At last, the Rising tour arrives in the form of Springsteen’s first-ever appearance in Finland. Helsinki serves as a potent album showcase and features nine Rising cuts including “Lonesome Day,” “Empty Sky,” “World’s Apart,” “You’re Missing,” “Into the Fire” and the title track. The set’s poignancy is well balanced by playfulness, with vibrant versions of “No Surrender,” “Dancing In The Dark,” “Darlington County,” “Seven Nights To Rock” and “Glory Days,” plus a striking, set-opening solo acoustic version of “Born In The U.S.A.”

The eighth album from Marissa Nadler, For My Crimes, is the sound of turmoil giving way to truth. The songs stare down the dark realization that love may not be enough to keep two people together through distance and differing needs. By asking these difficult questions about her relationships, Nadler has found a stronger sense of self and a sharper voice as both a songwriter and a vocalist, culminating in her most evocative entry in an already impressive discography. The album is set for release on September 28, via Bella Union and Sacred Bones.

This album is violinist Arabella Steinbacher’s tribute to the favourite composer of her family household. The music of Richard Strauss has played a crucial role throughout her life. As great Strauss lovers, her parents named her after the main character of Strauss’ opera Arabella, and the family house was filled with Strauss melodies, often sung live by famous singers accompanied by Steinbacher’s father, who was a solo- répétiteur at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich.

In ‘Contrabandista’, Javier Camarena delves deep into the life and music of legendary Spanish tenor Manuel García.

In Rome between the late seventeenth century and the early eighteenth, academies and ‘conversazioni’ (artistic gatherings) organised by aristocrats and cardinals attracted the leading writers and musicians. The names of Arcangelo Corelli, Alessandro Scarlatti and the young G. F. Handel stand out among many others. Giovanni Lorenzo Lulier (Rome, c.1660-1700), a cellist and composer known as ‘Giovanni del Violone’, participated in this intensive musical activity.

Himmelsmusik (‘heavenly music’), a programme of sacred songs and cantatas by German composers of the 17th century, presents a striking contrast with the previous Erato album from Christina Pluhar and her ensemble L’Arpeggiata: Händel Goes Wild.

Miroirs is the debut album from the young French-Danish soprano Elsa Dresig. The winner of Plácido Domingo’s Operalia singing competition in 2016, she has performed opera in Berlin, Paris, Zurich and Aix-en-Provence and sung with Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic in Berlin, Salzburg, Lucerne and Paris.

A century after his death on 25 March 1918, many harmonia mundi artists are eager to pay tribute to Claude Debussy, the magician of melody and timbre, the great ‘colourist’ and father of modern music. In the three chamber sonatas, here combined with the composer’s final pieces for solo piano, we attain the purity, the absolute concision, the distant and mysterious world that give these works a testamentary dimension.

Praised for his “smooth, rich and sweet sound and impeccable virtuosity”, guitarist Thibaut Garcia releases his second album on Erato, a recital of works composed and inspired by Johann Sebastian S Bach.

A century after his death on 25 March 1918, many harmonia mundi artists are eager to pay tribute to Claude Debussy, the magician of melody and timbre, the great ‘colourist’ and father of modern music. After Rachmaninoff’s Preludes, Nikolai Lugansky wanted to present a finely nuanced portrait of this composer so fond of travelling! Whether it ranges over time (Hommage à Haydn) or the most vividly imagined open spaces, this freely composed programme is concerned above all with light and colour, in works we can never tire of.

When Hilary Hahn Plays Bach came out on Sony in 1997, critics were astounded that a performer would choose solo Bach for her debut album; they were further confounded by her elegant approach to this music’s technical and interpretive challenges at such a young age. Bach expert Nicholas Anderson wrote in BBC Music Magazine at the time, “Bach’s six unaccompanied solos - three each of partitas and sonatas - have long been regarded as the pinnacle of violin writing and the most elusive of goals for the aspiring performer…

Sparked by the tragic death of a close friend in an accident, Igor Levit’s piano playing reflects upon an experience of loss encompassing grief, despair, resignation and solace. He concentrates on works whose gloomy grandeur and melancholy beauty have occupied him for years. Each of them pays tribute to the virtuoso possibilities of the piano. Poetic moments of contemplative silence blend with life-affirming and extremely sensual music with a direct physical fascination.

“…Through its inherent openness, Bach's keyboard music has become something of a musical mirror for different generations of pianists in the modern age, clearly reflecting the tastes and values of each time. While some works go in and out of vogue, others enjoy a stable popularity but undergo radical changes in the way they are understood and interpreted. Bach today generally sounds quite different from Bach 30 years ago, and still more different than Bach 50 years ago. In that sense his music is contemporary rather than classical. It has the potential to feel more or less as new today as it did 300 years ago…” (Víkingur Ólafsson)

The Christmas season is starting early for “pioneering independent” Aaron Watson as he announces his first ever Christmas album, “An Aaron Watson Family Christmas,” will release on Friday, October 5.

With „Never Look Away“ (German title „Werk Ohne Autor“), inspired by the early life and career of renowned contemporary artist Gerhard Richter, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck once again looks into the dark corners of his country's recent history. The German candidate for the Oscar in the „Best Foreign Language Film“ category, the drama passes through three periods of German history to recount the story of the dramatic life of the artist Kurt (Tom Schilling), his passionate love for Elisabeth (Paula Beer), and the far-reaching relationship with his devious father-in-law Professor Seeband (Sebastian Koch) whose hand in fateful events in Kurt‘s life ultimately comes to light in his art and paintings. The soundtrack was scored by composer Max Richter.