Exuberant, colourful and edgy concertos for orchestra by Bartók and Kodály are brought together in spirited and vivid performances from the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by the podium sensation Jakub Hrůša on this PENTATONE release.

Remember these three letters well, because they ring with the youth, modernity, and virtuosity of the next generation of jazz. Composed of pianist Alexandre Monfort, bassist Samuel F’hima, and drummer Tom Peyron, this sensational ensemble is quickly rising to success. In only one year, these three musicians have taken the podium at some of the world’s most prestigious jazz competitions, including the Rezzo Focal de Vienne, Jazz à St. Germain des Près, Jazz à Vannes and were unanimously selected as the first prize winners at the Blue Note Festival, where they were hailed for their performance by the judges and critics alike.

Often referred to as the leaders of the neo-progressive movement of the early 80s, Marillion is a great deal more than that. They are purveyors of soulful, powerful, and deeply-moving music, with a long-standing reputation of impressive live shows and an imposing, faithful and loyal global fan base. As the first of their peers, Marillion have started to embrace the potential of the internet for both their commercial approach and to interact with their audience.

CD pressing of the third single from the album infinite. 'Johnny's Band' follows the singles "Time For Bedlam" and "All I Got Is You". The song is an affectionate portrait of a fictional band that quickly gain success and enjoy every side that comes with it. As often happens, Johnny's Band can´t help but lose it, and break up, only to find out later that the pleasure still to be performing live is all that matters, even when the hype, the success and the glory have long vanished.

It was the awakening (Despertando) of a tinge of longing which inspired Diego Pinera to record this album. More than seventeen years after having left his native Uruguay, he re-visits his roots, the influences which first left their mark on him, and the legacy which made him the musician he is today.

Most jazz musicians are also travellers. Their places of work are the clubs and festivals of the world, so they are always on the go. Echoes of Swing, however, has another dimension: This quartet is also on a journey through time, going back to classic jazz from the 20’s to the 50’s, bringing it into the present day and shaping it for the future. This “tour de force” has been going on for 20 years. A reason then to celebrate, which is perhaps best done by re-tracing the journey, reviving memories of things experienced, and looking at all that travelling involves.

Janne Mark writes hymns. And yet there is nothing about her that is stuck in a fusty tradition. She writes in the here and now, she is socially aware and committed, and in her work she draws on the freedom of jazz and all of the breadth of the Scandinavian folk tradition. And that is how her songs have established their place outside the canon of sacred music and in the secular space. As she explains herself, “the music of ‘Pilgrim’ is written for people who are unfamiliar with the church as well as for those who know it well.”

After his gargantuan orchestral work “The Big Wig” and the improvisational fireworks of “Out of Land” (with Emile Parisien, Vincent Peirani and Michael Wollny) Andreas Schaerer has now immersed himself in a new sound-world. “A Novel Of Anomaly” presents eleven short stories, offering opportunities do delve into more intimate and pared-down vocal textures.

Myth, Sallust tells us, is the relation of ‘things that never happened, but always are’. Ever since the fourteenth century, music has drunk deep from the source of myths. When composers were not dealing with sacred history, with the great morality tales of Christ, they turned to myth as to a great art and a matchless repertory of exemplary stories.

The talented young French clarinetist Pierre Génisson, a graduate of the Paris Conservatoire, has chosen to devote his first solo recording – on the Aparté label – to music that, as he puts it, “is part of [his] DNA”. To a programme of French music, therefore, with works by Claude Debussy, Ernest Chausson, Camille Saint-Saëns, Jean Françaix, Francis Poulenc and Jules Massenet: pieces of rare sensitivity and emotion, written for clarinet and piano, all of them composed, in close collaboration with professors of the Paris Conservatoire, for the exit examinations of that institution. The compositions span some hundred and fifty years.

Johann Sebastian Bach‘s Sei Solo for unaccompanied violin figure amongst the baroque works on which the performance traditions of the 19th and 20th centuries weigh most heavily. Rediscovered halfway through the 19th century after having been forgotten for more than a century, these works quickly entered the repertoire of works performed by violinists during the Romantic period. Enrico Onofri’s (long-time concert director of the ensemble Il Giardino Armonico) interpretation inspires listeners with unbelievable detail in terms of embellishments and dynamics.

Here is the third release in the collaboration between the Ensemble Intercontemporain and Alpha.

The Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and Alpha extend their series of recordings of the Mozart operas conducted by Jérémie Rhorer. After Die Entführung aus dem Serail, which received excellent international reviews (including FFFF in Télérama), here now is La clemenza di Tito. Gilles Macassar wrote in Télérama late in 2014 of ‘divinatory conducting, a cast close to the ideal . . . The last opera Mozart composed, long undervalued, closes the chapter of the Baroque and looks into the future, blazing a new trail that looks forward to the nineteenth century.’

This live set was recorded at the Marillion Weekend at Center Parcs, Port Zelande, Netherlands on March 21, 2015.

British rock legends Status Quo will commemorate an emotional moment in the band's history with The Last Night of the Electrics, a live set culled from last December's London stop on what's being billed as the group's last major tour.