When Andreas Haefliger conceived this unusual combination of concertos it was with the aim of putting into perspective three pieces, each a unique and highly expressive highlight from the composers’ output. That Maurice Ravel’s Concerto for the Left Hand and Béla Bartók’s Third Piano Concerto fulfilled the requirements was a given: towards the end of his life Bartók wrote his most lyrically expressive concerto while Ravel, inspired by the qualities of the left hand register, wrote a piece full of dark yearning and grotesquely fauvistic dances.

En este trabajo se presentan por primera vez, a nivel mundial, algunas de las composiciones de dos maestros del Siglo XVIII, el primero Francisco Hernández Illana que desarrolló los magisterios de la Catedral de Astorga, del Real Colegio del Corpus Christi de Valencia y de la Catedral de Burgos, y por otro lado de un italiano Francesco Corradini, que desempeñó su carrera musical en la península primero en Valencia y posteriormente en Madrid…

The delicious voice of soprano María Luz Álvarez may in itself be enough reason to purchase this album for those who have encountered it before. It's a stunning instrument in small-group Baroque chamber music, with impressive control over both pitch and dynamics, all combined with a good deal of Spanish smoke. If that were not enough, Álvarez here takes up a repertoire that remains almost unknown outside of Iberia: the so-called tonada humana, which was the first generation of Spanish Baroque song to show Italian influence, departing from the strophic and semi-popular songs associated with the venerable zarzuela genre. The music here, by Sebastián Durón and a variety of still more obscure composers, is a gorgeous fusion of Spanish and Italian (although all of it is in the Spanish language).

If you look at the music history of the 20th century so rich in innovations and revolutions, you quickly come to a personality that unites all the great currents of that time: Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) laid back such a wide artistic path as hardly any other composer. From the student years of the Russian romantic Rimski-Korsakov to the scandal shattering the art world around his ballet Le Sacre du Printemps to the testing of neoclassicism, the combination of classical and jazz, the twelve-tone atonality, and this in all musical genres: Stravinsky is considered the inventor of modernity. and their first full at the same time. On the occasion of his 50th Anniversary of death on April 6, 2021, Warner Classics releases the 23 CDs comprehensive Stravinsky Edition with famous and discoverable works in high-profile reference recordings by international conductors, soloists and ensembles including historical recordings with Stravinsky as performers. The included recordings were taken between 1928 and 2019.

Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys make up Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, who were responsible for some of the catchiest and brightest synth pop that the '80s had to offer. O.M.D.'s material was a step above other keyboard pop music of the time, thanks to the combination of intelligently crafted hooks and colorful rhythms that bounced and jittered with pristine charm. Their squeaky-clean brilliancy initiated by both their synthesizers and subdued yet attractive vocal styles gave them a more mature sound over bands like Duran Duran and A Flock of Seagulls, who were attracting a younger audience. The Best of O.M.D. is an excellent compilation of their polished music, starting out with less provocative material like the basic electronic wash of "Electricity" and the bare but ebullient fervor of "Enola Gay." As this set moves along, so does the craftiness of their work, which is evident on tighter sounding songs like "Tesla Girls" and "Locomotion," where the intricacy of their formula begins to take a more resounding shape. O.M.D.'s best work came from 1985's Crush album, which harbored the midnight airiness found in "So in Love" as well as the adolescent innocence that streamed its way through "Secret," which are two of the best tracks on this set.

Japanese edition with bonus track.
Saxon, those seminal British Heavy Metal Heroes hailing from Barnsley, UK, release Carpe Diem through Silver Lining Music. Ten titanic tracks bristling with still-clad riffery and proud intent, Carpe Diem is the statement which reminds heavy metal fans worldwide who the true masters of British Metal are, drawing on a variety of ingredients from their career to forge what is Saxon’s most dynamic release in many a year.

The band's debut album, Os Mutantes, is far and away their best - a wildly inventive trip that assimilates orchestral pop, whimsical psychedelia, musique concrète, found-sound environments - and that's just the first song! Elsewhere there are nods to Carnaval, albeit with distinct hippie sensibilities, incorporating fuzztone guitars and go-go basslines. Two tracks, "O Relogio" and "Le Premier Bonheur du Jour," work through pastoral French pop, sounding closer to the Swingle Singers than Gilberto Gil. Though not all of the experimentation succeeds - the languid Brazilian blues of "Baby" is rather cumbersome - and pop/rock listeners may have a hard time finding the hooks, Os Mutantes' first album is an astonishing listen. It's far more experimental than any of the albums produced by the era's first-rate psychedelic bands of Britain or America.