The Concerts in China is a live album by Jean Michel Jarre, recorded in 1981 and released in 1982 on Disques Dreyfus. It was recorded during Jarre's Concerts in China tour of Autumn 1981, which consisted of five Beijing and Shanghai concerts in China; this was the first time a Western pop artist performed in China after the Cultural Revolution. The album is a balance of previously released tracks by Jarre, new compositions inspired by Chinese culture, and one rearranged traditional Chinese track ("Fishing Junks at Sunset"). The album consists mainly of live material, plus ambient sound recordings and one new studio track "Souvenir of China". Other new compositions recorded live include "Night in Shanghai", "Laser Harp", "Arpegiator" and "Orient Express". "Fishing Junks at Sunset" is a new arrangement of a very old traditional Chinese song known as the "Fisherman's Chant at Dusk", which was performed and recorded with The Peking Conservatoire Symphony Orchestra and is often wrongly attributed as being composed by Jean Michel Jarre, misled by the album inlay. The album was originally released as a double-disc LP, then as a double-disc CD.

Vor genau 318 Jahren zündete Reinhard Keiser im Opernhaus am Gänsemarkt einen Dauerbrenner: Der angenehme Betrug oder der Carneval von Venedig hieß der Knüller, an dem man sich bald zweieinhalb Jahrzehnte delektierte. Das lag einerseits an der kuriosen Karnevalsgeschichte, in der sich zwei Paare ganz à la Così fan tutte vor dem Happy End in die falschen Partner verlieben, derweil sich ein deutsches Paar von Adel nach allen Irrungen mit der »Freundschaft« begnügt – es lag aber andererseits und vor allem an den eingängigen Stücken, mit der der damaliger Beherrscher der hamburgischen Oper sein Publikum unterhielt: einfache Strophenlieder, niedliche Arien, gelegentlich ein derbes Stück im lokalen Platt, was wollte man mehr! Unsere neue Produktion mit dem barockwerk hamburg enthält den musikalischen Querschnitt (ohne Dialoge); dieser ist allerdings so erheblich, dass er sich nur auf zwei CDs unterbringen ließ.

Die Wiener Freunde Franz Schubert und Franz Lachner werden hier für ein Liedprogramm im Geiste der Hausmusik erneut vereint. Akteur ist das Ensemble Double Face, das von der Kornettistin Marie Garnier gegründet wurde, und dem auch die Mezzosopranistin Anaïs Yvoz angehört. In Anlehnung an die Tradition der Schubertiaden verschmelzen Gesang und historische Instrumente zu einem bunten und emotionalen Klangteppich, der die kreative Leidenschaft dieser beiden Meister des 19. Jahrhunderts zelebriert.

The Grass Is Greener is an album by Colosseum, released in January 1970. In contrast to other albums by Colosseum, The Grass Is Greener was released only in the United States, on the Dunhill label, distributed by ABC. It was conceived as a U.S. alternative to November 1969's Valentyne Suite, complete with a muted, blue-green variation of the aforementioned album's cover. It features four tracks recorded with then-new guitarist/vocalist Dave "Clem" Clempson in the winter of 1969 ("Jumping Off The Sun," "Lost Angeles," "Rope Ladder To The Moon," "Bolero"); three tracks from the 1969 Vertigo LP Valentyne Suite but with vocal and guitar parts provided by Clempson ("Butty's Blues," "The Machine Demands A Sacrifice," "The Grass Is Greener") instead of James Litherland; and one track, "Elegy," that appears to be the same as the original from Valentyne Suite, including Litherland's vocal.

Released to coincide with what would have been Freddie Mercury's 70th birthday, the excellent 2016 double-disc anthology Messenger of the Gods: The Singles brings together all of the legendary Queen vocalist's solo A-side and B-side singles. Originating from a variety of projects, including Mercury's one and only proper solo album, 1985's Mr. Bad, these are all the songs released under Mercury's name and not as Queen singles. Nonetheless, there was some cross-pollination and several of these songs were later reworked as Queen tracks. While Queen were primarily known for their muscular, guitar-oriented rock, they were also innovators who experimented with funk and dance grooves.

With the appearance of Lighthouse, singer/songwriter David Crosby, age 75, continues a late career renaissance that began with 2014's Croz – his proper studio follow-up to 1971's classic If I Could Only Remember My Name. This set was produced by Snarky Puppy boss Michael League, who co-wrote five of these nine tunes with Crosby. The producer, a lifelong fan of the 1971 album, approached Crosby about recording something quick and dirty over a couple of weeks. He was met with incredulousness. The artist was used to working on albums for months, even years. After three days, they completed three new songs, and Crosby was all in.

