This extraordinary CD features an interesting chapter in music history that has given rise to many a speculation: Ludwig van Beethoven’s only opera, Leonore, in the world-premiere recording of the version of 1806.

A double anthology from the celebrated Welsh opera and concert singer Bryn Terfel. At His Very Best takes in recordings from his recent duet album with tenor Rhys Meirion, several of Bryn's earlier albums on Wales's Saydisc label and a recording of a newly commissioned work performed together with the Rhuthun Choir.

This is the first ever recording of Arvo Pärt’s wonderful vocal music performed by a boys’ choir. The year of release of this album is also the year when the Estonian composer celebrates his eightieth birthday. More than four decades ago, the musician Arvo Pärt fell silent, and went into retreat for eight years. His silence gave rise to a new kind of music, which has gained him international fame. “I have discovered that it is enough if a single note is beautifully played,” Pärt once said. Based on his study of the cathedrals of sound of the Renaissance or even earlier periods, the composer has developed a very personal and original style: music inspired by spirituality, striving to accomplish the ideal of perfect simplicity, of laying bare the pure essence. An everlasting stopping and pausing: eternity. At the same time a continuous flowing and being carried away: the transitory nature of time.

Rammstein's first album was about what was to be expected from a bunch of Germans who happily grew up on everything from Skinny Puppy to Depeche Mode to Laibach and back again, not to mention plenty of skull-crushing metal straight up. Precisely brutal and often brilliantly arranged - the band aren't per se inventive, but they bring everything together to make something astonishingly radio-friendly out of something that isn't necessarily - Herzeleid in particular is the logical conclusion of KMFDM's self-referential electro-metal. The band freely invokes its own name throughout the way that group did in its songs - the final tune is called "Rammstein," to top it all off - and the riffs readily connect the dots between the older band's clipped guitar bursts and their even more compressed nu-metal equivalents…

This recording of Richard Strauss's opera Elektra by De Nederlandse Opera (The Netherlands Opera) was made in November 2011 at the Amsterdam Music Theatre. In addition to an impressive cast, it features the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and the Toonkunst Choir Amsterdam conducted by Marc Albrecht.

Im Sommer des Jahres 1969, inmitten der Unruhen der 60iger Jahre, rief Eckart Rahn, damals gerade mal 25 Jahre jung, das Label Kuckuck Schallplatten ins Leben. In erster Linie gründete er es, um der damaligen Vorherrschaft von anglo-amerikanischem Rock einerseits und dem deutschspracheigen Schlager, der die Charts in Deutschland beherrschte, etwas Drittes hinzuzufügen. Mit Kuckuck Schallplatten leistete Rahn Pionierarbeit in Sachen Krautrock und führte der hiesigen Szene auch das Potential ihrer viel versprechenden Bands vor Augen. Dreh- und Angelpunkt war dabei das Münchner Szeneviertel Schwabing. Auf dieser Zusammenstellung ist Musik zu hören, die mit witzigen, frechen aber auch hochpolitischen und vor allem oft deutschen Texten versehen, sich musikalisch eng am Vorbild des internationalen Rock orientierte und die doch dazu im Stande war, etwas ganz Eigenes zu artikulieren.

- The 90s Super Show is a unique journey back in time to the nineties with many stars of the VIVA and MTV era live on stage

A protest record. Against discord, narrow-mindedness, and bad moods. "Luck You!", De-Phazz's 20th studio album, contains the quintessence of everything that defines Germany's most important export in terms of intelligent, loungey entertainment music: soul and jazz, dub and pop, hip hop and operetta, nonsense and profundity. As befits a protest record, De-Phazz has reinvented itself to some extent. The album could actually have been called "Bandmade". "This is the De-Phazz studio record with the greatest band influence," explains sample specialist and sound montage virtuoso Pit Baumgartner. Thus, the majority of the tracks on "Luck You!" were created in close collaboration with his long-time instrumental accomplices Ulf Kleiner (piano, Rhodes), Marcus Bartelt (saxophone, bass clarinet), and Oli Rubow (drums). The motto was: fewer collages like on the editing masterpiece “Pit Sounds”, released in 2024, but more handmade music.

