Sarah Lamb and Vadim Muntagirov star as tragic lovers Manon and Des Grieux in this performance of Kenneth MacMillans Manon, a classic of the Royal Ballet repertory. Nicholas Gerogiadiss period designs set the ballet in the contrasting worlds of Paris Luxury and Louisiana swampland, while the intense emotion of MacMillans choreography is complemented by a score drawn from Massenets music. The impassioned pas de deux from Manon and Des Grieux drive this tragic story, and make Manon one of MacMillans most powerful dramas.

J.J. Cale's debut album, Naturally, was recorded after Eric Clapton made "After Midnight" a huge success. Instead of following Slowhand's cue and constructing a slick blues-rock album, Cale recruited a number of his Oklahoma friends and made a laid-back country-rock record that firmly established his distinctive, relaxed style. Cale included a new version of "After Midnight" on the album, but the true meat of the record lay in songs like "Crazy Mama," which became a hit single, and "Call Me the Breeze," which Lynyrd Skynyrd later covered. On these songs and many others on Naturally, Cale effortlessly captured a lazy, rolling boogie that contradicted all the commercial styles of boogie, blues, and country-rock at the time. Where his contemporaries concentrated on solos, Cale worked the song and its rhythm, and the result was a pleasant, engaging album that was in no danger of raising anybody's temperature.

This here is the definition of international jazz, recorded in Paris in 1956 by two relaxed, unpretentious, melodic, and well-rehearsed groups including both American and European jazz musicians. These meetings were documented in two excellent albums: “Jazz on the Left Bank” and “Réunion à Paris.”

A compilation of several concerts, mainly based on the series of concerts given at Earls Court in London in October 1994, with the aim of recreating a kind of perfect concert from the 94 tour.

Based on a network TV special that in turn depicted Elton John's Las Vegas show of the same name, The Red Piano is a concert video. It consists of two DVDs and two CDs. Essentially, the package is padded; the second DVD contains a 53-minute "making of" documentary, and the CDs repeat the audio content of the concert with one additional track ("I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues")…

Per Nørgård (b. 1932) is one of the most frequently played composers of his generation. He has written more than 400 works in all genres and inspired innumerable colleagues in Denmark and abroad. This album presents all of Nørgård’s music for the Oscarwinning Babette’s Feast film version by Gabriel Axel of Karen Blixen’s short story – not just the snatches of it one can hear in the film. One can also get to know the hypnotic Spell, the ripples and bubbles in Whirl’s World and Trio Breve, which according to the composer himself are to be regarded as three short expressive phrases – dream-like pictures – that change between light and dark, fast and slow but with introvert melodic features in common.

With 22 symphonies, 17 string quartets, 9 concertos, and 7 operas, the composer Mieczysław Weinberg left behind an extensive oeuvre. Musically, one can hear the composer’s close friendship with Dmitri Shostakovich, although Weinberg’s music is more lyrical and romantic in nature. Nevertheless, the composer was long forgotten and his music has only been rediscovered in the last ten years. Gidon Kremer has dedicated himself to the rediscovery and cultivation of Weinberg’s music.

Feldman’s 75-minute work dedicated to his friend John Cage was written in 1982. In this new version, Aisha Orazbayeva (violin) and Mark Knoop (piano) set out to draw the listener into the charged space between the performers.

Although it wasn't immediately apparent, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie found Alanis Morissette floundering in her success, albeit ever so slightly. Like most arty collegiate types, she reacted to massive success with an instinct to experiment, and since she had sold so many records, she and producer/collaborator Glen Ballard were given free range to do pretty much whatever they wanted, resulting in a muted, fitfully intriguing album that had the feel of a sophomore slump even if it was her fourth record (but who counts those first two records as part of her discography, anyway?)…

Alco Frisbass (2015). A new rousing episode of pure Canterbury-sound on Fading Records! Alco Frisbass from France advances a spectacular combination of elegant melodies and melting riffs revisiting the best Canterbury’s scenes with the support of: Jacob Holm Lupo (White Willow), Paolo "Ske" Botta (Not A Good Sign, Ske, Yugen), Thierry Payssan (Minimum Vital), Archimede De Martini (Stormy Six)…

Volume two in the Classics Slim Gaillard chronology presents the Flat Foot Floogee Boys in all their pixilated glory. Well known for his silly and imaginative use of hip scat and cannabis-informed "viper talk," Gaillard was also one of a handful of individuals who pioneered the use of the electrically amplified guitar. This entertaining compilation presents Gaillard in the company of trumpeters Cyril Newman, Al Killian, and Henry Goodwin, lightning alto saxophonist Herman Flintall, Kenneth Hollon on tenor sax, the versatile Garvin Bushell on clarinet, pianist Loumell Morgan, bowing/singing bassist Slam Stewart, and dynamic drummer Herbert Pettaway (also known as "Hubert"). There are no sleepers among these vintage recordings, which were originally issued on the Okeh and Vocalion labels…

The Fall were an English post-punk band, formed in Manchester in 1976. The band existed until 2018 and was essentially built around its founder and only constant member Mark E. Smith. Initially associated with the punk movement of the late 1970s, the group’s music went through several stylistic changes over the years, but is often characterised by an abrasive guitar-driven sound and frequent use of repetition, and is always underpinned by Smith’s distinctive vocals and often cryptic lyrics.