This exceptional recording gathers the finest young vocal talents in a unique program of songs by Sullivan, many of them very rarely recorded. Currently widely acclaimed for key operatic title roles in the UK and abroad, the ""deeply touching, outstanding"" (The Guardian)soprano Mary Bevan, the ""elegant yet intense, impeccable"" (The Guardian) tenor Ben Johnson, and the ""increasingly impressive"" (The Financial Times) bass-baritone Ashley Riches - who here appears on Chandos for the first time - span fifty years of Arthur Sullivan's large non-operatic vocal output. They are accompanied by the UK pianist David Owen Norris, who regularly appears in highly praised concerto performances at the BBC Proms. This album continues to celebrate the Shakespeare anniversary but also presents a wide variety of poets, drawing on texts from a vast range of sources, through the voices of today's greatest rising stars.

The Italian Steffani spent most of his fabulous career as a composer, spy, and diplomat in Germany, in München and Hanover, with a prolonged visit to Paris to the court of Louis XIV. In terms of the prevalent national styles of music in the late 17th C, Steffani was "all over the place" – his overtures are thoroughly French, his arias sparklingly Italian, and his mastery of counterpoint profoundly German. Does that stylistic Duke's Mixture ring any bells? A certain pair of Germans born in 1685, one revered for his cantatas and the other for his operas, were both indebted to Steffani for his synthesis of Italian, French, and German fashions.

There are several Michael Jackson greatest-hits compilations out there, each one its own take on what should be the definitive portrait of the gloved one's career. The Ultimate Collection, The Essential Collection (different from the one here), and Number Ones have all surfaced in 2003 and 2004, and HIStory a few years prior. Each one of these collections, while commendable in its attempt to thoroughly document Jackson's accomplishments, has fallen woefully short in one aspect or another. This has finally been rectified with this installment of Sony's outstanding Essential collection.

Benefit was the album on which the Jethro Tull sound solidified around folk music, abandoning blues entirely. Beginning with the opening number, "With You There to Help Me," Anderson adopts his now-familiar, slightly mournful folksinger/sage persona, with a rather sardonic outlook on life and the world; his acoustic guitar carries the melody, joined by Martin Barre's electric instrument for the crescendos. This would be the model for much of the material on Aqualung and especially Thick as a Brick, although the acoustic/electric pairing would be executed more effectively on those albums. Here the acoustic and electric instruments are merged somewhat better than they were on Stand Up (on which it sometimes seemed like Barre's solos were being played in a wholly different venue), and as needed, the electric guitars carry the melodies better than on previous albums.

Magenta's brand new, and long awaited, 9th studio album sees a major change in direction from past works. A fully orchestrated affair with no drums or bass anywhere to be found (sorry Dan and Jiffy :) ) with Christina, like a fine wine, getting better with age and really gelling gloriously with the music. Chris Fry provides a classical guitar clinic which certainly augments the overall lush sound and that brings us to Robert Reed. While composers like Hans Zimmer, John Williams and Howard Shore are at the forefront of modern day film music scores, Rob succeeds in producing, arranging and adapting Magenta's unique sound so that he stands alongside some of the greatest composers of the modern era. 'White Witch - A Symphonic Trilogy' will take you on a musical exploration the likes of which you've never experienced.

The Very Best of Supertramp 2 is a best of album by the English rock band Supertramp originally released by A&M Records in November 1992. This compilation features 13 tracks from their five "prime" albums Crime of the Century, Crisis? What Crisis?, Even in the Quietest Moments…, Breakfast in America and …Famous Last Words… as well as the title track from their 1987 album Free as a Bird. The cover depicts the starry backdrop and grate from the cover of Crime of the Century, the hand carrying the glass from the cover of Breakfast in America, and the orange umbrella from Crisis? What Crisis?