"Atlantic Records is thrilled to announce F1 The Album - the supercharged companion album to Apple Original Films and Warner Bros. Pictures’ high-octane, action-packed film F1, starring Brad Pitt. From the label that brought you the award-winning, blockbuster soundtracks Barbie The Album, Twisters: The Album, The Greatest Showman, Suicide Squad and more, F1 The Album is driven by brand new tracks from an exhilirating lineup of superstar artists. The album arrives in stores and at all online retailers on Friday, June 27th in conjunction with the theatrical release of the feature film."

It is mentioned in almost all biographies of Johann Sebastian Bach: Bach was part of a large family of musicians and at festive gatherings the musical gifts were used to increase the revelry. We know, for example, an occasional piece by Bach about the departure of a brother, in which the wailing of the family who stayed behind, the dangers of the journey and the sound of the post horn (as a sign of the departure of the stagecoach) are portrayed in a humorous way.

Rüdiger Lorenz is a german electronic Synthesist and inventor of several modular synthesizer systems. In the likes and manner of Conrad Schnitzler , Edgar Froese, Dieter Moebius and Hans Joachim Roedelius he started producing unique, exceptional electronic soundscapes and experimental hard to find comparisons for. He is one of a very few outstanding artists that seem to never have receive the recognition and fame they should have deserved for their artistic output over 3 decades. Even more important for VOD-Records to write proper history and honor his works in form of a 5Lp-Set.

Deutsche Grammophon pays tribute to the artistry of Hermann Scherchen in this year, which celebrates both the 125th anniversary of his birth and the 50th anniversary of his death. While the repertoire gathered in this 38-CD box set holds no secrets for his ardent admirers, it constitutes a benchmark anthology for all those passionate about the great conductors who have left their mark on the history of orchestral conducting.

Italian-born Caterina Valente comes from one of Italy's most prestigious families of artists. Her mother Maria Valente was the most famous circus clown of her time, her brother Silvio Francesco (1927-2000) was also active in show business and made numerous recordings and performances together with Caterina. Caterina was already performing in the circus ring with her siblings at the age of five. Her extraordinary international career began in 1953 as a guest singer with the Kurt Edelhagen Orchestra. Her first record, Istanbul, reached the top 20 of the German charts. With her first No. 1 hit Ganz Paris träumt von der Liebe, Caterina Valente remained in the German charts for 36 weeks. The song sold half a million copies in Germany, which was unusually high for the time. Other top placings included Baiao Bongo (#2, 1955) and her second No. 1 hit Wo meine Sonne scheint (1957), followed by Tschau Tschau Bambina (#2, 1959) and her third No. 1 Ein Schiff wird kommen (1960). At the beginning of the 1960s, Caterina Valente achieved further top placings with Pepe (#3, 1961), Ein Seemannherz (#5, 1961), Quando, Quando (#9, 1962) and Rosen sind rot (#7, 1962).

Anyone familiar with the industrial metal band's dark sense of irony should take one look at the title of Rammstein's 2009 album Liebe Ist Für Alle Da ("Love Is There for Everyone") and conclude that this one is a mean monster. Combining the tightness and punch of their 1997 album, Sehnsucht, with the musicianship and elaborate textures of their later work, Liebe Ist Für Alle Da is a grand achievement, skillfully dividing its time between razor sharp metal rockers like "B********," or the opening theme song "Rammlied" and nostalgic cabaret pieces that conjure the spirits of Weil and Brecht at a goth club. The best of the latter is the naked and haunting closer "Roter Sand," but little touches of a sinister yesteryear are everywhere, like the fake vaudeville music in "Haifisch," or the soundtrack strings of "Wiener Blut," which are eventually overcome by a guitar-crunching juggernaut…

Lise Davidsen has recorded Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer in a live performance at her home opera house, Oslo. Her first full length opera recording on Decca Classics. These live performances were the only time she will ever perform the role of Senta, and this album forms an important part of her future legacy. Gerald Finley stars as The Dutchman, a role in which he has won international acclaim for his superb acting and lieder-like vocal finesse. The concert marked the inauguration of Edward Gardner as the new Music Director at Oslo Opera House.