UTV Records' Magic: The Very Best of Olivia Newton-John is the best compilation ever assembled on Newton-John's career, largely because it does cover her entire career, hitting every major point from her early-'70s soft country-pop hits, like "I Honestly Love You," through her star-making turn in Grease, selections from Xanadu, up to the Physical era and its fallout.

This is the third and final release in Lemon's fantastic series of Stealers Wheel albums and will almost certainly follow on the runaway success achieved by the first two albums. Originally released in 1975, the album has never been available on CD before and really is a must for all old and new fans of the band around the globe. The package features all original artwork plus bonus sleevenotes whilst the record itself has been digitally remastered in the usual Lemon style.

One of the most dynamic, most on-fire blues albums recorded during the 60s by Delmark Records - a set that bursts right out of the Chicago clubs with the guitar of JB Hutto firmly in the lead! Hutto's a killer right from the start - singing and playing with a ferocity that easily matches, if not beats, the bigger 60s names on Chess Records - and his style of inflection leaves us wondering how often he must have to change the strings, or maybe even his entire guitar! The album's got some great help in the small combo too - with Sunnyland Slim on organ and piano, and the unlikely Maurice McIntyre on tenor sax - blowing very well in a bluesy mode, before rising to later avant territory as Kalaparusha.

John Surman is an artist with an amazing range and depth of style, from contemporary classical to jazz to electronic music. In few places is this more evident than on A Biography of the Rev. Absalom Dawe, on which Surman acts as a sort of one-man wind chamber ensemble, playing baritone saxophone (his signature instrument) as well as soprano sax, alto and bass clarinets, and keyboards. The electronic elements are few and unobtrusive, and the keyboard's bright tones are a good match for the fluid, breathy sounds of the wind instruments. The music itself is nearly always ethereal and atmospheric, without journeying into the territory of askeletal new age softness. Instead, the execution seems precise and intentional; each instrument was recorded separately and then mixed as individual units into the whole, giving Surman additional opportunities for crispness of sound…

A group of like-minded jazz musicians formed the original core of Piirpauke in 1974. Coming toward the end of the classic era of progressive music, the Finnish band established themselves almost immediately as a folk-inspired group with a free form, improvisational style and a tendency toward long, eclectic original arrangements. While the band would veer into more contemporary, pop and even classical compositions during the eighties and nineties, they would return to their jazz-folk roots in the new millennium. Despite an evolving membership the band has endured for nearly 46 years, releasing more than 20 studio albums as well as a wide range of live recordings and compilations.

George Frideric Handel’s Duetti da camera from La Risonanza represent a welcome extension of the ensemble’s award-winning series of Handel solo cantatas on Glossa, and come with the luxurious vocal pairing of Roberta Invernizzi and Marina De Liso.

Alexei Lubimov is one of the most admired pianists of his generation, particularly for his exploration of rarely-played repertoire on period instruments. Together with his disciple, harpsichordist and pianist Olga Pashchenko, a rising star of the new generation, and accompanied by the musicians of the Finnish Baroque Orchestra, they embark on a voyage of discovery into the music of Czech composer Jan Ladislav Dussek (1760-1812), with world premiere recordings on period instruments of his Concerto for Two Pianos and Notturno concertant. A trailblazing early romantic composer, Dussek created an innovative piano music style marked by a harmonic richness and intense emotional expressivity.

After a long war, Turkish emperor Soliman and Persian sophi Tamasse decide to seal the peace between their two countries and, to this end, exchange hostages. The preliminary treaty stipulates that, in order to make this alliance solid, Tamasse will wed Zanaida, Soliman s daughter. Meanwhile, the sophi falls in love with Osira, a Persian hostage sent by the emperor. This is where the action of this opera begins, the plot skillfully mixing Tamasse s infidelity, Zanaida s magnanimity, and Osira s ambition. It is a particularly appealing opera by the fourth and last of Johann Sebastian s sons, whose life was atypical for a Bach, for he carried out his career not in Germany but in Italy and England.

Thomas Fanger brings his exquisite sensibility to bear on Parlez-vous Electronique?, his first solo release. The contrasting tonalities and fascinating interplay of sequencer patterns prove a compelling foundation for his melodically pure lead lines and harmonic motifs. The works are enlivened by Mellotron themes, warm pads and shimmering cosmic effects as intertwining patterns of synth tones race with each other across a galactic ocean of emptiness. The complex and detailed electronic rhythms build and then unravel as a unique space surrounds the listener. This album resembles the classics as Fanger summons the spirit of electronic invention to realize nine tracks drawn from the influential foundation of German Spacemusic. Working to his strengths, on Parlez-vous Electronique? Fanger does not merely re-create, but rather re-imagines the originals, and his compositions gain their power through a fascinating combination of the old with the new.