“Changing perspectives” is something that the composer and clarinetist Rebecca Trescher has always set out to do, but this is no easy task. On one hand, she has to remain immersed in the musical activity as it happens, while on the other she strives to always remain aware of external perspectives and other ways of hearing, asking herself: Is this actually working the way I imagined? What might still be missing, and what could give it a decisive touch or the necessary kick?

Launching a new thematic era after closing his five-part Mathematics series, English singer/songwriter Ed Sheeran presses the titular button on his vibrant eighth set, Play. A blend of his heartfelt busker material and his big pop anthems, the set adds more of the same to his hit-packed catalog, which is just fine for his fans. Kicking things off with the aptly titled "Opening," the noted rap fan spits verse after verse of impressive, head-spinning bars, admitting, "I'm still looking for shit to say/Deluding myself that they'll still relate."

Not often can listening to a recording match the excitement and transcendent power of a live performance. We in the recording business try our best to get as close as possible to the real thing of course. Sometimes, however, magic happens listening to a recording with the right people in the right environment. This occurred in the Rockport/Absolare room at the 2024 Munich High End Show listening to J. S. Bach’s “French Overture” performed on piano by Orion Weiss. It takes a great performer, a recording that “doesn’t get in the way,” and fabulous playback equipment such as we had in the Rockport room for these wondrous listening experiences. The audience sat enraptured by Orion’s subtlety and artistry and we indeed felt like we were sitting on stage with Orion in Zipper Hall at The Colburn School where we made this album.

The Württemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn (German: Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn, WKO) is a renowned German Chamber Orchestra, located in Heilbronn, Baden Württemberg, Germany.The orchestra was founded in 1960 by Jörg Faerber and has performed with artists such as Martha Argerich, Alfred Brendel, Rudolf Buchbinder, Maurice André, James Galway, Augustin Hadelich, Hilary Hahn, Gidon Kremer, Sabine Meyer, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Thomas Quasthoff and Tabea Zimmermann. The WKO has recorded more than 500 classical works for the labels Deutsche Grammophon (DGG) and Teldec.The orchestra is regularly heard at major festivals like Salzburg Festival, Vienna Music Summer, Lucerne Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Schwetzingen Festival and Ludwigsburg Festival.

This recording brings together two late masterworks by Brahms: the Op. 120 Clarinet Sonatas and the Op. 117 Intermezzi for piano, written in the tranquil setting of Bad Ischl. The sonatas, full of tenderness and quiet intensity, were composed for clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld, whose warm, lyrical playing reignited Brahms’s desire to compose after a period of silence. This is music of dialogue, not declaration.

Two German Romanticism enthusiasts, Raphaël Sévère and Adam Laloum, have planned a trip for us on the wings of song. Transcribing for clarinet and piano some of the most beautiful lieder of Schumann, Wagner and Brahms, without the help of words they have unveiled all their poetry and their indescribable colours.

The musical culture that Joséphine de Beauharnais (1763-1814), Empress of the French and Napoleon Bonaparte’s wife, developed with her family and at court kept pace with fashion and even shaped the French musical taste of the period. Joséphine organised weekly concerts at the Château de Malmaison, her preferred residence, that featured many of the most famous musicians in Paris and Europe. Informal musical soirées were also held on an almost daily basis. This recording presents excerpts from operas of the period transcribed for chamber performance, in which the most passionate emotions are expressed alongside nostalgic romances and alternate with instrumental works to recreate the spontaneity of a musical evening in Joséphine’s salon. This original project offers music lovers an immersion in a musical universe that is largely unknown to audiences today.

This release is the world première recording of Estonia’s first major work in art music in its original score and sung in Estonian. Rudolf Tobias (1873–1918) is widely celebrated in Estonia as the ‘father of Estonian music’ and considered as the first Estonian composer to have obtained a degree in composing after completing his studies at the St Petersburg Conservatoire. In this recording the composer’s magnum opus, Joonas (Jonah Oratorio) is performed by a first-class Estonian line up led by the award-winning ensembles Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra and conductor Tõnu Kaljuste.

A Note from Peter Knight
This is music inspired by the water and the wind. By the tattoo of the insects’ beating wings and the soughing of the wattle in the sea breeze. By the dull roll of the surf and the rhythm of my breath against the pad of my feet as I walk along the sandy, leaf-littered path through the scrub to the beach. The fingers of the fire-blackened dead banksias clawing the vicious blue. Somewhere, a peal of laughter is torn from its source and flies for a moment on the thermals rising from the baking sand. It is the summer of 2024/25 in Australia as the ideas for this album coalesce from a dozen different threads. I’m camping with my family on Krowathunkooloong land in the south-east corner of the country. The place where I grew up. The same beach where I spent every summer through my childhood.