Born in 1749, Cimarosa was one of Europe's leading composers at the end of the 18th century. It was during his most productive period that he produced his Olimpiade, a grand opera seria transformed into a sumptuous bel canto drama. In it, Cimarosa brings heroism to the athletes competing in the Games in Olympia, the winner of which will marry Princess Aristea: the seemingly inextricable plot allows the composer to write some of the most extraordinary arias based on Metastasio's libretto. Christophe Rousset, champion of the Italian repertoire of the end of the 18th century, leads a dazzling cast in this hurricane of bel canto!

We follow the success of the album devoted to Jean-Marie Leclair by continuing our exploration of the rich 18th-century violin repertoire. Leclair's success in the late 1720s acted as a catalyst and many other talented composers emerged in his wake. Those years were particularly favourable to the instrument and the prowess of each violinist was closely scrutinised by observers: the title of Premier violon de France was the subject of fierce competition. This positive and adulatory atmosphere resulted in a great proliferation of sonatas for violin, out of which we have chosen the six jewels that appear here. The greater part of these works are recorded here for the first time.

4CD deluxe edition of ‘Coming In For The Kill’. A beautifully packaged set that includes five songs that appear on CD for the first time, as well as 16 previously unreleased tracks. Four CD deluxe edition of 'Coming In For The Kill'. Includes the TEN songs that appeared on the original album alongside a 38 bonus tracks featuring singles, B-sides, remixes, edits, alternate versions, demo recordings, instrumentals and more. A beautifully packaged set that includes five songs that appear on CD for the first time, as well as 16 previously unreleased tracks. All tracks have been remastered using the original master tapes for a superior sound experience.

This fabulous five disc set is replete with some of those old Stokowski warhorses all recorded in absolutely mind boggling Phase 4 sound, overblown perhaps but astounding for its time. Decca's remastering is absolutely magnificent and the discs are jam packed with almost six hours of music. This is another fine memorial to a great conductor who remained astonishingly vital until the very end of his life.

Punk rock legends Hot Water Music have announced details of a star-studded new album. The band are set to release new record Vows on May 10, with Thrice, Dallas Green, The Interrupters, Turnstile’s Daniel Fang and Brendan Yates, and Popeye Vogelsang all set to feature on an LP that they describe as “a celebration of our history and future”. “Everyone spent a lot of time reflecting on the journey that got us here and thinking about what we want the trajectory to be from here on out while making this record,” say Hot Water Music in a collective statement.

Three CD collection that brings together Mari Wilson's best loved material from her time signed to the Compact Organization spanning her studio album and 10 single releases over the period of 1980-85. Features a 24-page booklet with sleeve notes written by Mari Wilson and a UK discography, together with previously unseen photos. CD 1 is centered around the 12-track debut album Showpeople, originally released in 1983 plus four bonus tracks, the 12" mixes of the singles, 'Just What I Always Wanted' her 1982 top 10 hit, 'Cry Me A River' a top 30 hit in 1983. CD 2 features the single versions of eight A-sides, nine B-sides and five rarities, including seven non-album singles, 'Love Man', 'Dance Card', 'Beat The Beat', 'Baby It's True', 'Ain't That Peculiar', Let's Make This Last' and the theme tune to the 1985 film Dance With A Stranger 'Would You Dance With A Stranger'. CD 3 includes eight new remixes by the original writer/producer Tot Taylor, ably assisted by Joe Dworniak using the original multi-track tapes. Appearing on CD for the first time includes the U. S. Remix of 'Just What I Always Wanted', 'One Day Is A Lifetime - Alternate Version', a 7" DJ edit of 'Wonderful' and two versions of 'Let's Make This Last'. Mari Wilson (The Neasden Queen Of Soul) first arrived on the scene in the early 80s with her skyscraper beehive, a bizarre sense of fashion and fully choreographed 12-piece band The Wilsations. Mari's live shows were an event - pure entertainment.

The forgotten superheroes of 20th-century black music, the leather-lunged blues shouters, dominated the US nightclub stages and R&B charts for half-a-dozen years or so following World War II, before being side-lined by the bourgeoning rock n roll storm in the early 1950s. Still considered a force with which to be reckoned in the US music industry of the mid-fifties, and still at the height of their vocal prowess, many of the biggest stars were granted one or two final shots to save their flagging recording careers during rock n roll s heyday - their Last Shout.

