"Les Sonates du Rosaire" forment l'un des cycles les plus originaux jamais composés pour le violon et qui fit la célébrité de Biber jusqu'à nos jours. Utilisant un accord du violon différent (scordatura) dans chacune de ses 15 sonates - toutes interprétées sur le même instrument d'Amati -, ce cycle représente le sommet de l'invention baroque et du style virtuose du XVIIe siècle. Distingué par un Gramophone Award, le duo Andrew Manze - Richard Egarr relève ce défi de manière éblouissante. Andrew Manze joue sur un violon Amati, 1700 ; archet de Gerhard Landwehr, Heemstede, 1988 d'après un modèle italien. Ce titre est paru pour la première fois en 2004.

John Mellencamp has been in need of a thorough, career-spanning compilation for a while, and Island/UTV's 2004 release Words & Music: John Mellencamp's Greatest Hits finally fills that gap. His previous hits collection, 1997's The Best That I Could Do, was too short, since he had more hits than could fit on a brief 14-track disc. Words & Music doesn't have the problem of brevity. Spanning 37 songs over two discs, this has nearly all of his charting hits. Radio hits like "Justice and Independence '85" and "Rooty Toot Toot" may be absent, but they're not missed, since all the big hits are here, including "Pink Houses," "Lonely Ol' Night," "Paper in Fire," "Authority Song," "Crumblin' Down," "Small Town," "Hurts So Good," and "Jack & Diane," among many others (including two solid new songs).

Alison Krauss & Union Station continue their winning streak on the aptly titled Lonely Runs Both Ways. While they have in some part grown away from their earthy, rollicking bluegrass roots, they've been able to craft a really polished and honest-sounding brand of mid-American adult contemporary that never dips into the schlockiness of mainstream AC or the formula-driven sound of young country. Instead, Krauss, co-songwriter Dan Tyminski, and the Station dig deep into the classic themes of rural American music, polishing them with terrific production, the finest instrumentation, and two of the best voices around.

"Purgatorio" is the second part of Tangerine Dream's three part interpretation of Dante's "La Divina Commedia". Unlike the other two parts of the trilogy which were recorded live, this double CD set, running to over 130 minutes, is a studio recording. Once again (as with "Inferno"), the piece is primarily in the form of an oratorio, with seven guest female vocalists. These singers are a mixture of altos and sopranos, all with beautiful, classically trained voices.

Eschewing its usual heavy orchestral sound in favor of a more stripped-down instrumentation, Dutch violinist Janine Jansen's second album offers a fresh interpretation of one of the most performed classical works, Vivaldi's The Four Seasons. The 2005 follow-up to her Barry Wordsworth-conducted debut, the subtle but passionate renditions of the "La Primavera," "L'estate," "L'autunno," and "L'inverno" concertos are performed with a sparse, eight-piece ensemble including Lithuanian violinist Julian Rachlin, her cellist brother Maarten, and harpsichordist father Jan.

Originally given a limited release in 2004, this Savoy Brown (featuring Kim Simmonds) live album, recorded in Vancouver, Canada, now gets a full national release. The album features wonderful concert versions of the Savoy Brown classic songs,Hellbound Train,Street Corner Talking and Poor Girl. Besides those tracks, we get to hear Kim Simmonds, a master guitarist, extend on the blues Where Has Your Heart Gone, an eleven minute opus! The original sleeve notes from Kim are included with almost sixty minutes of music. Rock/blues at its finest, this CD is a must for new and old fans alike.

90125 is the eleventh studio album by the English progressive rock band Yes, released on 7 November 1983 by Atco Records. After disbanding in 1981, following the Drama (1980) tour, bassist Chris Squire and drummer Alan White formed Cinema with guitarist and singer-songwriter Trevor Rabin and original Yes keyboardist Tony Kaye, who had left in 1971, and began recording an album. They adopted a more commercial and pop-oriented musical direction as the result of their new material, much of which derived from Rabin's demos, with former Yes singer Trevor Horn as their producer. During the mixing stage former Yes singer Jon Anderson, who had left in 1980, accepted the invitation to return and record the lead vocals, and subsequently Cinema changed their name to Yes. The album was remastered in 2004 with previously unreleased bonus tracks.

