At first glance, the title of Shostakovich’s opera seems to speak for itself: Katherina, neglected and unhappy in her marriage, commits the most heinous crime just like the Shakespearian Lady Macbeth. But Nikolai Leskov’s short novel, which portrays Katherina as a monster, was only the starting point for Shostakovich to elicit understanding for an oppressed woman whose pursuit for self-determination is suppressed by society. Through combining satiric, grotesque and tragic elements in his music, Shostakovich succeeds in striking the balance between repulsion at Katherina’s immoral acts and sympathy for her. Violence, eroticism and the paralysing boredom of Russian society in the 19th century are the founding elements of this composition.

Saint-Saëns excelled as a composer, conductor, pianist and organist – his composition output is enormous, reaching over 160 titles of which many are substantial – operas, ballets, symphonies – yet today much of his work remains neglected and he is known by a few works only: the Organ Symphony, Samson et Dalila, Danse Macabre and Carnival of the Animals. His original piano pieces are generally light ‘salon’ works but are nonetheless delightful and well formed. His major contribution to the piano works is the equally neglected body of transcriptions (of his own works and those of others) where he was sadly eclipsed by the more outgoing and promotion-minded Franz Liszt. This album and its companion include a number of first recordings, introducing a large body of keyboard gems to a new audience. Volume 1 is divided into two sections: transcriptions from Opera and Ballet, and pieces inspired by specific places.

Saint-Saëns excelled as a composer, conductor, pianist and organist – his composition output is enormous, reaching over 160 titles of which many are substantial – operas, ballets, symphonies – yet today much of his work remains neglected and he is known by a few works only: the Organ Symphony, Samson et Dalila, Danse Macabre and Carnival of the Animals. His original piano pieces are generally light ‘salon’ works but are nonetheless delightful and well formed. His major contribution to the piano works is the equally neglected body of transcriptions (of his own works and those of others) where he was sadly eclipsed by the more outgoing and promotion-minded Franz Liszt. This album and its companion include a number of first recordings, introducing a large body of keyboard gems to a new audience. Volume 1 is divided into two sections: transcriptions from Opera and Ballet, and pieces inspired by specific places.

Protest as she may – and she does, claiming in the liner notes that #1's is "not a greatest hits album! It's too soon, I haven't been recording long enough for that!" – it's hard to view #1's, Mariah Carey's first compilation, as anything other than a greatest-hits album. Carey was fortunate enough to have nearly every single she released top the pop charts. Between 1990's "Vision of Love" and 1998's "My All," all but four commercially released singles ("Anytime You Need a Friend," "Can't Let Go," "Make It Happen," "Without You") hit number one, with only a handful of radio-only singles ("Butterfly," "Breakdown") making the airwaves, not the charts. That leaves 12 big hits on #1's, all number ones.

Live at Chan's is the first live album from guitarist Nick Moss, and the follow-up to his last CD, Sadie Mae, which garnered stellar reviews, strong radio support and extended features in several guitar magazines about the blues guitar prowess of Moss. That wave of acclaim for Sadie Mae also brought nominations for "Album of the Year" and "Traditional Album of the Year" from The Blues Foundation's 2006 Blues Awards, at which Nick and the band also performed. Live at Chan's is Nick's present to all his fans who ve clamored for a live recording from the Chicago Blues guitar master and it plays just like one of his shows: honest, energized and visceral! Live at Chan's is the perfect showcase not only for Nick's blistering, soulful guitar and vocals, but also the amazing keyboard work of Piano Willie Oshawny, the multi-talented bass, harp and guitar playing of Gerry Hundt and the solid drumming of Victor Spann, all road-tested vets with the band over the last year or so.

This CD contains previously released versions of early tracks by Basnie and Moonshine and gives the listener an idea of the musical evolution of the band since their beginning in 1985 at the Frederic Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, with the track "Nocy Zamyslona" or the vibration of the unreleased track "38/39." Although sometimes the recording quality is not so good (the '80s-era tracks), some material is of good quality indeed (the '90s-era tracks). For fans of Collage, this CD contains good material from their initial career, making this work as a very worthy document and a rare CD.

