German-Canadian cellist Johannes Moser and Scottish pianist Alasdair Beatson present a moving portrait of the Mendelssohn family with this recording of pieces by the siblings Felix and Fanny. Once composed for the popular Sunday Sessions at the Berlin Mendelssohn family house, these works fit into the typically nineteenth-century tradition of domestic music-making, albeit at the highest thinkable level. Beatson plays an 1837 Érard fortepiano, identical to the instrument that belonged to the Mendelssohn household when these pieces were composed.

Kate Bush Remastered Studio Albums And Rarities: This is the first (and definitive) program of remastering undertaken by the artist and includes the release of many rarities and cover versions on HighResAudio for the first time.

Spectacular virtuoso playing, bravura passagework and show-stopping melodies are balanced with wistful lyricism and sublime tone painting in this irresistible program of perennial favorites, played with elan by the violinist Arabella Steinbacher. "Great violinists like Heifetz, Kresler, menuhin… played virtuosic pieces in their concerts," recalled Steinbacher in a recent interview. She lamented that such pieces are infrequently played owing to the perception that "…this kind of repertoire is 'not serious enough' which I find is really a pity and also not true."

Celebrate The Rock And Roll Hall Of Famer’s 50th Anniversary With A Vinyl Set Featuring Steven Wilson’s Remixes Of Five Classic Albums: The Yes Album, Fragile, Close To The Edge, Relayer And The Double Album, Tales From Topographic Oceans. YES mark their 50th anniversary this year and release YES: THE STEVEN WILSON REMIXES which spotlights five studio albums that helped secure the band’s recent induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Essential: a masterpiece of Progressive Rock music
I was lucky enough to find this compilation at a store years ago. Not sure how rare it is or not but its excellent. And was an excellent introduction to Hawkwind for me. I went on to buy several of their other albums because of this one.

Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection
This live album has of course little to do with “Space Ritual”. This one is seriously hard-rock or even metal oriented. But several years separates those two and the tendency of the early eighties is drastically different than in 1973.

Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection
A legendary Heavy-Prog album if there ever was one.

Essential a masterpiece of progressive rock music
LOST NATION was a Michigan-based quintet. They were formed by Ron STULTS (vocals) of the psychedelic garage band UNRELATED SEGMENTS, along with Larry ZELANKA (keyboards), Craig WEBB (guitar), Art WOLFE (bass), Ron FULLER (drums), and released a single album, ''Paradise Lost'', in 1970.

Just Music was the moniker for a rotating West German collective whose musical “happenings” were a nascent challenge to mainstream sociopolitical strictures. Although the classical training of these musicians is readily apparent from their technical prowess, the opening outburst tells us we’re in for something less rule-bound. Alfred Harth tears the ether with his sax amid wordless chanting as a cornucopia of musical ideas is thrown into our ears. That said, these two 20-minute free-for-alls weave a quietude broken only by the occasional peak of intensity.

Leonard Bernstein’s recording with the New York Philharmonic of Gustav Holst’s famous The Planets, along with Benjamin Britten’s Four Sea Interludes from his opera Peter Grimes. There is a difference of opinion as to whether this multi-channel SACD is a good re-mastering of the original discrete 4 channel Quadriphonic master in which the orchestra actually surrounds you or is it taken from a 2 channel master and the rear channels and center channel have been re-produced artifically with just reverberation sounds which means the orchestra only sounds like it’s in front of you, but not behind you.

Leopold Hofmann was among the most prominent Viennese composers of his generation, his music performed all over Europe. Hofmanns radiant flute concertos follow the conventions of the day with superlative elegance and a deceptive facility. The solo writing has a lightness, grace and agility perfectly suited to the instruments strengths, particularly in the lovely and often rhapsodic slow movements. It is hardly surprising that musicians and audiences found these concertos so beguiling, and they have lost none of their magic today.

Olivier Messiaens Meditations sur le Mystere de la Sainte Trinite grew out of improvisations that he performed at the inauguration of the rebuilt organ of La Trinite in 1967. It became his largest cycle to date and marks Messiaens first use of communicable language, in which each letter of the alphabet is assigned a unique pitch and note value, thereby translating text into music. Haunting harmonies, awe-inspiring monumental grandeur and the deepest profundity of expression are contrasted by the innocence of birdsong with the recurrent call of the yellowhammer, a tranquil voice from nature amid kaleidoscopic Biblical themes.

Carl Czerny, a student of Beethoven whose music remained an inspiration occupied an important place in the musical landscape of his time as both performer and pedagogue. His own students, such as Liszt, transmitted his teaching principles which were available in a large number of ground-breaking exercises and études. Czerny wrote his 30 Études de mécanisme, Op. 849 (30 Studies of Technique) at a time of exceptionally high demand for teaching material. The Studies make use of a limited range of keys but are intended as an introduction for students to the School of Velocity. Perfectly placed between his simpler and more virtuosic Studies, Czernys Études have remained in demand to the present day.

In 1832 German-born Friedrich Burgmüller settled in Paris where he became internationally admired for his salon pieces and studies. At a time when demand for new teaching material had reached unprecedented heights, he supplied a sequence of works that appealed to the amateur market by virtue of their musical interest and appropriate technical demands. Written for the burgeoning market for piano teaching material, the set of 25 Easy and Progressive Studies, Op. 100 was soon followed by the 18 Characteristic Studies, Op. 109, a continuation of the earlier set, each piece bearing a charming title. They continue to provide a basis for teaching to this day.

Carl Maria von Weber’s achievements as a composer were considerable and influential, demonstrating new possibilities in opera and orchestration, particularly in the handling of wind instruments. His attractive, lyrical style is ideal for the making of arrangements, and the impressive and beautifully proportioned Flute Sonata is a virtuoso masterpiece, as is the operatic Grand Duo Concertant. There is a feeling of solemnity in the G minor Trio, an unusual work with an enigma at its heart: the song-like Schäfer’s Klage or ‘Shepherd’s lament’ – the origins of which remain a source of conjecture.