A 'tour de force' of thrilling orchestral playing and brilliant audio engineering, Antal Dorati's mono recordings are collected for the first time. Newly remastered, this collection comprehensively documents a golden era in American classical recording and most of these vividly-characterized recordings appear on CD for the first time."has to be heard to be believed … is it possible to exceed this in the art of reproduced sound?" The New Records.

A 'tour de force' of thrilling orchestral playing and brilliant audio engineering, Antal Dorati's mono recordings are collected for the first time. Newly remastered, this collection comprehensively documents a golden era in American classical recording and most of these vividly-characterized recordings appear on CD for the first time."has to be heard to be believed … is it possible to exceed this in the art of reproduced sound?" The New Records.

Kurt Masur's achievement is defined above all by his relationships with two orchestras exemplifying vastly different traditions. Having spent some 20 years as Kapellmeister of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, which traces it's roots to the 15th century, he became the transformational music director of the New York Philharmonic, an embodiment of the New World. Through all this, his musical integrity remained consistent. As the New York Times wrote: "He brought to the podium the ardent conviction that music-making was a moral act that could heal the world." Masur himself put things more simply: "My goal is meaningful playing… What counts is to be able to communicate the composer's meaning to the audience… When I conduct Beethoven, I wouldn't like to replace Beethoven. He should be in your mind, not me." This 70CD set consolidates the entirety of the catalogues that Masur built for EMI and Teldec between 1974 and 2009.

Terms such as “fastidious”, “intimate” and “quietly nuanced” have long been applied to the immensely respected Ingrid Haebler’s interpretations. She was a “purist” in the best sense of the word and has often said that she always sought to convey the essence of the music and the structure and the message of the work, without anything to disrupt it. With an imposing discography, Haebler was regarded by many as Philips’ “house pianist”. Decca now proudly presents her Complete Philips Recordings on 58CDs in tribute to this rare and special artist.

When the British pianist and composer John Taylor died suddenly in 2015, his 1990s work in a trio with the former Weather Report drummer Peter Erskine and bassist Palle Danielsson was treated as something of an afterthought in such a rich career. But the Erskine-led group had a unique sound and repertoire (Taylor’s chemistry of romantic pastoralisms and jazz drive was a key influence), and a rare collaborative alertness. This box packages all four of their ECM recordings between 1992 and 1997. Taylor’s darting, jig-like Clapperclowe sounds wonderful here with Erskine’s warm-toned pattering behind it; the drummer’s faintly Jarrettish On the Lake is a ballad highlight; Taylor’s devotion to Bill Evans’ ambiguously romantic harmonies surfaces frequently…

This Japanese box set contains three consecutive entries in King Crimson's live and studio archival releases. The specific volumes in question are the tenth, 11th, and 13th from Discipline Global Mobile's Collectors' Club mail-order-only series covering Live in Central Park, NYC '74, the pre-Krim Discipline: Live at Moles Club, 1981, and the last gasp of the '90s double-trio incarnation on the Nashville Rehearsals, 1997. The July 1, 1974, concert in Central Park was the final King Crimson performance by the '70s quartet. While the recording is very good - not great - the group's spirited musical antics more than make up for any lack of audio fidelity. With the notable exception of "21st Century Schizoid Man," the band draws primarily from material on the Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Starless and Bible Black, and Red albums, respectively…

Maria João Pires “shapes and colours every phrase, and with immaculate taste, and she makes sure the phrases end as eloquently as they begin,” wrote Gramophone in 1974. “She conveys not just the details but the relevance of every note to the whole … Best of all, she communicates everything she has discovered about the music, and it is worth having.” This Portuguese pupil of Wilhelm Kempff, Pires was one of the artists who defined the Erato label in the 1970s and 1980s. This 5-CD box gathers together the recordings she made over the period from 1976 to 1985 and it reflects the consistent focus of her repertoire, with its special emphasis on Austro-German composers of the Classical and early-Romantic periods. Embracing solo works, piano duets and concertos, it contains works by Mozart, Schumann, Beethoven, but also by Bach and Chopin.

