My late, lamented colleague, Michael Oliver, would have exulted at the prospect of reviewing this hardly-ever-heard example of verismo, a genre (like so many others) of which he made a speciality. Ponchielli’s last opera appears never to have been recorded before, and has received few performances, even in Italy, after its comparatively successful première at La Scala in 1885.

This live recording of Strauss’s Metamorphosen and Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony marks the birth on record of the ‘Sinfonia Grange au Lac’, an orchestra created in July 2018 on the occasion of the Rencontres Musicales d’Évian, the prestigious festival created by Mstislav Rostropovich in 1985 and revived since 2014. A musical ambassador intended to promote the excellence of its parent festival worldwide, the Sinfonia Grange au Lac consists of musicians from leading European orchestras (in Amsterdam, Berlin, Frankfurt, Leipzig, London, Lucerne, Munich, Paris, Salzburg, Valencia and Vienna) as well as existing groups such as the Trio Karénine and the Quatuor Ébène. And it was a stroke of genius to manage to secure the services of Esa-Pekka Salonen.

The transcription and arrangement of musical works was common practice in the 18th century. Such illustrious musicians as François Couperin and Jean-Philippe Rameau left remarkable "manners" and examples of transcriptions for one or two harpsichords. In his preface to L'Apothéose de Lulli, published in 1725, François Couperin explains how his music for two dessus (treble parts) and bass can be played on two harpsichords: "I perform them very successfully with my family and pupils with the first dessus and the bass played on one harpsichord, and the second dessus and the same bass-line on another, in unison."

Don't take the album title too literally; it is drawn from that of BWV989 and is the focus of neither the programme nor the annotation. The language used in Bach's original titles overall (or individual movements) is usually an indication of the 'national' style he had in mind, here sorting most of the Italian from the French, but the title of BWV992 is given primarily in French and the Italian original is omitted, whilst that of the final movement appears only as a translation. A few literals have escaped the proof-reader's eye, of which I urge you not to believe the words on the back of the jewel-case: 'The disc, compromising works for keyboard … '.

Andrew Lloyd Webber is world-famous as the composer of the musicals Cats and The Phantom of the Opera, but his Requiem has also achieved international acclaim. Winner of a Grammy Award, this grand-sounding masterpiece of contemporary classical music, written in 1985, is dedicated to the memory of Webber's late father. The recording of a concert by the Münchner Rundfunkorchester on June 15, 2023, a tribute to the British composer who celebrated his 75th birthday in March 2023, is now presented on CD by BR-KLASSIK. This live recording from the Herz-Jesu Church in Munich features the Bavarian Radio Chorus accompanied by a select ensemble of soloists, under the baton of principal guest conductor Patrick Hahn.

The Atlanta, Georgia, band was started in 1977, when keyboardist / vocalist Jason Bryant, saxophonists Billy Ellis and Willie "Sonny" Killebrew, guitarist Bruno Speight, bassist John Alexander Simpson, drummer James Earl Jones III, and lead vocalist Mary Davis formed a group called Sounds of Santa Monica that played at Atlanta nightclub the Regal Room.