Sir Arthur Bliss (1891 – 1975) was an excellent conductor of his own music, but he sadly made only a limited number of commercial recordings. SOMM celebrates the 50th anniversary of Bliss’s death with a 2-CD set of important archive performances, all but two of which he didn’t record commercially, making them of particular interest.These live performances, mostly recorded at the BBC Proms and not previously made available, are skilfully remastered by long-time SOMM collaborator and executive producer, Lani Spahr. At the invitation of Edward Elgar, Bliss wrote a new work for the Three Choirs Festival in 1920. He was inspired by a book on heraldry to compose a full-scale symphony incorporating symbolic meanings associated with primary colours. Hence, the four movements of A Colour Symphony are Purple, Red, Blue, and Green. The performance issued here is with Bliss conducting his 70th birthday concert at the Proms in 1961. For his 75th birthday concert at the Proms in 1966, Bliss conducted his Piano Concerto, commissioned by the British Council in 1939. Bliss and his younger brother served during World War I, and Kennard was killed at the Battle of the Somme.

SOMM Recordings is pleased to release Clarinet Concertos, four works for solo clarinet and wind orchestra, including two world-premiere recordings. The soloist is the English clarinettist, Peter Cigleris, who enjoys a wide and varied career and is in great demand as a soloist and chamber musician. His burgeoning career as a clarinet soloist has taken him to Festivals in Spain, France, the Netherlands, and the U.S. Recently, he was invited to perform in Győr, Hungary for the European Clarinet Festival, which led to a special invitation from the Győr Symphonic Band to record four hugely enjoyable concertos for clarinet and wind orchestra. These are conducted by László Marosi, the world’s foremost authority on Hungarian wind music, and Ferenc Szabó, the founder of the Györ Symphonic Band.

This 4CD set brings together eight of jazz vocalist and pianist Sarah Vaughan's finest albums from the 1950s, a period often regarded as her best.

The title track employs "Shaft"-like guitar licks, but the similarity ends there: It's a lame attempt at disco done in by Ike's lazy singing and irritatingly banal lyrics. But it's the LP's only sore point. Ike returns to his roots on "Your Loving Is Much Too Strong," a slow, romantic ballad that he and his girls, Hot Buttered Soul Unlimited, make you feel. "Rock Me Easy Baby," a slinky, syncopated shuffle, has more groove appeal than the vaunted "Groove-A-Thon," mainly because Ike constructs it for maximum soul appeal by running it for more than eight exquisite minutes. The uptempo happy-in-love ditty "We've Got a Whole Lot of Love" showcases HBS' sterling voices. Ike shows a different side on the soft, longing "Wish You Were Here," whose horn arrangements and backing vocals are simultaneously enticing and titillating. After a weak opening, the album settles into a comfortable groove, ending splendidly with "Make a Little Love to Me."

Recently awarded the prestigious Brahms Prize of theSchleswig-Holstein Brahms Society, Kent Nagano andthe Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra, of which hewas principal conductor from 2015 until 2025, performthe last two symphonies by the Hamburg-borncomposer, recorded in concert.The most personal of Johannes Brahms's foursymphonies, the Third is both heroic and deeplytroubled; moreover, all four movements end quietly.After the heroism of the First Symphony and thepastoral flavours of the Second, the Third Symphonyreveals Brahms at a crossroads: the youthful impulsesare now reined in and the mood is more one ofprofound reflection on life and death. The theme of theslow movement has been adapted many times and evensung by Frank Sinatra under the title of 'Take My Love'.

Following the chart-topping success of his Bach Sonatas and Partitas and equal acclaim for his recording of Walther's Scherzi da violino, Bojan Cicic now turns to Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber's collection of sonatas from 1681 - among the most ambitious and inventive violin works of the seventeenth century.Using unorthodox tuning and bold harmonic invention, Biber expands the instrument's capabilities, and his improvisatory style, layered textures and intricate counterpoint demand of the player not only virtuosic technical brilliance but an acute sensitivity to affect and sonority.With his Illyria Consort, Cicic brings a clarity and depth to this music, uncovering the sonatas' rich interplay between intellect, devotion and instrumental theatre. Restless in imagination and profound in expression, the sonatas - here recorded complete - are illuminated by Cicic's unmistakable artistry.

Susannah McCorkle, one of the finest jazz-influenced vocalists to emerge during the 1970's and 80's, sings a wide variety of music on her Pausa disc. In addition to some prebop material (including Cole Porter's "At Long Last Love," a vocalese version of "All Of Me," "I Get A Kick Out Of You" and Johnny Mercer's title cut), she also tackles tunes by Paul Simon, Oscar Brown Jr, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Leiber & Stoller. No matter what the style (she is essentially a swing singer), Susannah McCorkle uplifts each song. She is assisted by the Ben Aronov trio, and occasionally guitarist Gene Bertoncini and tenor-saxophonist Frank Wess.

