Our Contemporaries of Mozart series with Matthias Bamert for Chandos counts over 20 CDs to date and is still on-going. The series has uncovered a wealth of previously unavailable eighteenth-century works and its success is illustrated by the numerous accolades bestowed upon it including a number of releases credited with Editor’s Choice in Gramophone. Composers featured include those more well-known from the era, such as Clementi, Salieri and Stamitz to the rarely-heard Gossec, Vanhal and Gyrowetz.

In his liner notes to this collection, Henry Mancini, who wrote five of the 11 selections, makes the case that Audrey Hepburn was the inspiration for his writing for the pictures she starred in, and who is to disagree with him? Certainly, some of Mancini's most memorable work came with his Hepburn movies of the early '60s – Charade, Two for the Road, and of course, Breakfast at Tiffany's. Other pieces here cannot be tied so closely to Hepburn; Frederick Loewe's music for My Fair Lady predated her. Still, it is Hepburn's image that comes to mind when one bears Fred Astaire singing "He Loves, She Loves" from Funny Face, even if composer George Gershwin died when she was nine. In any case, this compilation makes for a charming listening experience, especially at its end, when Hepburn is heard singing "Moon River."

Magellan's Impending Ascension is a truly great progressive rock work. Following the same formula as the previous Hour of Restoration, Impending Ascension features better, more consistent songwriting and a harder-edged sound. "Estadium Nacional" and "Waterfront Weirdos," both 11-minutes long, get the album off to a great start. They both feature timing and melody changes that have to be heard to be appreciated. Combined with the new, harder-edged sound, it's clear that Magellan has found its niche with this album.

On Buddy Guy's second Silvertone release, he continues the practice of guest appearances begun on Damn Right, I've Got the Blues. In this case, the notables include Paul Rodgers, Travis Tritt, and John Mayall. The finest combination comes when Bonnie Raitt joins Guy on John Hiatt's "Feels Like Rain." Raitt's gritty vocals and sweet slide guitar add a pleasing nuance to the bittersweet track, and it is ultimately the high point of the record. Certain critics and blues purists have derided Guy's search for mainstream success as evidenced by his penchant for guest appearances and non-traditional blues forms, but Guy sounds fantastic in these unconventional situations (witness his burning version of the Moody Blues' "I Go Crazy").

Memorial Beach is the fifth album by the Norwegian band A-ha, released in 1993. The album was recorded primarily at Prince's Paisley Park studios outside Minneapolis in the U.S. Memorial Beach featured three UK Top 50 singles for the band, "Move to Memphis" (released as a single in 1991, almost two years before the album), "Dark is the Night" and "Angel in the Snow". While the album did not chart on the U.S. Billboard 200 and would be the band's last to be released there, the single "Dark Is the Night" peaked at #11 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart, their last U.S. charting to date. Q magazine listed the album as one of the 50 best albums of 1993: "If ever a band deserved reappraisal on the back of an album then it was a-ha!"

In nearly all his pieces, Duphly presents two contrasting images—the bold and brazen virtuoso, and the wistful dreamer. The one exploits the compass of the harpsichord with scales and dense chords while the other enchants with delicately voiced textures. Only occasionally, as in pieces such as the fiercely passionate ''Medee'', or the elegant ''Les Graces'', does one mood prevail. Nimbly shifting back and forth between these extremes within pieces (as, for example in ''La larare'' or ''La d'Hericourt'') and between them presents a formidable challenge to any performer.

In nearly all his pieces, Duphly presents two contrasting images—the bold and brazen virtuoso, and the wistful dreamer. The one exploits the compass of the harpsichord with scales and dense chords while the other enchants with delicately voiced textures. Only occasionally, as in pieces such as the fiercely passionate ''Medee'', or the elegant ''Les Graces'', does one mood prevail. Nimbly shifting back and forth between these extremes within pieces (as, for example in ''La larare'' or ''La d'Hericourt'') and between them presents a formidable challenge to any performer.

