In the early 1960s two artistic giants, conductor Herbert von Karajan and director Franco Zeffirelli, joined forces to create this milestone production of Puccini's masterpiece at Milan's Teatro alla Scala. Filmed in that legendary opera house in 1965, with Zeffirelli himself directing for the cameras, this "Bohème" has been acclaimed universally for its unique theatrical impact and visual splendour. Starring the young Mirella Freni in her career-making performance.

J.S. Bach’s talent seems to flow in his grandson’s blood at least as strongly as in any of his sons. Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst Bach’s two symphonies (as well as the vocal works featured here) inhabit the sound-world of mid- to late Mozart, albeit without the brilliance (in every sense of the word). This Bach’s wind writing is tasteful, and makes good use of the (then) newly-arrived clarinet. The Andante of the C major symphony is quite beautiful, with a dolefully sweet oboe solo throughout the movement. The period strings of Das Kleine Konzert are lively, clean, and in tune, although the violin soloist is not quite up to the rapid passage-work at the end of the G major symphony.

The classical symphony is so dominated by the twin figures of Haydn & Mozart that it is all too easy to overlook the considerable contributions which were made by many lesser figures. The Naxos label is doing a great service by bringing to light many of these works in its '18th Century Symphony' series. It now launches a survey of the symphonies of the Bohemian composer Johann Baptist Vanhal with four highly spirited, engaging pieces dating from 1760-1780 that are the equal of Haydn's contemporary efforts. These are witty, original pieces and it's easy to see why Imperial Vienna took them immediately to its heart. Uwe Grodd and the very fine Hungarian players of the Nicolaus Esterhazy Sinfonia make a strong case for them.

The ultimate collection of favourite tracks from the ever-popular romantic song stylist. Paul Albert Anka is a Canadian-American singer, songwriter, and actor. Anka became famous in the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s with hit songs like "Diana", "Lonely Boy", "Put Your Head on My Shoulder", and "(You're) Having My Baby". He wrote such well-known music as the theme for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and one of Tom Jones's biggest hits, "She's a Lady", as well as the English lyrics for Frank Sinatra's signature song, "My Way", which has been covered by many including Elvis Presley. He was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame in 2005.

Raphaël Sévère releases a new album dedicated to Mozart's concerto and quintet, in collaboration with the Modigliani Quartet and the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris conducted by Lars Vogt.

In this music, all is dialogue, mingled avowals and passions, on the threshold of the opera house. All Mozart’s forms are nurtured by the same source, that of vocal melody. “I like an aria to be as precisely tailored to a singer as a well-cut suit,” he declared when he composed an aria. And what an aria this one is. The keyboard enters into dialogue with the soloist.

Inspired by the Psyché created collectively by Lully, Molière, Corneille and Quinault, Locke’s Psyche was a veritable artistic firework display: seeking to vie in splendour with the operas of continental Europe, it luxuriously combined theatre, song, dance, and spectacular machines and scenery. Sébastien Daucé here offers us his splendid reconstruction of this key masterpiece in the history of early English opera.

Julien Chauvin meets up with one of the great harpsichordists and fortepianists of our time, Andreas Staier, who is a leading interpreter of the Mozart concertos. He presents us with his vision of the Piano Concerto no.23 and its famous Adagio, ‘one of the most heart-rending slow movements ever written by Mozart… Performers often tend to take it too slowly, certainly thinking that this will accentuate the tragic side, but Julien Chauvin and I spontaneously agreed on a slightly faster tempo, which respects the basic pulse of this movement in siciliana rhythm. When you start with the right tempo, it’s amazing how the whole discourse comes together perfectly, in a very logical and simple manner’, says Staier, who plays a magnificent instrument by Christoph Kern after a 1790 fortepiano by Anton Walter, the great maker of Mozart’s time. Also on the programme is the Symphony no.40, in which, says Julien Chauvin, ‘Mozart explores types of writing that he pushes to their most extreme limits. This is the case in the finale, where we find a succession of dissonant disjunct intervals at the opening of the development which, on closer inspection, present us with the full chromatic scale (except for G natural, the symphony’s tonic). And so the twelve-note series was born!’