Sir Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra mark 150 years since the death of Hector Berlioz with his tempestuous oratorio, La damnation de Faust.

This solo album by cellist Wilhelmina Smith features works for solo cello by Esa-Pekka Salonen and Kaija Saariaho. Both composers belong to a generation of modernist Finnish composers whose work has gained broad acceptance in musical culture throughout the world. While each composer has a clear individual artistic persona, as a group they are known for pushing sonic boundaries. In writing for strings and, in particular on this recording, the cello, Salonen and Saariaho exploit the outer reaches of the technical possibilities for both the instrument and the performer. Wilhelmina Smith is an artist of intense commitment, poetic insight and dazzling versatility.

On her first PENTATONE album, pianist Tamara Stefanovich presents a highly personal selection of solo works by Bach, Bartók, Ives and Messiaen. Influences shows how these extraordinarily original and idiosyncratic composers let themselves be inspired by the exterior world, thereby demonstrating how authenticity comes from looking outside as well as inside.

“Beyond the great musical interest that Cavalli offers, his operas are notable for their richness and modernity, and for the diversity and complexity of their characters,” says countertenor Philippe Jaroussky. “Stage directors and opera houses are increasingly keen to stage his works. His operas are full of fantasy, craziness, humour and emotion. They offer a variety we don’t find in the opera seria of the 18th century.”

Austrian clarinettist Andreas Ottensamer has joined forces with Chinese pianist Yuja Wang to record an album of works by composers of the Romantic era. Blue Hour, set for release on March 8 by Deutsche Grammophon/Universal Music Canada, the country’s leading music company, features some of the jewels of the repertoire including Brahms’s Intermezzo in A major, Mendelssohn’s Songs without Words – arranged for clarinet and piano by Ottensamer – and Weber’s virtuosic Grand Duo concertant. The album reveals Ottensamer to be not just a sensitive and responsive chamber partner, but also a brilliant soloist, as he gives a dazzling performance of Weber’s First Clarinet Concerto, recorded with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Mariss Jansons.

Es war ein farbenprächtiges Fest, das 1568 anlässlich der Hochzeit zwischen dem bayerischen Erzherzog Wilhelm V. und Renata von Lothringen in München gefeiert wurde.

On the 'Sony Classical' label - In this world premiere recording, one of the greatest cellists of our time, Yo-Yo Ma performs the first ever Cello Concerto by internationally renowned composer and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen. Yo-Yo Ma performs this stunning concerto alongside the world’s most contemporary minded orchestras, the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the baton of Esa-Pekka Salonen. Salonen has dedicated this work to Yo-Yo Ma. The Cello Concerto made its debut in Chicago, where it was performed by Yo-Yo Ma and conducted by Salonen. The concerto was lauded by critics who praised the collaboration between Yo-Yo Ma and Salonen. The Cello Concerto will be performed in London at the Royal Festival Hall on 24th February 2019.

In 2016 we celebrate the three hundredth anniversary of the Sebastian Duron’s death in his French exile – perhaps the most important Spanish composer of his time – accused by Padre Feijoo of the italianization of Spanish music, in certain way we might say of the modernization of the old Spanish style.

Legendary Arizona alt-rockers Meat Puppets are returning with their first new album since 2013, and their first featuring their original lineup intact since 1995. Though brothers Curt and Cris Kirkwood reunited in 2006 and have toured and recorded together since then, the band’s original drummer, Derrick Bostrom, has not recorded with the band since 1995’s No Joke! The original Meat Puppets first reunited for a performance at the Arizona Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame in 2017, and subsequently began work on a new full-length. Now Dusty Notes, their 15th studio album, is due out on March 8 on Megaforce Records. Keyboardist Ron Stabinsky and Curt’s son Elmo (guitar) also play on the record. Today, the group has released the album’s first single “Warranty.”

Conductor Mei-Ann Chen and the Chicago Sinfonietta — the adventurous, MacArthur Award-winning orchestra that champions racial, ethnic, and gender diversity in classical music — give world-premiere recordings of newly commissioned American works by Jennifer Higdon, Clarice Assad, Jessie Montgomery, and Reena Esmail on Project W: Works by Diverse Women Composers, the capstone project of its 30th anniversary season.

The electrifying duo debut recording of violinist Franziska Pietsch and pianist Josu De Solaun features two masterpieces: the violin sonatas by Richard Strauss and Dmitri Shostakovich.

Chilly Gonzales wrote the "Olga - Gigue" for her, Sven Helbig did a piano - arrangement of his "Pocket Symphony - Am Abend" for her. Vivan and Ketan Bhatti wrote "Memories of Mussorsky" also for piano solo for Olga. This work, performed by Olga will also be a part of the new programm of the break dance group "Flying Steps". More works by Frederic Chopin, Aphex Twin, Ludwig van Beethoven, or Mozart / Volodos are on this album, which reflects the musical world as it is, without genre - borders.

Shani Diluka takes us to the less explored path of the filial, even spiritual, relationship which unites Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and Mozart.

When pianist Bill Charlap featured Tom Harrell at a recent gig with his trio at New York's Jazz Standard, he summarized the trumpeter's genius as concisely as anyone could. “It is our honor and privilege,” he announced, “To share the bandstand with a man who is a living, breathing melody.” For this latest HighNote release, featuring a razor-sharp quintet with saxophonist Mark Turner and guitarist Charles Altura, Harrell & company combine complex compositions, seductive rhythms, advanced harmonic concepts, vibrant solos and sheer inspiration in an album which transcends the jazz idiom. This is perhaps Harrell's most imaginative recording to-date, with the scoring for the piano-less, tenor sax and guitar front line ensemble sui generis among his work.

Stella Donnelly is a proud, self-proclaimed shit-stirrer. On lead single "Old Man," the biting opener of her electrifying debut album, 'Beware of the Dogs,' she targets the song's titular creep, "Oh are you scared of me old man or are you scared of what I'll do? You grabbed me with an open hand. The world is grabbing back at you." When something needs to be said, whether it's to an abusive man, a terrible boss, or a clueless significant other, the 26-year old Fremantle, Western Australia-based musician is fearless in telling it like it is.