By late summer of 1837, the 27-year-old Schumann was secretly engaged to his beloved Clara Wieck. The powerful emotions connected with this event were a stimulus to Schumann’s creative impulses, for he was a Romantic through & through. It was at this time that he composed the deeply personal Davidsbundlertanze -18 dances inspired by the imaginary league of David. This fellowship, invented by Schumann, consisted of Schumann’s own alter egos, plus a number of well-respected musicians & friends including Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. The group was established as a way of fighting against the Philistines; it was Schumann’s response to contemporary musical trends which he saw as cheap, excessively virtuosic, & superficial.

Sonya Yoncheva is one of today's fastest rising young opera stars. The Bulgarian soprano first gained international prominence in 2010 when she won first prize at Plácido Domingo's prestigious Operalia competition. In 2013, Sonya had her Met Opera debut as Gilda in "Rigoletto," garnering praise from audiences and critics alike, with the "New York Times" proclaiming, "She brought lovely stage presence and a sumptuous, penetrating voice to her performance. Ms. Yoncheva has such vocal glamour."

"The Heavy Entertainment Show" is the eleventh studio album by English recording artist Robbie Williams. It was released on 4 November 2016 through Columbia Records.

The Colin Vallon Trio has found its own space in the crowded world of the piano trio by quietly challenging its conventions. On its third ECM album Vallon again leads the group not with virtuosic solo display but by patient outlining of melody and establishing of frameworks in which layered group improvising can take place. With this group, gentle but insistent rhythms can trigger seismic musical events. Although Vallon (recently nominated for the Swiss Music Prize) is the author of nine of the pieces here, the band members share equal responsibilities for the music's unfolding. The gravitational pull of Patrice Moret's bass and the intense detail supplied by Julian Sartorius's drums and cymbals are crucial to the success of Vallon's artistic concept and the range of emotions the music can convey.

One of the most promising Polish pianists of the young generation, Michał Karol Szymanowski was born in 1988 in Bydgoszcz into a musical family. He graduated with honours from the F Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz, where he studied piano with Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń and orchestra and opera conducting with Zygmunt Rychert.

Nonesuch Records releases City Noir - comprising the title piece by composer John Adams and the debut recording of his Saxophone Concerto. Both pieces are performed by the St. Louis Symphony led by Music Director David Robertson. Saxophonist Timothy McAllister is featured on both pieces.

This 2008 live recording with the London Symphony Orchestra is Valery Gergiev's 2nd complete recording of Prokofiev's ballet Romeo & Juliet, the 1st being a 1991 Philips release with the Kirov Orchestra. This performance, like his 1st, is notable for its refinement & lyricism. It's perhaps surprising that Gergiev, known for the wildness & ferocity of his performances of other Prokofiev works, like The Fiery Angel, shows such restraint here. Gergiev clearly understands the ballet as a work in which Prokofiev, writing originally for the Bolshoi, a theater known for its conservatism (although that production was canceled), tailored his score to follow in the tradition of the 3 great Tchaikovsky ballets.

Peace Trail features all new songs that Young wrote since the release of his album EARTH, this past June. This new album is primarily acoustic and reflects an intimate, sparse approach to each of the ten songs within:

Classics Today 10/10: "This is a magnificent recording"; Music Web International: "Beautifully presented and recorded this impressive disc will prove a most worthwhile addition to any chamber music collection".

The list of heavyweights who join George Duke on 1975's I Love the Blues: She Heard My Cry is impressive — some of the participants include Johnny "Guitar" Watson, singer Flora Purim, percussionist Airto Moreira, guitarist Lee Ritenour, drummer Leon "Ndugu" Chancler, and guitarist George Johnson (of Brothers Johnson fame). With such a cast, one would expect this 1975 LP to be outstanding, which it isn't. But it's a respectable effort that thrives on diversity.

Björk has always excelled at transforming intimate moments into compelling art that, no matter how grand its scope, retains its emotional truth. This was especially true of Vulnicura, an album that spelled out its philosophy in its title: Vulnerability is the only way to heal from pain — even if that openness may have led to getting hurt in the first place. Björk expanded on the album's wounded but resilient beauty with Vulnicura Strings, which emphasized the music's tiny glimmers of hope with acoustic warmth, and with Vulnicura Live, which transformed it into a spectacle in keeping with her other tours.

In his debut recording on LSO Live, Sir Simon Rattle conducts a stunning performance of Schumanns rarely recorded Das Paradies und die Peri featuring a superb line-up of soloists. Rattle is well-known for being a champion of this rarely-heard work, and yet this is the first audio recording he has made of it. Here it is brought to life by the LSO under his baton, and the starry line-up makes the best possible case for Schumanns great oratorio. Sir Simon Rattle says of the piece, Its the great masterpiece youve never heard, and there arent many of those now.