The use of boys’ voices in performances of Bach’s sacred works is not solely for historical authenticity. Especially just before their voices change, well-trained boy singers possess a captivating tonal perfection—both mysterious and fragile—that carries with it a sense of vulnerability and the foreboding of imminent farewell. This sense of impending transition was particularly evident in Alois Mühlbacher. Even as a child, he was internationally recognized as an exceptional talent. His extraordinary boy soprano voice has been preserved in numerous recordings—not only in Baroque music but also in the art song repertoire, where he interpreted works by Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss with remarkable musical maturity. His transition into a new vocal realm happened so gently that he was able to retain much of the magic of his boyhood voice: the emotional depth, the fragility—now combined with a newly honed technical mastery.

Helen Merrill's first American record since 1968 (she had spent much time in Japan) is mostly a duet set with pianist John Lewis; three songs also have flutist Hubert Laws, bassist Richard Davis and drummer Connie Kay. The emphasis is on ballads, with all of the nine songs (other than the pianist's "The Singer") being quite well-known. The obvious empathy between Merrill and Lewis is well displayed on such numbers as "Django" (which has rarely been sung), "Angel Eyes," "Alone Together" and "Mad About the Boy." An introspective set full of subtle creativity.

During his time in Italy and later in Leipzig, Charles Gounod was drawn by the balance of sonic beauty and proportion to be found in the music of Palestrina and J.S. Bach. He developed an innate desire for simple directness as can be heard in the excerpt from the Messe solennelle de Sainte Cécile and the Méditation sur le premier Prélude de J.S. Bach, now better known as Ave Maria. Gounod’s talents for melody and mood painting are demonstrated in his Romances sans paroles, while his sense of wit can be heard in the famous Marche funèbre d’une marionnette.

In 2015 Shoreng Tsintsabadze founded “Young Musicians International Association of Georgia. The primary mission of the organization is to help young talented musicians, to help them with motivation, to support creativity and career advancement with various events in the future. In this regard, some of the first and most important achievements are the establishment of MISA – Music International Summer Academy(2015) and the Georgian Youth Symphony Orchestra(2017). In 2020, in the frame of the “Creative Europe” programs, the Association won a European Union Grant. The association organized projects and actively participates in promoting talented youth to this day.

The first solo album by the former leader of the Impressions, Curtis represented a musical apotheosis for Curtis Mayfield - indeed, it was practically the "Sgt. Pepper's" album of '70s soul, helping with its content and its success to open the whole genre to much bigger, richer musical canvases than artists had previously worked with. All of Mayfield's years of experience of life, music, and people were pulled together into a rich, powerful, topical musical statement that reflected not only the most up-to-date soul sounds of its period, finely produced by Mayfield himself, and the immediacy of the times and their political and social concerns, but also embraced the most elegant R&B sounds of the past. As a producer, Mayfield embraced the most progressive soul sounds of the era, stretching them out compellingly on numbers like "Move on Up"…

Vanessa Mai ist eine der facettenreichsten und bedeutendsten Pop- und Schlager-Künstlerinnen Deutschlands. Sie steht für Wandel, dafür sich immer wieder neu zu erfinden und doch zu 100 Prozent sie selbst zu bleiben. Zwei Nummer 1-Alben, vier Top-3-Alben und über 3,5 Millionen Follower:innen geben ihrer einzigartigen Persönlichkeit recht. Das Album "Traumfabrik" schließt nahtlos an ihre Erfolge an und steht für all das, wofür ihre Fans Vanessa lieben: Leichtigkeit, gute Laune, viele Emotionen. Songs, die den grauen Alltag vergessen lassen und in eine Welt entführen, in der alles möglich ist. Willkommen in Vanessa's "Traumfabrik".

Heldon's real excellence as a band is dramatically demonstrated with this fine recording. A dashing young left-wing intellectual, Richard Pinhas was something of a cult figure in his native France, or at least had the potential to be one, but he wisely rejected the role of rock & roll guitar hero with backing band, in favor of something much more interesting and radical. Patrick Gauthier on moog and Francois Auger on percussion had played with Pinhas on and off for the previous several years, and at this point they had developed into a solid sympathetic unit with a strongly rhythmic orientation. The intricate interlocking rhythms, created by percussion and several synthesizers, have a proto-techno quality at times, and suggest both the German group Can and, on at least one piece, early Ash Ra Tempel…

