Two great Shostakovich concertante works, in dazzling performances from soloists István Várdai (cello) and Aleksey Semenenko (violin), with accompaniment from the BBC Philharmonic and conductors John Storgårds and Martyn Brabbins.

"Rademann conducts with feeling and strives for a round and harmonious sound. The musicians of the GaechingerCantorey play excellently and show that historically informed performance practice and Romantic music-making are not necessarily mutually exclusive.necessarily mutually exclusive. It is the result that counts. And that is more than convincing with Rademann and his Cantorey.Above all, because the listener can't get enough of it."pizzicato

Campra’s famous Requiem emerged from a tradition that is still unjustly neglected. Sébastien Daucé and Ensemble Correspondances offer us an opportunity to discover these maîtres de musique of Notre-Dame who, though now overshadowed by their brilliant colleague, made no less of a contribution to the development of the ‘French style’ emblematic of the reign of Louis XIV.

After building a solid core audience through relentless touring and a string of hard-rocking albums, Foghat finally hit the big time in 1975 with Fool for the City. It still stands out as the best album in the group's catalog because it matched their road-tested abilities as hard rockers to a consistent set of tunes that were both well-crafted and ambitious. The tone for the album is set by its title track: This hard-rocking gem not only pairs riff-driven verses with an effective shout-along chorus, but also throws in a few surprising moments where the guitars are taken out of the mix completely and Nick Jameson's bass is allowed to take the lead in a funky breakdown. Fool for the City also produced an enduring rock radio favorite in "Slow Ride," a stomping rock tune that transcends the inherent clichés of its "love is like a car ride" lyrics with a furious performance from the band…

Ascending in Synergy proves that this promising German unit is on top of their game and skillfully manages to balance the tightrope act between diving into the early beginnings of symphonic metal, reminiscent of old Nightwish, yet splicing all songs with a contemporary vibe. Opening track “Unbound” impresses with skillful orchestral arrangements and vocalist Nele Messerschmidt’s extraordinary voice. The following “A Vagabond’s Heart” features an exciting intro and one of the catchiest choruses on the album. Dramatic and dark soundscapes and heavy riffs on songs like “Ocean Of Treason” and “The Aftermath Of Life” keep the listener in a tight grip. Elvellon’s dreamlike, cinematic side shines especially bright on tracks like “Last Of Our Kind” and “The Aeon Tree”. Massive album finale “Epiphany Of Mine” closes Ascending in Synergy impactfully, leaving the listener wanting for more.

Lester Bowie's projects apart from the Art Ensemble of Chicago tread a high wire between challenging improvised music and R&B-pop. This seeming dichotomy purports a universally appealing sound close to selling out, but speaks more to the whimsy and farcical elements Bowie sees in the hypocrisy of life. The Great Pretender is a perfect title for this effort, a mix of funk and humor, gospel and jazz, with no small points of reference to Dizzy Gillespie, early doo wop, Mahalia Jackson, James Brown, and Sun Ra. The lengthy title track modernizes the Buck Ram hit on many levels, as Bowie's sly, ribald, and comedic trumpet playing hits every nerve over a head nodding church hued backbeat, accented by the ooh-ooh vocals of Fontella Bass and David Peaston…

While German Prog/Art rockers Jane may be a familiar name outside of the Prog arena, Harlis were a tremendously talented offshoot of the band who recorded two albums that didn’t conform to the Prog Rock rulebook, but didn’t stray to far from it either. Led by former Jane member Charly Maucher, Harlis were a bit looser than their contemporaries, which added a raw edge to their sound. While the band features excellent musicians, Harlis’ sound is more about the band as a whole as opposed to the skills of the individuals. Adding a bit more Blues and British and American Rock influences into the mix may have turned away some Prog fans, but in doing so, their sound has a timeless quality to it…

Bad is the seventh studio album by American singer Michael Jackson. It was released on August 31, 1987 by Epic Records, nearly five years after Jackson's previous album, Thriller. Bad was written and recorded in nearly a year, and was the final collaboration between Jackson and producer Quincy Jones. Jackson co-produced it and composed all but two tracks. The album features appearances from Siedah Garrett and Stevie Wonder. Incorporating pop, rock, funk, R&B, dance, soul and hard rock, Jackson experimented with modern technology, including digital synthesizers and drum machines, resulting in a sleeker and more aggressive sound on Bad. The lyrical themes include media bias, paranoia, racial profiling, romance, self-improvement, and world peace.

Signed to the UK label AD Music for many years, Bekki Williams is best known for her melodic, emotive, orchestral style of instrumental music, which is well-showcased on her solo albums Elysian Fields, Shadow of the Wind, Innersense and Edge of Human. Classically trained from a very young age, Bekki is an award-winning flautist and multi-instrumentalist who has worked as an orchestra soloist, a music teacher, a backing vocalist, a session musician and a sound engineer, as well as running a commercial recording studio of her own. Expertly crafted, with heart, soul, and strong classical elements which give it immense depth, hers is music with considerable musical structure and style. Bekki is able to imbue her musical creations with a strong emotional content that lifts her music far above the norm.

Iolanta and Perséphone - A double bill consisting of two stage works that “represent an ideal of beauty, poetry and hope” forms this production in Madrid from the Teatro Real. In both works the progression from darkness to light acts as an initiation rite that completely transforms the existential attitude of the leading characters.

To celebrate the 30th Anniversary of its release, comes this remastered edition of Simple Mind's classic album Once Upon A Time. Containing the full original remastered album, Once Upon a Time. Originally released in October 1985, and coming hot on the heels of the global smash single ‘(Don’t You) Forget About Me’ , ‘Once Upon A Time’ was to prove the album that propelled Simple Minds to stratospheric heights of artistic and commercial success. Containing the classic hit singles ‘Alive And Kicking’, ‘All The Things She Said’, ‘Sanctify Yourself’, and ‘Ghostdancing’ the original era-defining Number 1 album now comes as part of this incredible 5CD / 1DVD box set. Bonus discs include a wealth of supplementary tracks, including the original and extended versions of ‘(Don’t You) Forget About Me’, single edits, 12” mixes, B-sides, unreleased tracks and the 2-disc ‘Live In The City Of Light’ concert.

Television composer Frank Duval scored several hits in Germany, including 1979's "Todesengel" and the following year's "Angel of Mine." Born in Berlin in 1940, he studied as an actor and dancer, but also sang with his sister, Maria. By the '60s, Duval was also composing music, both orchestral and pop, and his debut soundtrack – for an episode of the German serial Tatort – aired in 1977. Much busier with composition work during the late '70s, Duval also released some of his recordings through Teldec. From his 1979 debut Die Schönsten Melodien Aus Derrick und der Alte, "Todesengel" became a moderate hit.