The R.E.M. By MTV documentary is now available as a stand-alone DVD and on Blu Ray for the first time. The program includes the 111 minute documentary, as well as five deleted scenes featured on the REMTV box set and two trailers…

One of Donizetti’s most emotionally raw operas, Roberto Devereux ossia Il conte di Essex was also the third to be loosely based on episodes in the life of Queen Elizabeth I. It deals with the love of Elizabeth and her favourite, the Earl of Essex, perhaps most tellingly expressed in the Act I duet, Nascondi, frena i palpiti, o misero mio core / Hide, hold back your palpitation, oh my wretched heart! Elizabeth’s subsequent abdication is, however, a matter of dramatic licence, yet provides a memorable operatic conclusion to this tragedy of love and jealousy as she despairs at the death of her lover – Quel sangue versato al ciel s’innalza / The blood that is spilt rises up to Heaven.

16 Track Jazz compilation CD featuring artiste on Verve Records. Artists included David Sanborn, Ledisi, Trombone Shorty & more.

The violinist Midori has been a celebrated performer for more than 35 years, this recording of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, complemented by his two Romances for violin and orchestra, marks the composer’s 250th birthday in December 2020. Midori plays with the Lucerne Festival Strings in a recording made in Switzerland shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic had caused the cancellation of a planned concert performance and international tour. “Beethoven guided my colleagues and me,” says Midori, “his work focusing and inspiring us, our concentrations heightened, enveloped together in our musical efforts … I am reminded that he was a man of strong beliefs … who took firm stands on many major issues of his day … Beethoven's determination still provides a model for humankind.”

AMERICAN BEAUTY: THE ANGEL’S SHARE brings together never-before-heard studio recordings compiled from dozens of recently discovered 16-track reels. It includes multiple outtakes for several album tracks along with demos for every song on the album (except “Box Of Rain”) plus one for “To Lay Me Down,” which was later included on Jerry Garcia’s first solo album, Garcia.

Tenor saxophonist Michael Brecker has offered his horn to countless studio sessions since the late 1960s, many including his own bands. Purists might have considered Brecker's reputation sullied by his association with fusion–especially as performed in the 1970s by the Brecker Brothers, which featured him alongside his brother Randy on trumpet, and later by Steps Ahead–but since the mid-1980s, the tenorist has been on a post-bop roll. Time Is of the Essence extends Brecker's broad command of the styles pioneered during the mid-1960s. He's playing with a veritable supergroup, Pat Metheny adding efficient strums and riffs on guitar and Larry Goldings pillowing the atmosphere on a Hammond B3 organ. Three drummers alternate on the session, with the great Elvin Jones making the most turbulent storm and Bill Stewart providing the most detailed textures.

This unassuming and delightful little album visits a time when jazz and blues were still directly entwined, drawing on the ghosts of guitarists like Charlie Christian, Eddie Durham, Bill Jennings, Tiny Grimes, Barney Kessel, and Kenny Burrell, guitarists who used the blues to enrich the jazz pieces they played on, a kind of ensemble contribution that is all too frequently missing on the contemporary blues scene. Duke Robillard, Jay Geils, and Gerry Beaudoin are all gifted guitar players, each with his own career, but as a trio working three-part harmony lines around each other, they bring a stately ensemble grace to the tracks on New Guitar Summit (the trio also appears under that name when they do live shows).

Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 8 in C minor is the last symphony the composer completed. It exists in two major versions of 1887 and 1890. It was premiered under conductor Hans Richter in 1892 in Vienna. It is dedicated to the Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria.This symphony is sometimes nicknamed The Apocalyptic, but this was not a name Bruckner gave to the work himself.

Band of the moment, the saviours of rock'n'roll… something to write about in an age of musical mediocrity?
The White Stripes can be seen as all of the above. The hype around the release of this fourth album has gone on and on, the critics' saliva abundant. Finally it's here. Can it really change the course of mankind as we know it? Let's see.

16 tracks in a contemporary outfit feat. Lizz Wright, James carter, Mari Boine, Nina Simone remixed by Pilooski, Ledisi, and more.