The final installment of the reissue series "Yukihiro x Yukihiro EARLY 80s" that shines a light on the early 1980s solo work of Yukihiro Takahashi, who will celebrate his 50th anniversary in 2022 after joining the Sadistic Mika Band in 1972. The first nationwide solo tour “YUKIHIRO TAKAHASHI 1982 WHAT, ME WORRY?”, held in conjunction with the release of his fourth solo album “WHAT, ME WORRY?” Includes the latest digitally remastered version of the 1983 live album "tIME and pLACE".

With their new album "Chansons sans paroles", the young brass ensemble "Salaputia Brass" takes us through the history of French chanson. From the Renaissance madrigal to the present day, almost every era is represented. New arrangements specially tailored for the ensemble allow these works to be heard in a completely new tonal brilliance. Due to the expressiveness of the brass instruments and their tonal proximity to the human voice, the music speaks volumes, even without the words.

Jennifer Bouton’s VIVALDI PICCOLO CONCERTOS is the first complete recording of the concerti by an American piccoloist. Bouton possesses a mastery over these works, having performed the most famous and beloved C Major concerto (RV 443) numerous times, notably with the Milwaukee Symphony and Nicholas McGegan in 2023.

In 1907 Florent Schmitt composed music to accompany a ‘mimodrame’ danced by Loïe Fuller, La Tragédie de Salomé . His score is bursting with colour, energy and voluptuousness – and also with oriental influences stemming from his travels to Morocco and Constantinople, where he discovered the howling dervishes. The final scene features the heart-rending ‘Chant d’Aïça’, an oriental melody sung by a soprano. This music, though bold and modern for the listeners of 1907, nonetheless aroused the admiration of another composer, Igor Stravinsky, to whom Schmitt dedicated the Symphonic Suite he subsequently derived from the work. However, Alain Altinoglu, at the helm of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra of which he has been Music Director since 2021, has chosen to record the original version of this landmark of early twentieth-century French music. The beautiful Chant élégiaque , in its 1911 version for cello and large orchestra, completes this programme.

The Rolling Stones By the time the Rolling Stones began calling themselves the World's Greatest Rock & Roll Band in the late '60s, they had already staked out an impressive claim on the title. As the self-consciously dangerous alternative to the bouncy Merseybeat of the Beatles in the British Invasion, the Stones had pioneered the gritty, hard-driving blues-based rock & roll that came to define hard rock. With his preening machismo and latent maliciousness, Mick Jagger became the prototypical rock frontman, tempering his macho showmanship with a detached, campy irony while Keith Richards and Brian Jones wrote the blueprint for sinewy, interlocking rhythm guitars. Backed by the strong yet subtly swinging rhythm section of bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts, the Stones became the breakout band of the British blues scene, eclipsing such contemporaries as the Animals and Them.

Angela Hewitt has applied the same intense study to Chopin's Nocturnes and Impromptus as she does to any composer's keyboard works. The result is a set of pieces lovingly played and appreciated, with personally felt emotion. The most outwardly emotional displays, as in the Nocturnes, Op. 15, are never wildly loud and always return to an introverted state afterward. In the Nocturnes she uses little touches of rubato so frequently as to almost stretch the melodies out of shape, as in Op. 9/1, but she plays many of the Nocturnes a tick faster than other pianists so that they stand up to that kind of manipulation better, and she never slows down to fit in ornaments. Her ornaments always fit right into the melody, both in her timing and her phrasing, and are feathery soft.

Following the success of Sundown, Gordon Lightfoot continued his success by releasing a greatest-hits compilation. A double album (now a single CD), it contained the most popular songs from his Warner Bros. years on disc two, and he re-recorded many of his early songs for side one of record one. Although not as good, perhaps, as the originals, this did bring them up to date with his current sound style. Just about all the favorites are here (except "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," which hadn't been recorded yet when this set was put together and appears on Lightfoot's second volume of Gord's Gold), making this a good general overview of a strong talent. When Warner transferred the double LP to CD, "Affair on 8th Avenue" was dropped from the program to make the set fit on a single disc. Randy Newman arranged the orchestration on "Minstrel of the Dawn," by the way.

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the mighty No Remorse we’re proud to announce a new redux version of this classic, Motörhead compilation entitled Remorse? No! This limited edition, double silver vinyl LP features previously unreleased demos, rarities and tracks on vinyl for the first time from the bands history up until 1984. It’s out on 20th April at your local indie record store