Laid-back London groove maestro Simon Green (alias Bonobo) returns after a considerable absence (on the recording front, at least) with this fourth full-length helping of his masterfully mellow monkey magic. While it's not terribly divergent from the future-jazz cut-ups that made his earlier efforts such an instinctively natural fit with the turn-of-the-century Ninja Tune stable, Black Sands evidences a clear evolution into a more distinctive, sophisticated, and complex style, resulting in his most musically adventurous work to date, and certainly his most modern-sounding. Green's clearly been keeping his ear to the ground for a bit of rhythmic reinvigoration: the immediately striking "Kiara" reworks the hauntingly elegant string refrain that opens the album with submerged vocal splices and a halting, head-nodding left-field hip-hop beat á la relative Ninja Tune newcomer Flying Lotus…

"Back to the Sea" has speed and twin guitar work like Keepers-era Helloween, "To the Realm of Gods" the driving, marshal beats and harmonized vocals of Sabaton and "Oceans of Eternity" the epic, neoclassical stylings of Rhapsody of Fire. A quick scan of the nautical-themed song titles will make clear the pirates of Alestorm and Running Wild were just over the horizon from Terra Atlantica's recording location as well. If albums like Captain Morgan's Revenge, Theater of Salvation and Symphony of Enchanted Lands are in your heavy rotation, make room for Oceans.

Internationally acclaimed Robbin Kapsalis carries the soul of Chicago's Southside in her voice. Born among the echoes of the city's legendary blues scene and later shaped by Atlanta's rich musical heritage, she delivers performances that blend traditional blues grit with contemporary spirit.

An Australian sextet, Little River Band's debut album sounds as American as anything by the Eagles or the Doobie Brothers, and is driven by "It's a Long Way There" - whose eight and a half minutes of crunchy electric guitars, luminous acoustic guitar, and smooth harmonizing is spread across a musically dramatic arc that is worth every second of its running time. This is an astonishingly strong debut album. There aren't any surprises, just seven more eminently enjoyable if slightly looser structured mainstream rock songs in the same vein, inventive where they had to be (like on the solos or the variations on the extended choruses), all more modestly proportioned than the hit and thoroughly enjoyable. Guitarist Graham Goble dominated the songwriting with the single and "I Know It," but singer Glenn Shorrock contributed significantly with the delightfully exuberant "Emma"…

The term violoncello was particularly fluid in the early 18th century: it referred to a wide range of bowed stringed instruments of different sizes and shapes, generally with four or five strings; some of these instruments were held between the knees and others were supported by the arm. So when Bach’s wife, Anna Magdalena, wrote Suites à Violoncello Solo senza Basso (Suites for Solo Cello without Bass) on the title page of her manuscript copy, we cannot be entirely sure what type of instrument she was referring to.

The only domestic compilation celebrating this trio's accomplishments is a 21-track affair containing Willie Dixon's "dozens" diatribe "Signifying Monkey," the catchy "Tell That Woman" (later covered by Peter, Paul & Mary as "Big Boat Up the River"), and several crackling instrumentals ("Big 3 Boogie," "Hard Notch Boogie Beat") that show what fine musicianship this triumvirate purveyed. Points off, though, for not including their only legit hit, "You Sure Look Good to Me."

With this eagerly anticipated complete recording of Philip Glass’s Études, Vanessa Wagner offers far more than an album: it is a testament to the deep bond she has forged with a body of piano music that now straddles the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Her reading is embodied, exacting, and profoundly lived-in.A Victoire de la musique winner in 1999, Wagner shows the same spark whether playing Mozart, Schubert, or Tchaikovsky, or partnering with electronic visionaries Murcof and Rone. She has also recorded modern voices such as Meredith Monk, Caroline Shaw, Arvo Pärt, and Pascal Dusapin. Thanks to this bold, forward-looking approach, she has become a major force on today’s classical scene, crossing borders and charting fresh territory.

Pet Shop Boys English synth pop duo Pet Shop Boys have amassed a remarkably consistent and influential catalog, pairing wry cultural commentary with buoyant melodies and lush electronic arrangements that sound like no other. After first emerging in the mid-'80s with "West End Girls" and "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)," Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe quickly established themselves as hitmaking singles artists who were also able to craft emotionally resonant albums, like 1988's Introspective and 1990's Behaviour. The duo navigated the constantly shifting landscape of modern dance-pop with grace and intelligence, moving easily from disco to house music to thoughtful synth pop without losing their distinctive style in the process. Continuing to evolve artistically, Pet Shop Boys incorporated Latin music on 1996's Bilingual, expanded into theater and ballet, and eventually morphed into elder statesmen of electronic pop, producing an array of inventive late-period highlights like 2016's Super and 2024's Nonetheless.Pet Shop Boys formed in London in August 1981, when vocalist Tennant (a former editor at Marvel Comics who later gained recognition as a journalist for Smash Hits magazine) first met keyboardist Lowe (a onetime architecture student) at an electronics shop.