The album features some of the most popular opera arias and Neapolitan songs of all time, such as Nessun Dorma, O Sole Mio and la Donna è Mobile.

If The Secret is indeed the title of a melody that Gabriel Fauré composed on a poem rather cutesy Armand Silvestre, it does not seem that it inspired the title of the present album entitled "The Secret Fauré", taken rather in a meaning of scarcity and intimacy. Ivor Bolton, at the head of the Basel Symphony Orchestra where he is the artistic director, offers a very subtle choice composed of extracts from stage or stage music: Caligula, Pénélope, Shylock, Pelléas and Mélisande, mixed with some melodies orchestrated by Fauré or more probably by his friends, like Charles Koechlin. Russian soprano Olga Peretyatko, the new international queen of bel canto, lends her voice to Fauré's discreet art.

"Shostakovich’s Fifth is without doubt one of the greatest symphonies ever written, and it is also one of my personal favorites. This genuine masterpiece represents a mirror image of the world around Shostakovich: in it he depicted in music the reality of life in Leningrad in 1937 from his own perspective. For him this was the ‘worst of times’. After the premiere of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and the official denunciation of the opera prompted by Stalin’s stormy reaction to the work, the composer was closely watched by the Party.

The first official live recording from Europe ’81 is a revelatory chapter in Springsteen’s touring history. London provides a window into this extraordinary stretch of the River tour that saw Bruce exploring new musical directions through songs like “Follow That Dream” and “Johnny Bye Bye.” On a crusade to convert first-time audiences across the continent, Springsteen and the E Street Band never played better, pouring out potent versions of River material and sublime covers including “Jolé Blon," CCR’s “Who’ll Stop The Rain” and Elvis’ “Can’t Help Falling In Love.”

‘Building on the success of their first disc of Beethoven violin sonatas (ALPHA240), which won a Diapason d’Or of the year (the magazine hailed ‘the birth of a great duo’) and ‘Choc’ de Classica, Lorenzo Gatto and Julien Libeer continue their complete recording of the cycle. ‘Beethoven’s sonatas have become the core of our musical lives. Rehearsed, tried out in concert, given a rest, rehearsed again.’

John McLeod is a hero amongst Scottish musicians, not only for his prowess as one of the most inspired, if not among the most prolific, composers of today, but also for his work as a concert pianist, championing young composers as well as classical figures such as Haydn.

Keyboardist, pianist and composer Cameron Graves' Planetary Prince EP features fellow members of the Los Angeles collective West Coast Get Down on this groundbreaking fusion of jazz, classical, hip-hop, and rock music.

The universal critical plaudits which greeted Steven Osborne’s recording of the Rachmaninov Preludes are certain to be repeated even more enthusiastically on the release of this version of the wonderful Études-tableaux.