Demofoonte dates from the early Milan years of Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787), long before the radical reform operas for which he is most famous and his break with opera seria and the librettos of Pietro Metastasio. Gluck arrived in the northern Italian city in 1737 and was mentored there by composer Giovanni Battista Sammartini. Though Sammartini primarily composed symphonies and music for the church, Milan boasted a vibrant opera scene, and Gluck soon formed an association with one of the city's up-and-coming opera houses, the Teatro Regio Ducal.

This is listed as the final installment in the Eroica’s Mendelssohn quartets series. It also happens to come on the heels of two brand new complete sets—one from the preeminent Emerson Quartet, the other from the pacesetting Pacifica Quartet. Comparisons to these ensembles, though probably unavoidable, are not particularly apt or instructive, for the Eroica is a period-instruments group dedicated to interpretations of 19th-century Romantic works that reflect as closely as possible the performance practices that would have been in vogue at the time the music was written.

Germany's Accent label has released a series of twin-CD sets featuring the Baroque flute recordings made by Barthold Kuijken, sometimes (as here) accompanied by his cello-playing brother Wieland. The originals date back to the late '70s, when Kuijken was one of the Dutch specialists who brought historical performance out of the too-precious phase, and they still sound good. This release pairs a 1979 set of French flute sonatas from the middle eighteenth century with a 1991 group of Italian works of the same period. The two discs, both recorded in Belgian churches, don't have exactly the same ambiance, but the pairing is an intelligent one, making this a good pick from among the various discs available.

This 6-CD set present the complete keyboard music (organ and harpsichord) of Holland’s most famous composer: Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck.

Within the first few seconds of the first track–the Sonata No. 1 in G major–most listeners will find themselves in surprisingly familiar territory–surprising because this little-known 18th-century composer seems to have written a popular tune long attributed to Pergolesi, a misattribution given additional false credibility by its use in Stravinsky's Pulcinella. In fact Stravinsky used selections from several of Domenico Gallo's trio sonatas in his famous ballet music, thinking them to be works of Pergolesi because they were published under his name in late-19th century English editions.

Daniil Trifonov's 2013 recital at Carnegie Hall is a clear demonstration of what this pianist does well, in works well-suited to his talents. Trifonov has a reputation for his dazzling technique, which he has shown to best advantage in performances of Romantic repertoire, and his live readings of Alexander Scriabin's Piano Sonata No. 2 in G sharp minor, "Sonata-Fantasy," Franz Liszt's Piano Sonata in B minor, and Frédèric Chopin's 24 Preludes, Op. 28, offer a well-rounded impression of his extraordinary abilities.

The spunky kid sister to Kris Allen and Adam Lambert on season eight of American Idol, Allison Iraheta was the bridge between Allen’s sweet, sincere balladeering and Lambert’s arch camp, stretching over Danny Gokey’s lukewarm water. She still had some of Adam’s spice but could be packaged like Kris, not unlike her clear forebear Kelly Clarkson, who proved that sass could be bottled and sold.