Lucia di Lammermoor catapulted Joan Sutherland to international fame in 1959. It is a role with which her name is now inextricably linked and one which provides a perfect showcase for her remarkable vocal agility and acting ability. Set in the misty moors of Scotland, Lucia di Lammermoor is based on the novel by Sir Walter Scott. It is a tragic tale of star-crossed lovers separated by a family feud. In Gaetano Donizetti's dark, romantic opera, the forces of hate tear the young couple apart, leading to madness and murder. Richard Greager, Malcolm Donnelly, Joan Sutherland. Directed by John Copley, conducted by Richard Bonynge.

De mille feux sees James Wright in collaboration with the Andara Quartet — Marie-Claire Vaillancourt (violin), Jeanne Côté (violin), Vincent Delorme (viola), and Dominique Beauséjour-Ostiguy (cello) — to realize four unique works. The first, written by Benjamin Britten at the age of 28, String Quartet No. 1, Op. 25 is undoubtedly the most luminous of his four string quartets. The Andante sostenuto begins with one of the most remarkable opening pages in English chamber music: the violins and viola are seemingly suspended—weightless, pianissimo and molto vibrato—at a stratospherically high pitch, like a trail of twinkling, distant stars.

Henrik Freischlader returns to blues rock and delivers 12 fresh songs on his new studio album. With the unusual title Recorded by Martin Meinschäfer II, the new album is a logical continuation of its predecessor from 2009, but sounds completely different - 13 years older and 13 years younger!

Czech composer Reicha's modern fame rests almost solely on his being the creator of the wind quintet, of which he composed more than 20. But he was a keenly imaginative, even experimental composer and theoretician whose omnivorous curiosity encompassed a vivid sense of humor. Like most Czech musicians, he had a special skill in writing for wind instruments, but he was also interested in such "modern" effects as quarter-tones, bi-tonality, and complex rhythms. The Overture in D, for example, is composed entirely in 5/8 time, and its lopsided rhythm really sounds like Mozart with a limp. All of the music on this delightful disc will thrill fans of the classical period–there really was more to it than Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.

Hot on the heels of the excellent ‘live in Cologne’ CD/DVD set, Jaded Heart are back with a new album and a new line-up, co-founder and drummer Axel Kruse having departed and been replaced by Bodo Stricker (Callejon) whilst live guitarist Masa Eto has also been bought into the fold to thicken up the band’s sound. The result is a full-on blast of melodic and heavy hitting metal with hints of Tank, Queensryche and Europe working their way through the album’s eleven songs. For classic metal fans, there is no doubt that ‘fight the system’ should be high on your list of albums to check out.

The Alkan Piano Concerto is an orchestration by Karl Klindworth of the three Op. 39 Etudes referred to collectively by Alkan as 'Concerto' These are Etudes 8 to 10 of the Op. 39 set. In Alkan's lifetime the Concerto was never played complete and when it was played it was in excerpts. Thus the Portuguese virtuoso, Jose Vianna da Motta (whose symphony is available from PORTUGALSOM and has been reviewed on this site and whose piano concerto is soon to be released by Hyperion) performed the first movement in Berlin in 1903. Think of the orchestral treatment as an extension of Tchaikovsky's early symphonies (particularly No. 3) and add in a perpetually strenuous piano part typical of the high-flown romantic genre - rolling pearly runs of notes, clangorous heroism and gently reflective soliloquising.

In the tradition of toddler crayon scribbles on perfectly painted bedroom walls, multi-freshness composer Ben LaMar Gay expands on the teachings of Alabama star spirits and presents a collection of work involving sound, fabric, movement, rivers, shadows, Lagosian memories, light and listening.