The transcription on this CD was prepared by the eminent Polish-Jewish composer from Lvov, Józef Koffler, who arranged the Variations for a chamber orchestra (flute, oboe, English horn, bassoon and string quintet). This transcription, completely unknown until only recently, is undoubtedly one of the best 20th-century transcriptions of Bach's music.

This five-CD box set collects all five of the Dave Brubeck Quartet's Time series recordings: Time Out, Time Further Out, Countdown: Time in Outer Space, Time Changes, and Time In, with bonus material attached to three of the discs. Of this quintet of recordings, the latter three have never been available on CD in the United States. Recorded between 1959 and 1965, each of these titles has a distinct relationship to "time travel" in the context of jazz. Brubeck, Paul Desmond, and company were consciously trying to extend the time-space continuum in jazz, and erase the boundaries of imposed four/four signatures in the idiom. Time Out was the first jazz album on which every tune was in a different tempo, and it charted all over the world…

Taking three years to release their follow-up to Mutter is a good idea since Reise, Reise is more of the same - the same grit, the same growl, and the same dramatic, orchestra choruses. There's a bit more ingenuity in the production and a little more focus in the songs but not enough for the nonfaithful to pick up on. Unfortunately the lead single, "Mein Teil," is no "Du Hast," but the damning "Amerika" almost equals their breakthrough track. Whether or not Rammstein's label has the guts to release the band's acerbic "Coca-Cola/Sometimes War" view of the States as a single is another question, but it's the key track to the album, an album that has a couple more, minor surprises. The loose, bluesy guitar on "Los" adds some quirk to the band's stern, Teutonic palette, while the sinister "Stein Um Stein" creeps more than stomps in parts…

To commemorate the 25th anniversary of Mark’s debut solo release Golden Heart in 1996, a new box set, Mark Knopfler - The Studio Albums 1996-2007, will be released on 1st October Worldwide, and 10th December in the US.
Gathering his first five post-Dire Straits solo albums (not counting film scores), and a bonus disc of B-sides titled The Gravy Train, this collection is as sleepy and nonchalant as an old friend’s affable shrug. Knopfler does what he does, blending folk, blues, country and rock into a tension-free take on Americana that’s faintly personal but more about delivering a carpet atmosphere of reflective rumination.
The audio of each album has been newly remastered by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios in London.

Bernardo Gaffi's 'La forza del divino amore' (The Power of Divine Love) is an intriguing rarity, and receives its premiere recording on the Chaconne label. It is an oratorio (for chamber forces with solo trumpet), one of eight by the composer which were popular in their day, and it is based on an episode in the life of St Teresa of Ávila. It is a beautiful score, performed by Ensemble 'Pian & Forte', a group formed in 1989 and dedicated to rediscovering and performing works of seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The Ensemble is joined by three vocal soloists, renowned exponents of the music of this period.

Teaming with legendary Beatles obsessive Jeff Lynne, George Harrison crafted a remarkably consistent and polished comeback effort with Cloud Nine. Lynne adds a glossy production, reminiscent of ELO, but what is even more noticeable is that he's reined in Harrison's indulgences, keeping the focus on a set of 11 snappy pop/rock numbers. The consistency of the songs remains uneven, but the best moments – "Devil's Radio," "Cloud 9," "Just for Today," "Got My Mind Set on You," and the tongue-in-cheek Beatles pastiche "When We Was Fab" – make Cloud Nine one of his very best albums.

A good mix of classic Southern fried rock with space/psych prog.
Hypnos 69 was founded in 1994, Diest, Belgium. When Steve and Dave Houtmeyers decide in the summer of '94 to found a band with Tom Vanlaer, also the story of a band that would bring new life to the '60s and '70s psychedelic underground rock-scene of today began: Hypnos 69. The name was appropriately taken from the ancient Greek god of Sleep and Subconsciousness. The number 69 stands for equilibrium and stability; properties that can be retrieved in the marked sound of the band. Thanks to the cooperation with Orange Factory, Hypnos 69 developed a very powerful live-reputation, which placed them at the top of the contemporary psychedelic rockscene. 2000: First Hypnos 69 release on the Belgian RocknRollRadio-recordlabel entitled "Wherever Time has shared it's Trust" on blue 10"EP vinyl…