Hyperion s Romantic Piano Concerto series continues to surprise and delight with a 51st disc of 19th century pianistic splendor. This release includes works by Wilhelm Taubert and Jacob Rosenhain. Both were near exact contemporaries with Mendelssohn, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt, Wagner and Verdi. Nearly half a century separates Taubert s two concertos. The second reflects developments in the areas of harmonic expansion, cyclic development, and, of course, increased virtuosity. It was described by Schumann as one of the best and he noted the parallels between it and Mendelssohn s Op.25. Rosenhain wrote two works for piano and orchestra a Concertino (probably written in the 1840s), and the concerto included on this disc. Although fairly conservative in its form, there is much gorgeous and masterful music here. Howard Shelley directs the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra from the piano; a partnership that has garnered the highest praise for their previous Hyperion recordings.

Pleyel’s symphonies concertantes are characteristic expressions of his idiosyncratic style. They are expansive, leisurely-paced works, texturally transparent in their solo sections and rich in melodic invention. Always sensitive to instrumental colour, Pleyel uses his unusual forces to weave a scintillating web of sound in these remarkable works. The original and virtually unknown version of the Violin Concerto in D, composed in the early 1780s, is one of the earliest of Pleyel’s solo concertos but no less attractive and assured than its successors. This recording includes the original first and second movements together with a new finale composed by Pleyel several years later.

A collection of acoustic delights recorded by Jimmy Thackery and John Mooney in 1985. Vintage blues and ragtime played by a pool in Jamaica. Guitars, mandocello, mandolins and guttural vocals are backed by native tree frogs (which sound a lot like crickets).

Claudia has enjoyed enormous popularity since the 1980s when she fronted the synthpop bands Propaganda and Act. The new solo album follows Cherry Reds expanded 2CD re-issue of Claudias debut solo album Love: And A Million Other Things. 'Where Else' is a collaboration with co-writer and producer John Williams (Housemartins, Proclaimers, Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott, Blancmange, Petula Clark). 'Where Else' follows the lyrical thread of Claudias debut solo album 'Love And A Million Other Things'. The album is not only a collection of moods and styles but a further examination of the vagaries of love; exploring emotion, beginnings, endings, past life and future hopes.

This 45-minute disc of primordial Chet Baker rarities shares its name with a companion volume of William Claxton's timeless photographs. The book visually preserves Baker and company during many of the same recording sessions heard on this release. The two presented here - produced by Dick Bock in Los Angeles during the early to mid-'50s - are the subject of some debate. The first date was originally recorded with the intent for Baker to add lead vocals, which he ultimately did. However, to get the most mileage out of the tapes, producer Bock re-released the same recordings three years later on the Pretty/Groovy album as instrumentals by substituting Baker's vocals with a lead tenor sax, performed by Bill Perkins…

One of several excellent hard bop pianists from the Memphis area, Harold Mabern has led relatively few dates through the years, but he has always been respected by his contemporaries. He played in Chicago with MJT + 3 in the late '50s and then moved to New York in 1959. Mabern worked with Jimmy Forrest, Lionel Hampton, the Jazztet (1961-1962), Donald Byrd, Miles Davis (1963), J.J. Johnson (1963-1965), Sonny Rollins, Freddie Hubbard, Wes Montgomery, Joe Williams (1966-1967), and Sarah Vaughan. During 1968-1970, Mabern led four albums for Prestige, he was with Lee Morgan in the early '70s, and in 1972, he recorded with Stanley Cowell's Piano Choir.

Definitely one of the more obscure official releases in The Kinks' discography, these days this EP is not talked about much when it comes to the band. Anyway, what we have here are late period Kinks and they not really doing anything too special. "Did Ya" is a great song and was a single they put out from this EP but it didn't really go anywhere. "Gotta Move" is a live version of a 64 Kinks song, "Days" is a re-recording of a Kinks song from 1968, "New World" and "Look Through Any Doorway" are new songs.

Charles-François Clément, born in Provence around 1720 and died in Paris in 1789, was professor of harpsichord in Paris, where he published: three cantatilles entitled Le Départ des guerriers, le Retour des guerriers in 1750 and Le Célibat in 1762; a book of Sonates en Trio pour un Clavecin et un Violon5 in 1743; a Harpsichord Journal, containing ariettes and arias transcribed for Harpsichord alone or with violin accompaniments; The music was chosen from the interludes and the successful comic operas. This journal was published monthly in Paris during the years 1762, 1763, 1764 and 1765, in-4 ° obl.

The Beautiful Game (sometimes performed as The Boys in the Photograph) is a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Ben Elton about a group of teenagers growing up during The Troubles in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1969. The title of the musical is taken from Pelé's autobiography My Life and the Beautiful Game. The plot, which is centred on a local football team, focuses on the attempt to overcome the violence that has engulfed their community. The Catholic team has one atheist player, Del (who comes from a Protestant family) and the coach is a priest. The musical chronicles some of the key players during the emerging political and religious violence.

Mary J. Blige, the legendary Grammy and Golden Globe winning and Oscar nominated singer-songwriter will release a collection of her biggest 1990s hits along with rare remixes, HERstory, Vol. 1, on 6 December via UMe.

ulian Lennon didn’t plan to make another album after his 2011 LP, Everything Changes, but as time went on, something shifted. The artist found himself revisiting songs he’d written and recorded 30 years ago, and decided to update the production, to make the tracks more relevant in today’s world. The creative process sparked new music as well. These songs, drawn from the past three decades, have evolved into Julian’s seventh studio album, Jude. The album’s title is a reference to the Beatles’ iconic song ‘Hey Jude,’ written by Paul McCartney, to cheer up a five-year-old Julian following his parents’ separation. The album cover, a photograph of the musician’s younger self accompanied by McCartney’s handwritten title, to the arrangement of the song, illustrates how Julian has come to terms with his past as he looks forward to the future. “…we are all still dealing with some of the same time old questions, from 30 plus years ago, to present day. Making Jude was truly a journey through my life and through all the questions I’ve had—not only for the world, but for myself. It’s very much like looking in a mirror all these years later.”