The American publisher The Audiophile Society has a new title. This time, it's music written by the label's founder, David Chesky. Composed for mezzo-soprano, string orchestra, and percussion, "Songs of New York" is said to be "the culmination of Chesky's artistic language," a synthesis of baroque virtuosity, jazz expression, and contemporary orchestral color.

It is not uncommon to bash American tenor Mario Lanza because he wasn't "really" an operatic tenor; he was too popular, he looked too good, and he made Hollywood movies! He appeared on the operatic stage exactly twice (as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly), and so he made his mark through media that reached far more people, even those who normally would have had nothing to do with opera singers. (His records are a plot element in "Heavenly Creatures," a wonderful film from New Zealand about the Parker-Hulme murder case.) Since his time, only Pavarotti has achieved the same level of popularity, and not even Pavarotti has conquered the motion picture screen.

France Hits '80 is a nostalgic compilation that captures the vibrant and emotionally rich soundscape of French popular music from the 1980s. The collection brings together a wide range of iconic chanson, synth-pop, and disco-influenced tracks that defined an era of stylistic diversity and strong melodic identity in France. Featuring legendary artists such as Vanessa Paradis, Daniel Balavoine, Renaud, Johnny Hallyday, and Marie Myriam, the album balances heartfelt ballads, upbeat pop anthems, and culturally significant hits that remain deeply embedded in French musical history. Each track reflects the distinctive production styles of the decade, blending analog warmth with early electronic textures and lyrical storytelling. This compilation serves both as an accessible introduction for new listeners and a nostalgic revisit for longtime fans of 1980s French pop culture, offering a cohesive snapshot of a highly influential musical period.

The Collection by Vicky Brown is a 1993 compilation released by BMG that showcases a refined blend of pop and classical crossover interpretations. The album highlights a diverse selection of vocal performances that bridge contemporary pop songwriting with classical and traditional repertoire influences. Through elegant arrangements and a polished production style, the record emphasizes emotional expression, melodic clarity, and a smooth listening experience suitable for both easy listening and crossover classical audiences. The inclusion of classical pieces such as Bach-inspired works alongside modern pop compositions demonstrates the versatility of the artist’s vocal approach. The orchestration is soft yet expressive, often relying on piano, strings, and gentle instrumental backing to support the vocal line without overpowering it. The result is a cohesive collection that reflects early 1990s crossover trends, appealing to listeners who appreciate accessible interpretations of both popular and classical material.

These lively, idiomatic and sometimes witty performances show CPE Bach’s harpsichord songs, early precursors of the Romantic Lied, to be far more than museum pieces, from the Three Different Attempts at a Single Song for Hexameters through to a Fantasy in C minor with Hamlet’s Monologue.

Dominique Visse and his group Ensemble Clément Janequin have been involved in many outstanding projects over the years, but this 2002 Harmonia Mundi recording has to be one of the most spectacular; the Missa "Et ecce terrae motus" (aka, "The Earthquake Mass") of Antoine Brumel. Brumel is one of many mid-renaissance composers whose reputations are so far overshadowed by Josquin Desprez that – like Rodney Dangerfield – they "just don't get no respect." In Brumel's own time, however, he was considered one of Josquin's equals and his death in 1512 was widely observed in a number of "déplorations." Although the mass itself survives in only a single manuscript copy, it bears the signatures of singers who revived the work in Munich in 1570 – probably close to a century after it was first given – and among them is a bass named Orlandus Lassus.

The debut release of a Scandinavian singer has seldom been as surprising as that of the Swedish vocalist Ida Sand two years ago with her album Meet Me Around Midnight (ACT 9716-2). It simply didn’t sound at all like a typical Scandinavian record. What the critics and the public heard was, “the most soulful white female singer to come along in some time” – earthy, tart, deep black, and authentically bound to gospel and blues. Beside this, another basic difference to a lot of other singers is that Ida Sand plays piano, and her singing and piano playing go hand in hand.

The younger pop-influenced and tabloid-friendly Katherine Jenkins might have recently stolen her thunder, but Lesley Garrett was the first, and some would say most authentic, contemporary British female soprano to crossover to the mainstream. While she's recently gained more attention for her appearances on Strictly Come Dancing and Comic Relief Does Fame Academy, and her Classic FM radio show, The Very Best of Lesley Garrett is the chance to remind everyone of the hugely powerful vocals which propelled her from the English National Opera's principal soprano to chart-bothering operatic superstar.

It was strange that this album should be released by EMI in the middle of February. Subtitled The Voice of Romance, Amour was the debut album by classical crossover's brightest young hope (don't they have a lot in that genre?), but it was released too late for Valentine's Day and EMI should have known that this sort of material really only sold well at Christmastime. Katherine Jenkins knew that, and timed her releases accordingly. With Natasha Marsh having been touted as the next big thing, Amour was a mixture of standard classical works and film music sung in a style suited to a soprano.

The Best of Andrea Bocelli: Vivere is the first greatest hits album released by Italian pop tenor Andrea Bocelli. It includes five new studio recordings and was internationally released by Sugar on 22 October 2007. Included are duets with Celine Dion, Sarah Brightman, Giorgia and Laura Pausini.

Tamia and partner Pierre Favre continue the love letter begun in de la nuit … le jour with Solitudes. Tamia opens this even deeper dive in “Chant d’Exil” by wrapping her astonishing voice around a thread-like drone. Favre’s malleted energy unspools into a glassine bone walk of private ritual. And there it ends, leaving us in the silent answer from which “Drame” unmasks its rasps and gongs. Tamia upends the water’s waking dreams, singing of sulfur and magma, in places where lullabies can be sung only to the dead. The thin drone of circumstance returns in “Clair -­ obscur.” It is a circle under a microscope slide filled with cytoplasmic ululations, a flute hollowed out from a tree branch and smeared along a copper sky. That voice rises from its chorused depths like a flock of recorders.

The Naxos Deutsche Schubert-Lied-Edition: Schubert set the poetry of over 115 writers to music. He selected poems from classical Greece, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, from eighteenth-century German authors, early Romantics, Biedermeier poets, and Heine. The Deutsche Schubert-Lied-Edition presents all Schubert’s Lieder, over 700 songs, grouped according to the poets who inspired him. Thanks to Bärenreiter’s Neue Schubert-Ausgabe (New Schubert Edition), Tübingen, which uses primary sources, the performers have been able to benefit from the most recent research of the editorial team. This disc is the third of a series devoted to Schubert’s friends, including Mayrhofer.

Named after the 12-sided ‘golden’ tower that dominates the River Guadalquivir in Seville, La Torre del Oro is the latest album from Christina Pluhar’s ensemble L’Arpeggiata. Pluhar is renowned for her ability to create innovative programmes that combine composed music with folk music – this album focuses on music from Spain, Central America and South America. La Torre del Oro features performances by singers Céline Scheen, Luciana Mancini and Vincenzo Capezzuto, with a variety of featured instruments including the baroque guitar and harp, Venezuelan cuatro and harp, cornetto, harpsichord, accordion and maracas. La Torre del Oro includes pieces by Spanish composers Alonso Mudarra, Diego Pisador, Lucas Ruiz de Ribayas and Santiago de Murcia, heard in context with the jácara, fandango, folía, canario and ciaccona and the Venezuelan joropo and pájarillo. The programme also features works by South American composers – namely, Reynaldo Armas, Simón Díaz, Ignacio « Indio » Figueredo, Agustín Rivas, Hilda Herrera and Violeta Para.

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.