These accounts are quite magnificent, and their claims on the allegiance of collectors remain strong. Their freshness and vigour remind one of what it was like to hear these symphonies for the first time. The atmosphere is authentic in feeling and the sense of nature seems uncommonly acute. Kubelík has captured the enthusiasm of his players and generates a sense of excitement and poetry. The playing of the Berlin Philharmonic is marvellously eloquent and, as is often the case, a joy in itself. The woodwinds phrase with great poetic feeling and imagination, and all the departments of this great orchestra respond with sensitivity and virtuosity.

Composed in 1982, Arvo Pärt’s Passio has retained its place as one of the foremost works of sacred music of the late 20th century. It has been called a minimalist masterpiece, and is a seminal work in the composer’s oeuvre – the culmination of his so-called tintinnabuli style, and the first in a line of large-scale choral works on religious themes. Passion settings have a long history, with polyphonic settings for choral performance beginning in the 15th century and continuing up until the high baroque and the monumental works by Johann Sebastian Bach.

James Newton Howard is a highly-regarded composer for film and television, with credits that include Prince of Tides, Alive, Dave, Grand Canyon, Promised Land, Wyatt Earp, The Dark Knight. He was joined on this project by members of the legendary rock super-group, Toto, which featured the unequalled brilliance of Jeff Porcaro on drums, and a dazzling display of three virtuoso keyboard artists on nine Yamaha synthesizers.

Hypnos, God of Sleep… Simon-Pierre Bestion’s recordings are often inspired by his desire to recreate a ritual. His aim here was to recreate a Requiem service, ‘the ceremony that accompanies the passage of a human being into the hereafter, while supporting the feelings of all who witness it. Making use of all the freedom that this act of re-creation afforded me, I constructed this programme without boundaries between repertories or different musical aesthetics – from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance to the twentieth century – selecting the works for their captivating musical material, their hypnotic and meditative dimension’. Intonations from Byzantine chant sit alongside guttural voices in Giacinto Scelsi and the English vocal style of John Tavener; Franco-Flemish Renaissance polyphony encounters the influences of eastern or western spiritual traditions present in the contemporary works.

Violinist Leticia Moreno, the Houston Symphony and its Music Director Andrés Orozco-Estrada present two world premiere recordings of works by contemporary composer Jimmy López Bellido. Aurora, for Solo Violin and Orchestra, and Symphony No. 2: Ad Astra share a fascination for the stars. While Aurora is inspired by López Bellido’s years in Finland, and particularly the privilege to witness northern lights, Ad Astra is an homage to humanity’s spirit of exploration, and dedicated to the people of NASA, whose bravery and vision continue to inspire humanity’s most ambitious dreams. López Bellido’s symphony adds a new dimension to the notion of per aspera ad astra (“through hardship to the stars”), which has been one of the central narratives of symphonic composition since Beethoven’s days.

English composer James Cook composed three major symphonies in his twenties and after a brief spell studying composition at Oxford in 1994 turned to the writing of sacred vocal and choral music, much of which has been recorded for Divine Art/Diversions. In 2000 he began to concentrate on organ music and competed a cycle of nine organ symphonies. Looking to expand his horizons further he turned to opera in 2010; his first, “Dorothy”, was premiered in London in 2015. Since then he has produced several more including a cycle of four on Biblical themes.

Of all England's living Knight-Conductors, Richard Armstrong is perhaps least represented on record. For 13 years, director of the Welsh National opera, he is best known for his work in that medium with just a handful of recordings.
In 1986, Marks and Spencer the famous department store decided to make its own in-house recording of the Enigma Variations coupled with the Introduction and Allegro and Serenade for Strings and booked Armstrong into EMI's Abbey Road Studios in July with the London Philharmonic to record this disc. The London Philharmonic had this music in its bones by then thanks to Adrian Boult and others, but Armstrong coaxed versions from them that are uniquely his own. Midway between Boult and Barbirolli, Armstrong's interpretations are scrupulously played but also at moments energetic, thoughtful and above all heartfelt. You get the feeling this conductors connects with the music.