"Dimensional Stardust" showcases the intricacy and complexity of Mazurek’s compositions but in their most potent, most compacted forms. Opting to focus on tight ensemble orchestration over passages of open improvisation, Mazurek distills a maximal orchestra of explosive improvisers into a beautifully restrained, graceful group exercise in melodic minimalism. The album features almost no “soloist” moments, excepting Jeff Parker’s other-worldy guitar meltdown on “The Careening Prism Within,” and when Nicole Mitchell’s flute floats to the front of the barrage on “Sun Core Tet.”

Formidable psychic warriors, channelers of the mystic and proponents of a spiritual quest that transcends this realm, Goat remain a band shrouded in mystery. Travelling from their origins in the Swedish village of Korpilombo across the stages and festivals of the world in the last decade, this band has created their incendiary music entirely according to their own co-ordinates and conducted their affairs strictly by their own code.

Singer Cymin Samawatie and percussionist Ketan Bhatti from the Berlin-based group Cyminology apply their poetic musical language on a larger scale with the Trickster Orchestra. Under Cymin and Ketan’s artistic direction, the orchestra interprets their characteristic blend of transcultural modern music. Cymin draws inspiration from traditional verses, spanning psalms to texts by Sufi poets Rumi and Hafiz, this time around performing lyrics not only in Farsi but also in Hebrew, Turkish and Arabic. With the growth of instrumentation comes an expansion of dynamics, textures and colours.

Power trio instrumental electric guitar rock to accompany footage of surfers, ranging from raging metal to wailing ballads. Jimi Hendrix lives again, and this time his name is Gary Hoey. A versatile American hard rock guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter, Gary Hoey found success in 1993 with a hard-hitting cover of Focus' "Hocus Pocus," which became one of the most ubiquitous singles of the year. Hoey emerged in the late 1980s as a leading candidate to replace Jake E. Lee in Ozzy Osbourne's band (the job went to Zakk Wylde), and he later went on to found the short-lived glam metal group Heavy Bones. Since going solo in 1993, Hoey has issued a string of LPs – such as Bug Alley (1996), Wake Up Call (2003), and Neon Highway Blues (2019) – that run the gamut from rock and blues to fusion. He has worked alongside Roger Daltrey, Johnny Winter, Joe Perry, Brian May, Steve Vai, and Dick Dale, among others.

Raised on Radio is the ninth studio album by the American rock band Journey, released in May 1986 on the Columbia Records label. It is the only album to feature bassist Randy Jackson, bassist Bob Glaub and drummer Larrie Londin. The album spawned four top 40 singles in the US: "Girl Can't Help It" (No. 17), "Be Good to Yourself" (No. 9), "I'll Be Alright Without You" (No. 14), and "Suzanne" (No. 17). It went to No. 4 on the Billboard 200 chart, and it was certified double platinum in the USA.

Strictly limited to 1500 deluxe 4CD sets (in 64-page hardback books), the package features all of the original album artwork and inserts, including the 15 page comic book companion to the Robot Woman 2 story.
Gilli Smyth, co-founder of Gong alongside Daevid Allen, formed Mother Gong with Harry Williamson in 1978 and the Robot Woman trilogy is widely accepted as one of the pinnacles of the band's career. Previously only available on 3 vinyl LP releases pressed in small number in the 1980s this long-awaited release heralds the first appearance of Robot Woman 1, 2 and 3 on CD, something devoted Gongsters have been requesting for years. Also included is a fourth disc of fascinating 'Demos and Rarities'; 18 previously un-released unknown and hidden extras, the earliest of which dates from 1976…

Tenor Jonathan Tetelman has already earned a reputation in the opera world as a dedicated, distinctive and versatile artist. Having signed an exclusive agreement with DG last autumn, he has now recorded his debut DG album, Arias, released 12 August 2022. With his agile technique, dramatic eloquence and rich palette of vocal colours, Tetelman here inhabits a range of roles from the French and Italian repertoire. DG is pleased to have been able to record the album in the unique acoustics of the Alfredo Kraus Auditorium in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and to work with such supportive partners as the Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria and its Music Director Karel Mark Chichon.