Accordionist Théo Ould describes this new album as “my most personal — I had never allowed myself to feature the music of Astor Piazzolla. I wanted to raise the accordion above the clichés to concentrate on more classical repertoire”. Théo’s vocation became evident, however, when he heard Piazzolla’s Libertango at the age of 6. Now, 20 years later, this Frenchman from Marseille tackles this music with fervour and exaltation through tailor-made arrangements performed alongside the Quatuor Bilitis and the double bass player Blanche Stromboni, as well as mezzo-soprano Marina Viotti, who appears in a beautiful and heart-warming rendition of Balada para un loco, Piazzolla’s setting of a poem by Horacio Ferrer. Théo Ould is passionate about this music, inviting us to share in his enthusiasm by joining in Ferrer’s Balada: "Climb up into my madman’s tenderness, Put a wig of larks on your head, Fly with me now! Come! Fly! Come!"

Nelson Goerner has always dreamed of recording these two masterpieces of the concerto repertoire. With Kazuki Yamada, he has found the ideal partner to approach Ravel’s two piano concertos with the sensitivity and poetry for which he is universally renowned. The two works, composed at the same time and both performed for the first time in 1932, are nevertheless very different: premiered in Vienna, the Concerto for the Left Hand was commissioned by the pianist Paul Wittgenstein who had lost his right arm in 1914; premiered in Paris, the Concerto in G is renowned for its verve and its famous pianistic interpolations. Ravel had composed the Pavane pour une infante défunte, a famous miniature of exquisite nostalgia, some 33 years earlier. The programme is completed by the Valses nobles et sentimentales; Marguerite Long, who gave the first performance of the Concerto in G, saw these eight linked pieces as a “stylistic panorama of the waltz”.

Lionel Richie's Back to Front isn't just a definitive greatest hits collection, it's a reminder of Richie's supreme strengths as an R&B singer-songwriter. From the gentle sweep of "Do It to Me" to the earnest lovelorn crooning of "Hello," Richie's ballads are timeless. Even the borderline sappy "Endless Love" shines despite cosinger Diana Ross's histrionics. Also featured is "Still" and "Say You, Say Me," and while the faster songs–the Caribbean-inspired rhythms of "All Night Long" and the '80s synthpop of "Running with the Night"–are weaker, they hardly detract from this otherwise sterling survey.

If Melody Gardot's 2009 sophomore effort, My One and Only Thrill, sustained the sultry, atmospheric vibe of her critically acclaimed 2006 debut, her 2012 follow-up, The Absence, is a bit of a creative departure for the vocalist. Apparently inspired by her world travels, and specifically by a trip that brought her to the desert around the city of Marrakech, the album moves her away from smoky, small-group jazz and into a bright, if still bedroom-eyed, rhythmically exotic sound. Produced by guitarist/composer Heitor Pereira, the album is a lush, somewhat orchestral album that finds Gardot delving into various Brazilian, Spanish, and African-influenced sounds - including bits of samba, tango, bossa nova, and calypso - that evince her global journey…

Third album, dating from 1973, from this UK heavy prog band. Inevitable Jethro Tull comparisons, due to the inclusion of flute, shouldn't detract from the fact that this is a fine example of 70s British rock.
Second Birth is one of the more hard rocking albums on the legendary Dawn label - but a set that's also got all sorts of complexity and interesting moments that really keep things on edge throughout! There's tracks here that are almost screamingly sinister - but those are balanced by gentler moments that have more of a sense of harmony - and it's that contrast that really makes the record stand out, especially on tunes where the guitar might be playing all these really spooky lines, but an accompanying flute line graces things with a sense of innocence - one that might not even be present in the lyrics…

Danish electronic quartet Bliss create ambient soundscapes riddled with cinematic textures and downbeat bravado. Often compared to artists like Massive Attack and Sade, the group was the brainchild of writer/producers Marc-George Anderson and Steffen Aaskoven. Vocalists Tchando and Alexandra Hamnede provide Bliss with soulful performances that reflect their alternately African-tinged and jazz-based foundations, resulting in an ethereal stew of pan-global atmosphere.
"Quiet Letters" is music that certainly will envolve all your senses in one single harmony. Kind of easy-listening, chill-out music for having a moment of relax with captivating vocals and gentle percussion that will make you travel to faraway lands.

Raum is Tangerine Dream's second studio full-length since founder Edgar Froese died in 2015, though the group has additionally released several live albums and EPs. For this recording, Thorsten Quaeschning, Hoshiko Yamane, and recent addition Paul Frick (of Brandt Brauer Frick) were given access to Froese's archive of Cubase arrangements and tape recordings dating back to the 1970s, so like their previous studio album, 2017's Quantum Gate, he's still present in spirit. Notably absent is Ulrich Schnauss, who joined the band in 2014, yet curiously enough, the album often sounds more like his own work than Tangerine Dream's – glimmering opener "Continuum" and the downtempo crawl "You're Always on Time" are both easy to mistake for Schnauss, or contemporaries such as Tycho.