Echoing Delight is a classic set of electro-tribal minimalism from Vidna Obmana (aka Dirk Serries). It features Djen Ajakan Shean and Tom Kloeck as guest performers. Serries created this deep soundscape just before his introduction to Steve Roach. Serries' work up to this point had been almost exclusively electronic minimalism. This CD shows hints of what is to come. Tribal rhythms and textures are interspersed among the atmospheres and ambient airs. The ethnic timbres are subtle but they are there. Serries' sound design creates a nice balance. It is distinctly minimalist and clearly tribal. This classic CD will appeal to fans of Steve Roach, Mathias Grassow, Klaus Wiese, Amir Baghiri, and Robert Rich.

Rubettes, Paper Lace, Mungo Jerry, Billy Ocean, Otis Redding, Patti Labelle & The Bluebells, Ike & Tina Turner, Kenny Rogers, Tom Jones amd many more.

The Lautten Compagney is one of the most renowned and creative baroque instrument ensembles in Germany. Their concerts, under the artistic direction of Wolfgang Katschner, have fascinated audiences for three decades. With their infectious joy in performing and their innovative concepts, these ‘early musicians’ effortlessly translate the musical language of the Baroque to the present. Whether it’s as a solo chamber ensemble or an opera orchestra, the ensemble is continually crossing boundaries and seeking out encounters with new sounds and other art forms.

Ten Summoner's Tales is the fourth solo studio album by the English rock musician Sting. The title is a combined pun of his family name, Sumner, and a character in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, the summoner. Released in 1993, it explores themes of love and morality in a noticeably upbeat mood compared to his previous release, the introspective The Soul Cages released in 1991 after the loss of both his parents in the 1980s.

Taking the hard rock inclinations of Generation Terrorists to an extreme, the Manic Street Preachers delivered a flawed but intriguing second album with Gold Against the Soul. Inspired by Guns N' Roses, the Manics decided to rework their working-class angst as heavy arena rock; they seize upon the latent politicism of Guns N' Roses' tortured white-trash metal, interpreting it as a call to arms. Since the Manics are more intellectual and revolutionary than the Gunners, Gold Against the Soul burns with inspired, if confused, rhetoric.

Trilogy is a box set by the German musical project Enigma. This set includes the first three studio albums by Enigma, MCMXC a.D., The Cross of Changes, and Le Roi est mort, vive le Roi!, which comprises their artistic output from 1990–1996. A worldbeat dance fixture of the late 20th century and beyond, having sold tens of millions of albums worldwide, Enigma was formed in 1990 by Bucharest native Michael Cretu. The project is based in Ibiza, Spain, where Cretu has lived and recorded since the early '90s. With its 1991 hit "Sadeness," Enigma brought the new age fascination with Gregorian chants and old-world culture to the clubs; the resulting single was both unique and irresistible.

Around the middle of it 18th century began a basic stylistic A radical change in the history of music: the Baroque took its farewell and classical music made its entrance. Georg Philipp Telemann was one of the first to perceive and enthusiastically take up the new, fresh wind. At an age at which others have long since retired, a second creative spring almost began for him: the German Singspiel had just been launched by composers of the young generation, such as Hiller and Dittersdorf, the 80-year-old Telemann sits down with a 20-year-old librettist and sets the story of "Don Quixote at the Marriage of Comacho" to music full of wit and grace.

Intrada announces an expanded edition of the 1993 Disney action-adventure film The Three Musketeers, for which composer Michael Kamen delivered a lengthy, epic score. In an unusual practice, Kamen was selected as the composer months before shooting began, a show of confidence after his work on a another, recent literary epic: Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Kamen’s score for The Three Musketeers is a traditional symphonic work. In view of the Baroque era in which the story takes place, he researched and incorporated period instruments such as harpsichord, recorder and crumhorn (a double reed) into the ensemble; he also wove in ornamental trills and flourishes characteristic of the period. Many of his set pieces convey an almost classical sense of structure, with recurring devices such as the driving ostinato and associated heroic figures. Kamen’s intention was for specific instruments to be associated with each of the three Musketeers and their young protégé: trumpet, tuba, flute and French horn. Kamen also lavishes equal attention on the film’s villains—snarling, descending brass motif announces the presence of both Cardinal Richelieu and his Red Guards.