The Utah Symphony is one of America’s major symphony orchestras and a leading cultural organization in the Intermountain West. It is recognized internationally for its distinctive performances, commitment to music education programs, history and recording legacy. Here they join with the internationally-renowned Mormon Tabernacle Choir to present a thrilling and authoritative interpretation of the immense Mahler Symphony No. 8, “Symphony of a Thousand.” This new release was recorded live in February 2016, from concerts in the Salt Lake Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, Utah, sponsored by the O.C. Tanner Gift of Music. This organization was founded over 30 years ago through the combined vision of Obert C. Tanner and Gordon B. Hinckley, to share performances of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Utah Symphony, as a gift to the community.

The music fair kidnaps the listener's attention at the outset and does not random it until the gripping, wholly satisfying close…The performance by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales is stunning in its virtuosity (especially the three timpanists) and Brabbins shapes the whole edifice grippingly, as in the couplings.

Can we get into Beethoven’s creative mind, especially in the last phase of his life when he was coping with severe hearing loss? Tom Beghin’s new recording of Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas Opus 109, 110, and 111 is an artistic exploration of how Beethoven’s musicking was shaped by the work environment he created with the help of colleagues and friends.

Thomas Dausgaard, the enormously talented conductor, continues here with his quest for recording the mainstream symphonic repertoire with an orchestra, smaller than the usual today. His journey has become a considerable success. What one possibly misses in string sound "thickness" is more than well compensated for by the added transparency, and the almost chamber-music-type listening by the orchestral members.

While starting his career adhering to Brahms’ “absolute” or “formalist” compositional approach, Richard Strauss rapidly turned into a staunch supporter of Wagner’s Zukunftsmusik, writing a series of iconoclast symphonic poems full of metaphysical allusions. This album features both sides of Strauss’s musical persona with the Burleske in D minor as well as Ein Heldenleben. While the former is a playful, miniature quasi concerto for piano and orchestra, the latter epitomises Strauss’s symphonic style: majestic, virtuosically orchestrated, full of grand ideas, but never without irony. In that respect, Ein Heldenleben has more in common with Burleske than one would expect.

German baritone Benjamin Appl is Gramophone ‘Young Artist of the Year 2016’ and one of the stars of the European ‘Echo Rising Stars’ concert series.

The South African singer layers vivid vocals over hazy alt-pop.

During the Grateful Dead’s legendary 30-year run, the band often visited its northern neighbours in Portland, Seattle, and less-than-often Vancouver. Even so, official live recordings from those cities are something of a rarity. Pacific Northwest ’73-’74: Believe It If You Need It highlights some of the best performances from Grateful Dead’s time in the northwest.

Chilly Gonzales, Grammy-winning Canadian pianist and entertainer currently living in Europe, is known as much for the intimate piano touch of best-selling albums Solo Piano and Solo Piano II as for his showmanship and composition for award-winning stars. "Gonzo", as he is known to close collaborators, aims to be a man of his time, approaching the piano with classical and jazz training but with the attitude of a rapper.

The last night of a three-show Windy City stand captures Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band playing with the kind of purpose and passion that made the Reunion tour so memorable. Chicago ’99 balances tour staples like “Murder Incorporated,” “Youngstown” and “If I Should Fall Behind” with rarer outings for “Adam Raised A Cain,” “Independence Day” and “She’s the One,” plus true surprises “Take ‘Em As They Come,” “Janey, Don’t You Lose Heart” and a resplendent “New York City Serenade.”