20th anniversary re-issue completely re-mastered from original master tapes. CD edition features over 25 bonus tracks including second disc of previously unreleased material. Both feature foreword by Alan McGee, sleevenotes by Ric Rawlins, and previously unseen concept art drawings by Pete Fowler.

THE BEATLES Meet The Beatles (Japanese Version) (Rare 1967 Japanese 14-track mono-only LP pressed exclusively on Wine Red Everclean Vinyl, featuring an alternate tracklisting & cover title colours to the USissue.The flipback picture sleeve has a unique silk finish, includes the original advert inner sleeve and double-sided lyric insert. The sleeve displays minimal wear with just a few light creases to the edges, the inner and insert have just afew spots of foxing but have no rips or splits.

Prometheus defied the gods to steal fire and give it to humanity. The ancient titan’s priceless gift, used since for good and ill, has never lost its fascination. Yo Kosuge, praised for her immaculate technique and penetrating artistry, explores creative responses to fire in the second volume of her Four Elements project. The Berlin-based Japanese pianist’s latest Orchid Classics album moves from pieces filled with nostalgic warmth to others animated by hell’s tormenting flames. “By showing these many different aspects of fire, I want to lead the listener through different stories as told by composers, from the Romantic to contemporary periods,” comments Yu Kosuge.

Jonathan Biss concludes his nine-year, nine-volume exploration of Beethoven’s piano sonatas with a recording for our times, one that asks profound questions about mankind’s fragile existence. The final album in his critically acclaimed cycle, set for release on Orchid Classics, brings together three works that each stand as the last of a group of three sonatas. The American pianist begins with a masterwork of Beethoven’s early creative period, the Sonata No.7 in D major, Op.10 No.3. Its stop-start finale, punctuated by silences, prefaces a compelling interpretation of the Sonata No.18 in E flat major, Op.31 No.3, a work that blends unsettling introspection and playful high spirits. Biss ends his Beethoven odyssey with the Sonata No.32 in C minor Op.111, the composer’s farewell to the genre.

As one of the finest pianists of his era and an improviser of genius, Ludwig van Beethoven’s preferred vehicle for musical exploration was the piano. His earliest composition, from 1782, was a set of piano variations and he continued to compose for solo piano until the last years of his life. His interest in the concerto form diminished as his deafness forced him to retire from performing. Nonetheless, with his five piano concertos composed between 1788 and 1809, Beethoven not only achieved a brilliant conclusion to the Classical piano concerto, but also established a new model for the Romantic era: a sort of symphony with obbligato piano which remained a reference point well into the beginning of the twentieth.

Charles-Valentin Alkan made his name as pianist in nineteenth-century Paris and seemed poised for a glittering career. But following a series of setbacks he withdrew into a life of relative seclusion, and as he receded from the public eye, so too did his music. It was never entirely forgotten, but it was not until the 1960s and 1970s that Alkan’s works began to emerge from obscurity. To quote the liner notes by Paul Wee, ‘Alkan’s music exhibits a formidable grasp of form and structure, a strong command of melody, a high sense of drama and an unprecedented exploitation of the capabilities of the piano.’

Friedemann made his first appearances in his native town, at the former Southwest Radio and Talentschuppen TV between 1967 and 1970. In 1979 he released his first album

A more subtle approach to the mix of new age lyricism and world music rhythms.

For her debut album, Karen Gomyo has joined forces with guitarist Ismo Eskelinen in a programme offering fireworks as well as graceful tenderness. A violin virtuoso as well as an expert guitar player, Niccolo Paganini wrote a number of works for the two instruments together. He thus forms a natural point of departure as Gomyo and Eskelinen embark on a journey some hundred years backwards in history, and offer works by three other famous Italian violinist-composers.

Legends is a wonderful LP by Eric Tingstad and Nancy Rumbel.

When the label Windham Hill released their successful proposal, soon appeared other music labels who copied the model. One of these is the Narada label.

Tong's final solo effort, or at least the last one that has seen any sort of formal release, Theoretically Chinese is at times quite an intriguing attempt at an art-pop/dance effort, mid-'80s vintage.

Born in 1903, Aram Khachaturian became the most significant twentieth-century musical figure in the then Soviet Republic of Armenia. Many of his most important works date from the first half of his career. The expressive immediacy of his music, conditioned by his Armenian heritage with its sensuous melodic writing, its vibrant orchestration and rhythmic drive all resulted in a popularity equalled by few composers of his generation.

In this their third volume of orchestral works of Antheil, John Storgårds and the BBC Philharmonic present a collection of scores spanning the whole of Antheil’s compositional life. Written in the early 1920s, the First Symphony is full of Antheil’s enthusiasm for the mechanical, and takes strong leads from the prevailing sound of the jazz era as well as a nostalgic look back to its predecessor, ragtime. His ballet score Capital of the World dates from the mid-1950s, and was based on a short story by Hemmingway. The Golden Bird was originally conceived as a solo piano piece, and in his translation of the piece from piano to orchestra Antheil demonstrates an ability equal to Ravel’s to think simultaneously in two musical media. The concert overture McKonkey’s Ferry is based on a painting of George Washington and his continental army crossing the Delaware River at Christmas 1776 at McKonkey’s Ferry, near Trenton – an event that proved a turning point in the Revolutionary war.