Stéphane Tétreault and Olivier Hébert-Bouchard present Images retrouvées, the second volume of works by Claude Debussy transcribed for cello and piano. The series was inaugurated in 2023 with the first volume, Images oubliées.

Sebastian Bohren's world-premiere recording of "In Evening Light", the second violin concerto by Peteris Vasks, comes 25 years after the celebrated Latvian composer's first, "Distant Light", one of the most successful, oft-performed and recorded concertos by a living a composer. "In Evening Light" seems certain to follow in its forebearer's footsteps, destined to become another modern classic.

The Piano Concerto No. 1 in B♭ minor, Op. 23, was composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky between November 1874 and February 1875. It was revised in 1879 and in 1888. It was first performed on October 25, 1875, in Boston by Hans von Bülow after Tchaikovsky's desired pianist, Nikolai Rubinstein, criticised the piece. Rubinstein later withdrew his criticism and became a fervent champion of the work. It is one of the most popular of Tchaikovsky's compositions and among the best known of all piano concerti.

Shostakovich completed his Viola Sonata in 1975, just a few weeks before he died, making it his last composition, his swan song. The piece was written for the violist of the Beethoven Quartet, Fyodor Druzhinin, who received the score three days before the composer’s death. In this large-scale, three-movement sonata, the composer looks back over his oeuvre and the vicissitudes of his life, quoting from his unfinished opera (The Gamblers), his symphonies, and his Suite in F sharp minor, while the composition’s long, slow final movement stands as a memorial to Beethoven. The critic of the daily paper Izvestia wrote that the piece is “like the catharsis in a tragedy; life, struggles, victory, purification through light, and stepping into immortality.” We hear this heart-rending work in a perceptive performance by regular partners: the Ukrainian violist Maxim Rysanov, and the Armenian pianist Marianna Shirinyan.

Poulenc the miniaturist par excellence burst into public view, fully-formed in his late teens, emerging flamboyantly into the artistic swirl of 1920s Paris. His fabulously inventive, quirky and colourful approach to writing for chamber ensemble and voice comes vividly to life in this set of early works which capture all of his youthful elegance, wit, and occasionally sardonic humour.

The century was only twenty-one years old, and so was Ernst Krenek, when his Serenade op. 4 was premièred on 31 July 1921 at the newly launched “Donaueschingen Chamber Music Performances for the advancement of contemporary music.” The event soon came to be known as Donaueschingen Festival, now one of the oldest specialized music festivals worldwide: Krenek’s music has occasionally been heard there since then – albeit as a series of utterly contrasting works one would hardly ascribe to the same composer.

On this latest release in the Guitar Laureate series, Georgi Dimitrov-Jojo, winner of the 2022 European Bach Guitar Award, presents a selection of works transcribed for guitar from the rich repertoire of Johann Sebastian Bach. Dimitrov-Jojo’s beautiful sound and poetic interpretations bring an intimate connection to Bach’s boundless imagination, crowned in this substantial programme by the famous Ciaconna, BWV 1004.

Annihilator is a Canadian thrash metal band founded in Ottawa in 1984 by guitarist Jeff Waters and vocalist John Bates. They are the highest-selling Canadian thrash metal group in history, having sold more than three million albums worldwide. Fans have been waiting for years and it’s finally happening: the much sought-after and previously unavailable Annihilator back-catalogue is getting a series of re-issues via earMusic. Metal II stands out as a fully re-recorded, newly mixed by Mike Fraser (AC/DC, Aerosmith and many more) and re-mastered album in a new line-up, featuring Dave Lombardo (Slayer, Grip Inc. etc) on drums and Stu Block (Iced Earth) on vocals. The guest list on the album is huge: Willie Adler from Lamb Of God, Alexi Laiho from Children of Bodom, Steve 'Lips' Kudlow from Anvil, Dan Beehler from Exciter”, Jesper Strömblad from In Flames - just to name a few.

One of the most important and revered bands of the post-punk and alternative rock scenes, the Jesus and Mary Chain's artistic impact is incalculable. Heavily influenced not only by the dangerous sounds of bands like the Velvet Underground and the Stooges, but also by the sonic grandeur and pop savvy of the '60s-era girl group sound and the Beach Boys, the band was able to find the beauty in noise, while both celebrating pop conventions and thoroughly subverting them. Their landmark 1985 album, Psychocandy, basically invented noise pop, while Darklands stripped away the scuzz to reveal pristine melodies. From there the group explored many aspects of rock, from beat-heavy electro punk to dusty heartbreak ballads - hitting big with "Sometime Always" in 1994 - before going their separate ways in a cloud of bad feelings…

A popular saxophonist and singer with a mellow, R&B-influenced style, Walter Beasley has led a successful contemporary and smooth jazz career. Following his emergence in the late '80s, he balanced his teaching career at Boston's Berklee College of Music with issuing a steady stream of lyrical, groove-oriented albums like 1997's Tonight We Love, 2002's Rendezvous, and 2007's Ready for Love, the latter of which spawned three number one Billboard smooth jazz songs, including "I'm Back" and "Steady as She Goes." He runs his own Affable Music label on which he issued 2019's Going Home.