The Flower Kings' tenth studio album happens to be one of their most adventurous, captivating, dynamic and front-to-back relentless works of theirs, a 75-minute-long album contained just within six tracks, 'The Sum of No Evil' from 2007 is a gorgeous and expansive symphonic prog record full of bold and unexpected turns, strong melodies and overall excellent, soulful playing; briefly put, here are all the elements of a TFK album delivering all the goods, in spades. Narrowing things down to a single-disc set (in contemporary terms) seems to have allowed the band to organize a rather focused work, and a surprisingly accessible one, too, thanks to the myriad of fantastic and highly memorable hooks and melodies. Needless to say, Stolt's guitar work here is driven and flamboyant, with the experienced Swedish axe-man delivering some of the most delightful and appealing riffs of the entire back catalogue of the The Flower Kings.

Originally released in the early 80's on cassette only, this timeless and legendary album is finally available on CD! Re-mastered and re-edited by Klaus Wiese himself, this masterpiece rediscovers one of the finest moments in Wiese's discography and his entire music career.

The Haim sisters—Danielle, Alana, Este—have said their fourth album is focused on the freedom of letting go of all kinds of things: worrying about what other people think, shame and guilt, overthinking, facing the music industry's "good for girls" sentiment. But, more than anything, I Quit is clearly a break-up record. Opener "Gone" heavily interpolates George Michael's "Freedom" with a mischievous smirk, swirling in a Stonesy guitar solo and engineer Dave Fridmann's signature super-crisp high-hat and gated snare as Danielle adds her own thoughts: "You can't shame me for what I done/ You can't make me disappear … You don't see me/ It's what I want!" Notably, this is the band's first album without producer Ariel Rechtshaid, Danielle's long-term (now ex) boyfriend. And the production hasn't suffered a lick. Rostam Batmanglij, who was a major multi-instrumentalist on Haim's last two albums, co-produced this one with Danielle—and the result is warm, fresh and idiosyncratic.

Soft Cell’s second long-player was the groundbreaking mini-LP Non-Stop Ecstatic Dancing… the world’s first remix album and a huge influence on subsequent generations of clubbers, DJs and remixers. Reissue of the original album, remastered, and bolstered by the inclusion of extended versions of its two related hit singles – Torch and What! – and bring it up to date with a second disc of unreleased mixes and highlights from 2007’s long-deleted Heat – The Remixes.

A musical odyssey to celebrate summer & the 15th anniversary of Buddha-Bar Monte-Carlo, compiled by Ravin. Limited edition transparent coloured double vinyl (blue turquoise & red magenta).
Under the starry sky of the Riviera, lulled by the warm breeze, an invitation to travel rises. A beat, a melody… and the mind drifts away. Buddha-Bar, the temple of world music and sonic elegance, celebrates 15 years of magic in Monte-Carlo with an exceptional compilation: Buddha-Bar Summer Sessions Monte-Carlo by Ravin. Conceived as a musical odyssey, this double compilation weaves captivating atmospheres, blending ethereal lounge, organic electro, and world sounds, in an intimate dialogue between East and West, tradition and modernity. Each track (including more than a dozen unreleased tracks) has been carefully selected by Ravin, who creates a captivating and chic experience, a true invitation to dance and escape.

Joshua Redman's second Blue Note album, 'Words Fall Short', is a collection of original compositions that serves as the introduction of his new quartet featuring pianist Paul Cornish, bassist Philip Norris, and drummer Nazir Ebo. The album also features special guest appearances by vocalist Gabrielle Cavassa, saxophonist Melissa Aldana, and trumpeter Skylar Tang. Redman acknowledges that the album title could be viewed ironically - his previous project was his first to feature a vocalist (Cavassa) - yet 'Words Fall Short' is anything but a comment on the saxophonist's last triumph. More accurately, his latest offering is an organic next step, a collection of previously unheard originals brought to life by inspiring new collaborators.

The Essential Michael Jackson is a greatest hits compilation album by American singer Michael Jackson. It was released on July 19, 2005, by Sony Music's catalog division Legacy Recordings as part of The Essential series. The two-disc compilation features thirty-eight hit songs by Michael Jackson, from his days at Motown Records with The Jackson 5 in the late 1960s and early 1970s to his 2001 hit "You Rock My World". On August 26, 2008, The Essential Michael Jackson 3.0 was released in the US as a limited edition containing an additional disc of seven songs performed by Jackson. A re-titled release in the UK was planned on July 6, 2009 as The Hits, but was cancelled upon Jackson's death. As of 2018, the album was certified 4× platinum in the US.

Liverpool is Frankie Goes to Hollywood's second and last studio album, released in October 1986. It would be the band's final album of all-new material, and lead singer Holly Johnson would leave the band following the corresponding world tour, followed by a flurry of lawsuits from ZTT. The album's production was handled by Trevor Horn's engineer Stephen Lipson, who urged the band to play their own instruments on this album (Horn having replaced many of the band's performances and arrangements with his session musicians or his own performances on Welcome to the Pleasuredome.) Liverpool therefore features a heavier rock sound than its predecessor. The album was a commercial disappointment compared to the band's previous effort, though it charted generally high at #5 in the United Kingdom and Germany, #7 on the Austrian and Swiss music charts and #8 in Norway.