Death preyed heavily on the minds of both Schubert and Sibelius when they were composing the two string quartets on this new recording from the Ehnes Quartet. Sibelius had undergone several operations to remove a tumour in his throat. The bleak and highly personal 4th Symphony is the masterwork from this period, but the string quartet ‘Intimate Voices’ of 1908 should not be underestimated. Taut and highly concentrated, it has an almost Haydnesque construction, and the quartet’s first movement’s sheer perfection of form approaches that of the 3rd Symphony’s opening movement.

Eric Montalbetti has had a long and fulfilling music career, though not necessarily in the field of composition. He is most known for his 18 year tenure as Artistic director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. However, he began composing as a young child and has continued throughout his whole life. Montalbetti writes of this project: Today, I am most happy to see my scores taking life thanks to wonderful conductors and soloists, and to develop new composition projects for the future. In this music one can hear all of our most varied emotions- energy, mourning, hope, love, rage, and gratitude. Notable works on this release include Trois etudes pares Kandinsky for piano, and Esprit tendre, for oboe, which is a tribute to Helen and Elliott Carter. These works are performed by some of the best soloists in the current French music scene.

In celebration of Herbert Blomstedt’s 90th Birthday in July 2017, Accentus Music releases a new Beethoven cycle that captures the spirit of the long-standing partnership between the legendary conductor laureate and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. All nine symphonies, released in a box set containing five CDs, are live recordings made at the Leipzig Gewandhaus between May 2014 and March 2017.

After releasing one furious, political album and an introspective, existential one, Torgeir Waldemar concluded that the world hadn’t improved too much. In turbulent times, where walls are erected and hate and xenophobia seems widespread, what should be the main message for the new record? The answer was simple, almost banal – the most important thing we have is one another – love. Following the success of his two previous albums, the melancholy Torgeir Waldemar (2014) and the loud, fuzz-drenched No Offending Borders (2017) Waldemar has established himself at the very forefront of Norwegian rock and roll troubadours. For the mini-album Jamais Vu (2018), he combined the two personas, stripping down the rock songs from the second album, while rocking up the acoustic songs from the debut. There’s a common thread running through Waldemar’s music, where the new album Love is the obvious continuation – rocking, but not as rough, loud but with more focus.

Kaleidoskop the new album by Stefan Straubinger is a foray through various musical styles with his band Spui´maNovas. As when looking through a kaleidoscope, a wide variety of musical facets can be heard side by side. The Bavarian roots of the music of Spui´maNovas shine through in every piece of music. Music is played with a variety of old and modern instruments from Jew's harp to bandoneon, bagpipe, hurdy-gurdy, saxophone, double bass and drums. In addition to the family combo consisting of Eva, Stefan, Fridolin and Dominik Straubinger, the guest musicians Niko Schabel and Georg Karger.

Four life-long friends, Ricky Nunn (vocals), Mitch Ayling (drums) Luke Ayling (bass) and Dan Le Gresley (guitar) formed their first band when they were still at school in Essex, playing countless working mens clubs, and finally becoming The Milk. The Milk prove that sometimes it takes a few bumps to find the right direction. Often it involves experience, guts and self-belief to trust yourself and venture from one to find another. The Milk are a band that believe with utter conviction that theyve now found their way. Everything seems to agree with them from releasing the critically acclaimed album "Favourite Worry" (Wah Wah 45s), selling out London's Union Chapel and touring with Fun Lovin' Criminals at the beginning of 2017, to their sell-out UK tour climaxing at London's KOKO in Camden town. The Milks third studio album is scheduled for release in early 2020.

Kevin and Christina make out in a car at the airport, flipping off the police officer that tells them to keep moving. Kevin and Christina discuss taking ecstasy as couple’s therapy. Kevin and Christina break down and then reconnect. The new love we heard about on the last of Montreal record, White is Relic/Irrealis Mood, is settling. If that was the falling-in-love record, then this is the staying-in-love record. That was the easy part; this is the interesting part, the challenging part, the next chapter of Barnes’ autobiographical album streak, UR FUN.

“Phenomenally good … Dreisig’s voice [is] youthful yet assured, agile yet fluid, and powerful through its entire range … We can certainly expect much more to come from this singer,” wrote BBC Music Magazine in its five-star review of Miroir(s), Elsa Dreisig’s debut album of operatic arias and scenes. It was subsequently nominated for two top awards, Gramophone and Opus Klassik.

Essential: a masterpiece of rock music
One of Japanese junkie travelers SHINKI CHEN exploded his electric guitar and his friends and HIMSELF!.

Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music
Wow. There's few live albums, much less DOUBLE live albums, I'd consider to be a band's finest hour, but this is one such album where I'd make an exception.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s new Mahler recording marks a return to the core symphonic repertoire with the Philadelphia Orchestra Gustav Mahler’s Eighth Symphony was billed as the “Symphony of a Thousand” exploring themes of redemption through the power of love.

With this soulful and timeless song-cycle of world and blues-tinged folk, jazz and pop originals, singer-songwriter Jana Herzen (who happens also to be the A&R mind behind the Multi-Grammy winning Motéma label), reaches new heights as a musical storyteller, composer and guitarist.

These recordings that celebrate those 20 years are aptly called The Independent Years. They are a collection of rare and unreleased recordings from live concerts and TV shows and demonstrate what it takes to be a successful musician and songwriter. Real talent is much rarer than people imagine. And in Paul Carrack that talent is here to be heard in all its raw emotion. Each Paul Carrack show is different, he sings how he feels, with the ability to channel those emotions to his many fans.

The songs comprising Keeley Forsyth’s debut are, she states simply, “like blocks of metal that drop from the sky.”

Charles Tournemire's huge cycle L'Orgue Mystique (written 1927-1932) is a collection of two hundred and fifty-three works for the liturgical calendar of the Catholic church as it was in his time as Organiste Titulaire of the church of St Clothilde in Paris, from 1898 to his death in 1939 (his predecessors were Gabriel Pierné and César Franck; amongst his successors was Jean Langlais). They are all based on the Gregorian chant for the day. This piece, from the Cycle de Noël, is the 'Offertoire' of the Mass for the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Performed by Georges Delvallée on the 1880 Cavaillé-Coll organ (4/61, 72 ranks) in the Cathedral of Saint-Croix, Orléans.