From the sweet to the salacious to the poignant, Maria Muldaur's eponymous, strong debut features savvy studio vets, talented guests, strong tunes, and Muldaur's lissome pipes. The outstanding players include Ry Cooder, David Grisman, Clarence White, and Mac Rebennack, better known as Dr. John. A tasteful guitar solo by the underrated Amos Garrett elevates the charming surprise hit single "Midnight at the Oasis." Although she later gravitated to jazz and gospel, Muldaur's first outing is heavy on songs derived from country and blues. A rousing "Work Song," borrowed from Kate & Anna McGarrigle, is only one of several highlights.

In Holland in the 1720s the transverse flute enjoyed considerable popularity among amateur musicians. Aware of that keen interest, the publisher Michel Le Cene decided in 1729 to present his customers with the very first collection of concertos for flute and orchestra. Vivaldi responded to his request by refurbishing several older works. Only one of them was already in the modern concerto form: the Concerto in F major for recorder and strings. Another four pieces were hybrid in form and still close to chamber works. The predominant role of the recorder or flute in those four concertos made them ideal for adaptation.

The present album, number nine in Eric le Sage’s valiant Schumann edition, is devoted to the trios with piano, a favourite formation of the 19th Century that combines the economy of chamber music with the prestige of instrumental music. He is accompanied by regular partners Gordan Nikolitch and Christophe Coin with a guest appearance from Paul Meyer on clarinet for Op. 56.

The oratorio La decollazione di S. Giovanni Battista by Antonio Maria Bononcini is a worthy representative of the little-known tradition of oratorios in the Italian language composed at the Hapsburg court, a tradition which was quite widespread between the second half of the seventeenth and the first three decades of the eighteenth centuries. This genre, now considered to be an appendix of the opera, played instead a significant role in the religious-musical events of the imperial court, where Italian culture in general and the language itself represented more than mere aesthetic models.

Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. is the fourth album by the Monkees. It was released on November 14, 1967, during a period when the band exerted more control over their music and performed many of the instruments themselves (previously forbidden by Colgems Records). However, although the group had complete artistic control over the proceedings, they invited more outside contributions than on their previous album, Headquarters, and used session musicians to complement their sound. The album also featured one of the first uses of the Moog synthesizer in popular music. Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. sold over three million copies, becoming the band's fourth consecutive album to reach No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200.