Esoteric Recordings label is proud to announce the release of the very first 4CD collection of every album and single track recorded by the legendary Atomic Rooster between 1970-1974. Sleeping for Years is a clamshell boxed set anthologising all the recordings made by the band on the classic albums Atomic Rooster, Death Walks Behind You, In Hearing of Atomic Rooster, Made In England and Nice n’ Greasy and on such hit singles as Tomorrow Night and Devil’s Answer.
Atomic Rooster was formed by former Crazy World of Arthur Brown members Vincent Crane (Organ, Piano, Keyboards) and Carl Palmer (drums). Their self-titled first album was recorded in 1970 with Nick Graham on bass, vocals & flute, but the band soon splintered when Carl Palmer departed to join ELP…

Chess Blues is a superlative four-CD box set featuring important tracks by all the main stars of the label (Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson), as well as much previously unreleased material. A well-done retrospective of Chicago blues in its heyday, as recorded by America's greatest blues label, Chess.

This three-disc box contains a trio of entries from King Crimson's archival series. Housed within the Collectors' King Crimson, Vol. 3 (2000) are Live in San Francisco: The Roar of P4, The VROOOM Sessions, 1994, and Live at Summit Studios: Denver, 03/12/1972, respectively. After the fraKctilization of King Crimson's mid-'90s double-trio lineup, Robert Fripp (guitar) formed various "projeKcts" involving all six members; however, not necessarily at the same time. Live in San Francisco: The Roar of P4 features the fourth mini-Crim (aka ProjeKct Four) at the 7th Note Club in the city by the Bay. This all-instrumental and highly experimental aggregate features the collective efforts of touch guitarist Trey Gunn and electronic and acoustic percussionist Pat Mastelotto, guitarist Fripp, as well as bassist and Chapman stick player Tony Levin…

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Creature Music has compiled this stunning box set comprising 21 CDs, a 36-page booklet of the band's history with extensive notes for each album, a 32-page book of Manfred's own memories and anecdotes and a poster of the current band. The catalogue CDs have been remastered and repackaged in LP-style sleeves. The albums have the original UK running order and refreshed sleeves. Live In Ersingen is a brand-new live recording from 22 July this year, featuring the band's latest vocalist, Robert Hart. Leftovers is a compilation of the hit singles and rare or previously unavailable recordings.

Animals is the tenth studio album by English progressive rock group Pink Floyd, released in January 1977. A concept album, it provides a scathing critique of the social-political conditions of late 1970s Britain, and presents a marked change in musical style from their earlier work. Animals was recorded at the band's studio, Britannia Row, in London, but its production was punctuated by the early signs of discord that several years later would culminate in keyboardist Richard Wright leaving the band. The album's cover image, a pig floating between two chimneys on Battersea Power Station, was conceived by bassist and writer Roger Waters, and photographed by long-time collaborators Hipgnosis. The album was released to generally positive reviews in the United Kingdom, where it reached number 2. It was also a success in the United States, reaching number 3 on the Billboard 200, and although it scored on the American charts for only six months, steady sales have resulted in its certification by the RIAA at four times platinum.

This three-disc set gathers two King Crimson D.G.M. Collectors' Club releases: Live at Cap D'Agde, 1982 and On Broadway: Live in NYC, 1995, respectively. Oddly, the contents within this boxed set are reversed, with the latter title featured on disc one and two and the former on disc three. On Broadway: Live in NYC, 1995 contains a composite of five shows from the double-trio version of King Crimson at the off-Broadway Longacre Theater in New York City. Enthusiasts will find a whole lot to like about this two-hour-plus performance compilation, thanks in part to the flawless sound quality, which devours the endless stream of bootlegs that quickly flooded the underground market shortly after these shows were played…