Celebrated pianist and renowned Beethoven specialist Rudolf Buchbinder will release his first album on Deutsche Grammophon. The collaboration sees him record not only his own new interpretation of Beethoven's Diabelli Variations but to commission 12 new variations himself, echoing the original story where in 1819 music publisher and composer Anton Diabelli wrote a 32-bar German Dance – a forerunner of the waltz – and sent it to more than 50 Austrian composers, asking each of them to write a variation on his original theme.

This jazz-funk combo summons sophisticated grooves for grown-ups and connoisseurs. The veteran group hosts a range of rich female voices, including Maysa (the sublimely patient “Al I Ever Wanted”) and Vula Malinga (the buoyant club track “Better Days”). They’ll rekindle adult-oriented R&B for anyone looking to dance, romance, or simply turn down the lights and luxuriate.

New reading and conduction by Mats Gustafsson. The first (and until now only?) recorded interpretation of Krzysztof Penderecki ́s Actions For Free Jazz Orchestra took place in 1971 at Donaueschingen and featured the New Eternal Rhythm Orchestra, assembled by Don Cherry for the occasion and conducted by the great Polish composer. That orchestra also consisted of 14 musicians, including international jazz heavyweights such as Kenny Wheeler, Peter Brötzmann, Thomasz Stanko, Terje Rypdal, Han Bennink and others.

A great production from the glorious days of Brazilian popular music. There are fast, medium-paced and slow tracks. On Catavento, she also scats, and though she doesn't always have perfect pitch and seems somewhat uncomfortable doing it, it does contribute to the album's versatileness.

Shostakovich's musically brilliant and ingeniously panoramic opera about love, lust, power and oppression is fabulously well played by the Concertgebouw Orchestra under Mariss Jansons in this authoritative production. Stage director Martin Kusej builds on formidable musical strengths to forge a relentless drama that explores with emotional conviction the shadowy, layered boundaries between victims and perpetrators. First-rate protagonist Eva-Maria Westbroek is phenomenal in her gripping interpretation of Katarina, compelling the entire cast, including the choir, to almost unbearable realism in their portrayal of timeless human weaknesses.

Although a bit streaky, this is one of Tom Scott's better recordings of the 1980s. A live set with guitarists Eric Gale (whose bluesy playing is a strong asset) and Hugh McCracken, keyboardist Richard Tee, electric bassist Marcus Miller, drummer Steve Gadd and percussionist Ralph MacDonald, Scott sounds fine when playing tenor, although his decision to use the anonymous-sounding lyricon on some numbers is a mistake. Also on the minus side are Dr. John's cameo appearance singing "So White and So Funky," the repertoire in general (which includes four forgettable Scott originals), and some of the less imaginative rhythms.

Romanian pianist Clara Haskil began her career as a child prodigy at the Bucharest Conservatory under Richard Robert at age 7, making her debut at the age of 10. Haskil ultimately graduated from Alfred Cortot's class at the Paris Conservatoire at 15 with the Prémier Prix to her credit. By the age of 18, however, Haskil was forced to endure the first of many physical setbacks that would hold back her career, in this case an attack of meningitis that kept her in a body cast for four years. Haskil did recover, making her New York debut in 1924 and her London debut in 1926.

Coleman Hawkins was already well on his way to becoming the first master of the tenor saxophone when these sides were recorded. With his ten-year incubation with the heralded Fletcher Henderson band in the past (not to mention fine stints with McKinney's Cotton Pickers and various session outfits), Hawkins moved to Europe in 1934 and proceeded to hone his tough yet romantic sound with a variety of overseas groups. This Classics disc covers the first half of his eventual five-year sojourn. In addition to the four sides with pianist Stanley Black that kick things off, the 22 cuts find Hawkins in the adequate, yet somewhat stiff, company of continental contingents from The Hague, Paris, and various other locales…