Francis' father.

Complementing an already dizzying catalogue of solo releases, collaborations, and production/writing/instrumentation credits, Fantastic Thoughts is Nate Mercereau’s clarion call. The sound of a thousand dams breaking simultaneously. A hootin’ and hollering tantric affair that dares the listener, “What if you did?’” What if you sang out with a resounding, heart-forward, ‘YES!’” — sang it with your whole chest? If the beat poets abided by the maxim “first thought, best thought,” Fantastic Thoughts stakes a claim on the plain of imaginary where every thought is best (yes, fantastic, even). The resultant record is, without fail, maximalist—overflowing with ideas, varied influence, hairpin turns, and recursive processes—but it is also wildly (one might even say transgressively) sincere, and not infrequently vulnerable.

Jack Wyllie, saxophonist, flautist and composer and co-founder of the Mercury Prize–nominated Portico Quartet, steps out as a leader under his own name for the first time.

In March 2023 I went to México City for three weeks on tour with Ester Wiesnerova. On our third night in that crazy city, we went salsa dancing. That was the beginning of a long and purposeful journey back to myself. The magic of México City woke something in me that had been sleeping for a long time. Something wild.

Over two evenings on 24 and 25 October 2024, the Orchestre National de France, under its music director Cristian Măcelaru, immersed themselves in the extraordinary symphonic epic that Gustav Mahler wrote in the 1890s - his utterly unrestrained Symphony No. 2, the Resurrection. What a baptism of fire.

The band was founded in the mid-1970s and released its first LP, *Adonis*, in 1979. Over the years, it performed regularly in southwestern Germany. Its second LP, *Anyone's Daughter*, was released in 1980; this album included the radio hit “Moria.” In 1981, they released the 40-minute epic *Piktors Verwandlungen*, based on a fairy tale by Hermann Hesse. This album became the band’s biggest success. As a result, the group switched to German lyrics for their subsequent LPs, *In Blau* (1982) and *Neue Sterne* (1983). After more than 500 performances and over 120,000 albums sold over the years, the album *Live* was released in 1984. Subsequently, the core lineup disbanded, as some members had to begin their alternative military service.

Frogs, condensed milk, the patter of rain. HUG is the new collaborative project from the celebrated guitarists and songwriters Gyan Riley, Devendra Banhart, and Noah Georgeson. Three eternal friends becoming children.

Fête Française is a celebration of French joie de vivre with upbeat contemporary songs that will transport you to the streets of Paris. This vibrant collection brings together ten artists whose work blends chanson, pop, and manouche swing with global influences ranging from Caribbean rhythms to Colombian cumbia and African kora melodies.

This album marks the beginning of a new era with Lahav Shani as chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic. On his first album with the orchestra, he presents two masterpieces from the dawn of modern music. Claude Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune is regarded as a key work of Impressionism and, even at its world premiere, captivated audiences with its finely nuanced timbres and transparent orchestral texture. Arnold Schoenberg’s symphonic poem Pelleas und Melisande, by contrast, is a work of monumental orchestral power and relentless intensity – an early work still rooted in the tonal legacy of Wagner, Mahler and Strauss, yet characterised by a creative boldness that already foreshadows the dawn of a new era.

Recipient of the prestigious Brahms Prize of the Schleswig-Holstein Brahms Society in 2024, Kent Nagano, leads the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra, of which he was principal conductor from 2015 until 2025, in the first two symphonies by the Hamburg-born composer, recorded in concert.

When I first heard Where The Birds Fly, I was stretched out on a park bench. It was midday. Misha’s swirling compositions blew through my headphones as warm wind gusts blew through my hair. The bright green leaves of a ginkgo tree danced and flickered over my shoulder. Flower petals shook in a nearby garden — purples and pinks, reds and yellows. Soil-rooted stems bounced back and forth. Clouds whipped by overhead, casting quick shadows across a playscape brimming with children. The wind and the music seemed to meld, holding the same subtle dominance over the scene, enlivening everything – full of life.

The full range of Ernest Bloch’s music for violin and piano can be heard on this album, which journeys from his fiery early works to one of his last compositions. Both violin sonatas explore personal themes. The First, in its barbarism, alludes to the First World War, while the Second, subtitled Poème mystique, was inspired by a dream and is suffused with lyrical episodes from Gregorian chant. The melancholy and ecstasy evoked in Baal Shem derive from Hebrew music, including pre-existing synagogal melodies. The economy of the neo-Baroque Suite No. 1 for Solo Violin reveals a more reserved but no less inventive side of Bloch’s violin writing.