These sterling performances have been high among the prime available Beethoven Quartet sets since their initial appearance in the early 1970s as sought-after Telefunken LPs. Naïve’s booklet and transfers are the same as those of the 1987 Auvidis Valois set. So what’s this release got that the previous one didn’t? A bargain price, with the eight CDs marked down to the price of four. These are happy days for Beethoven Quartet lovers: my three favorite complete sets (the others are the Quartetto Italiano on Philips and the Talich on Calliope) are all now available at midprice.

Without doubt the most important qawwal is Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Party – "Party" is a generic term for a qawwali ensemble but is also used in Sikhism and to describe some classical music ensembles, for example, shehnai maestro Bismillah Khan & Party. Dubbed Shahen-Shah-e-Qawwali (the Brightest Star in Qawwali), he was born on October 13, 1948, in Lyallpur in the Punjab Province of Pakistan. He made his first recording in 1973 in Pakistan and a number of early EMI (Pakistan) albums jointly billed him with his uncle Mubarak Ali Khan.

The title of Anna Wilson's third album, Yule Swing!, gives an accurate indication of its contents, which consist of seasonal music in big-band (and small-band) jazz arrangements. But without the subtitle that's written vertically in script up the right side of the cover, one might expect to hear the usual perennials. That subtitle reads, "A Collection of Original Holiday Songs."

Jeanne Mas is well known in France, Switzerland, Canada and Belgium for a number of hit singles released in the 1980s. Her first success was "Toute première fois" in 1984. This song was simultaneously released in the United Kingdom in English. Two of her singles charted at number one in France: "Johnny, Johnny" and "En Rouge et Noir" in 1985 and 1986, respectively. Her 1980's albums are good examples of the Euro disco electropop style popular in Continental Europe at the time, featuring synthesizers and very catchy melodies.

The Beach Boys' new 50th Anniversary Greatest Hits: 50 Big Ones collection features the band's most popular songs, including "California Girls," "Good Vibrations," "Surfin' U.S.A.," "Wouldn't It Be Nice," "God Only Knows," "Kokomo," and two songs from the band's newest studio album – the title track "That's Why God Made The Radio" and a new single version of "Isn't It Time,"

Excelling at the art of blues balladry demands that a musician possess great feeling but also great control. No surprise then, that one of its greatest practitioners, Nancy Wilson, has both traits in abundance. Save Your Love for Me: Nancy Wilson Sings the Great Blues Ballads is one in a loose series of three Capitol compilations to compile her late-'50s and early-'60s prime, the others focusing on the Great American Songbook and the torch song.

Vivaldi’s sonatas op.5 appeared in 1716 and have some special features: The opus is declared as the second part of his op.2 and contains four solo sonatas and two trio sonatas, which was rather unusual at that time. In order to present their works to the audience, the 18th century composers tried to supply the title pages of the scores with as precise and detailed description of the contents.

David Maslanka (August 30, 1943 – August 7, 2017) was an American composer who wrote for a variety of genres, including works for choir, wind ensemble, chamber music, and symphony orchestra. Best known for his wind ensemble compositions, Maslanka published nearly 130 pieces, including ten symphonies, eight of them for concert band, over 15 concerti, and a full Mass.

Without doubt the most important qawwal is Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Party – "Party" is a generic term for a qawwali ensemble but is also used in Sikhism and to describe some classical music ensembles, for example, shehnai maestro Bismillah Khan & Party. Dubbed Shahen-Shah-e-Qawwali (the Brightest Star in Qawwali), he was born on October 13, 1948, in Lyallpur in the Punjab Province of Pakistan. He made his first recording in 1973 in Pakistan and a number of early EMI (Pakistan) albums jointly billed him with his uncle Mubarak Ali Khan.

These sterling performances have been high among the prime available Beethoven Quartet sets since their initial appearance in the early 1970s as sought-after Telefunken LPs. Naïve’s booklet and transfers are the same as those of the 1987 Auvidis Valois set. So what’s this release got that the previous one didn’t? A bargain price, with the eight CDs marked down to the price of four. These are happy days for Beethoven Quartet lovers: my three favorite complete sets (the others are the Quartetto Italiano on Philips and the Talich on Calliope) are all now available at midprice.

Both quartets on this disc are by composers who were not known for their chamber music, and in the case of Verdi, the E minor quartet stands completely outside his usual mode of composition. The Sibelius quartet, while it veers far from the well worn path of late-romantic chamber music, lies comfortably within its composer's milieu, with its angular harmonies, stark melodies, and overall enigmatic mood.

Swiss-French flautist Emmanuel Pahud, named "one of the finds of the decade" by Gramophone Magazine, is one of today's most exciting and adventurous musicians. Appointed Principal Flute for the Berliner Philharmoniker aged just 22, his solo albums have sold over 400,000 copies worldwide, including a Mozart Concertos disc that has sold over 70,000 units.

This is no ordinary recording of J.S. Bach’s six masterpieces of Baroque instrumental music. For starters, the pieces are interwoven with period-instrument transcriptions of piano music written in the early 1950s by Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich.

Johann Stamitz’s six Violin Sonatas op. 6 were first published following his death - which is hardly surprising, for who besides the composer himself would then have been able to meet their breakneck violinistic challenges? Stamitz was famous for his absolutely incredible finger dexterity, a reputation that this father of the German violin school continues to enjoy even today.

These chamber works center around the horn as a chamber instrument. The horn contributes an interesting character to the music, especially when there is a piano employed. The String Trio of 1984 is here scored for horn, violin, and piano. The Horn Quartet of 1975 is scored for horn, violin, cello, and piano. The Trio is more representative of Simpson's mature style; it tends more toward a melodic polytonality. His Horn Quartet is more rugged, and the scales are tipped toward atonality. Extremely interesting postmodern works.