Beethoven – The Late Sonatas Opp. 101 & 106 marks the completion of Maurizio Pollini’s survey of the five late piano sonatas. His landmark 1970s recordings of these works were recognised at the time with a Gramophone Award. A few years ago the pianist decided to revisit the five sonatas, and in 2019 made an acclaimed second recording of the final three at the Herkulessaal in Munich. Now he has returned to the same hall to record Opp. 101 and 106 – among the most technically challenging and musical adventurous works in the concert repertoire. Deutsche Grammophon will release his new album on 2 December 2022.

Alim Beisembayev, winner of the 2021 Leeds International Piano Competition, makes his album debut on Warner Classics with solo works by Liszt, including seven of the ambitious Études d'exécution transcendante. Born in Kazakhstan and trained primarily in the UK, Beisembayev has been praised by leading critics for the spellbinding polish and maturity of his playing. “The Transcendental Études of Liszt are amongst the most challenging piano works ever written by any composer,” he says. “Frequently described as tone poems, these inspirational works take the étude to a new level … Since early childhood, I had been inspired by performances of these works by legendary pianists such as Cziffra, Richter and Kissin, never dreaming that I would one day be performing them myself…

In the heart of the Tibetan highlands, photographer Vincent Munier brings writer Sylvain Tesson on his quest to find the snow leopard. He introduces him to the subtle art of waiting from a blind spot, tracking animals and finding the patience to catch sight of the beasts. Through their journey in the Tibetan peaks, inhabited by invisible presences, the two men engage in a conversation on our place among the living beings and celebrate the beauty of the world.

In the Altonaer Fabrik in 1986, the master trumpeter Freddie Hubbard was a guest in the trio of one of the most important pianists of contemporary jazz: McCoy Tyner, whose extremely powerful attack always added percussive power of the most energetic kind to his virtuoso playing. McCoy Tyner died in March 2020, the recording from 1986 (he was 58 years old at the time) show him at the height of the unmistakable jazz expression that defined him. His piano and the enormous radiance of the Hubbard trumpet (born in the same year as Tyner in 1938, but died in 2008) are the outstanding protagonists. But the recording also features bassist Avery Sharpe, born in 1954 and with excellent acoustic and electrical credentials, as well as Louis Hayes, still today the most indestructible of all modern drummers at well over 80 years of age. Together they refine the nine titles of this two-hour concert on this truly remarkable evening of music!

Aside from the 1998 live set Different Stages, not much was heard from Rush after their tour wrapped up in support of their last studio album two years prior, Test for Echo. But in 2000, Rush fans starving for some new material got their wish when bassist/singer Geddy Lee issued his first-ever solo album, My Favorite Headache. Lee is joined by ex-Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron (who sounds almost identical to Rush drummer Neal Peart) and ex-FM guitarist/violinist Ben Mink, and both help Lee craft a record that resembles what a new Rush album would've sounded like.

Dohnanyi always gives good Mendelssohn, a composer whose music responds well to his neat, precise, tasteful, understated style of conducting. The Scottish Symphony captured here displays all of these virtues in lively tempos, typically superb playing by the Clevelanders, and a finale in which the add-on coda emerges with impressive naturalness from what has come before. But the real treat is the coupling: Die erste Walpurgisnacht (The First Witches’ Sabbath), a marvelous and (for Mendelssohn) quite ferocious cantata lasting a bit more than half an hour in which a pack of bloodthirsty druids intimidate a bunch of squeamish Christians.

Harold Mabern's second release on Smoke Sessions Records, Afro Blue, is a very special recording featuring guest vocalists Gregory Porter, Norah Jones, Jane Monheit, Kurt Elling, and Alexis Cole. The chemistry of these artists with Harold the sound of his piano voicings combined with their voices is extraordinary. Well-known in jazz circles as a consummate accompanist for instrumental soloists, The Mabe also has a special gift for sensitive and supportive playing behind singers. It's something he takes pride in and has been doing since he first hit the stage at Birdland half a century ago with Betty Carter.

It was more than 20 years ago that Dani Klein, Dirk Schoufs and Willy Lambregt put out the debut album of their Gypsy-blues trio known as Vaya Con Dios. They were decidedly eclectic: a blend of blues-soaked lounge, Latin-infused pop and Memphis soul. But from the first sexy, sassy hit single Just a Friend of Mine, the band became a household name in Belgium. Two years later, with the release of the second album, Night Owls, international fame was theirs. Music fans thirsting for soulful beats after the synthesised New Wave that had been dominating the airwaves ate the quirky Belgian band up, making hits out of both the fast, jazzy guitars on Nah Neh Nah and the slow, sultry Dani Klein classic What’s a Woman.

This splendidly produced collection will surprise and, I believe, delight. Lehar's mastery of the orchestra has never been in doubt; and here is further evidence of his technical accomplishment…What other operetta or waltz composer could have written music as powerful, gripping and spine-tingling as this?

Despite the Requiem for Mozart album title, the main attraction here is a work begun as early as 1776 and expanded and repurposed several times, including, in early 1792, a memorial service for Mozart in the city where he achieved some of his greatest triumphs. Those who argue for the historical authenticity of chamber-sized performances of Classical-era choral works should note the total forces of 120. Actually, it is interesting to contemplate what might have happened if the work had really been written as a requiem for Mozart, perhaps even with Mozart's own grim Requiem in D minor torso, K. 626, in mind. As the work stands now, it's an illustration of the breezy quality of so much sacred music of the late 18th century.

Levee Town is the 5th studio album by Sonny Landreth. Released on Sugar Hill Records Oct. 17, 2000 and re-released in an Expanded Edition on Landreth’s own LandFall Records April 21, 2009. This is slide guitar wizard Sonny Landreth's most ambitious work, and true to form it comes with no glossy fanfare (even the packaging is sepia tinted), just straight-ahead, well-crafted songs played with his usual intelligent, heartfelt playing. Like the photos that are easily passed over due to the quiet subtly of the sepia tones, the intricacy of his guitar work can easily be overshadowed by the flash that is inherent in the slide guitar. He takes the time here to do a number of acoustic songs and shows that there is more to him than a loud flash.

Trouble or Nothin' is a 1989 album by female artist Robin Beck. It was produced by Desmond Child and recorded and mixed by Sir Arthur Payson. Robin Beck is an American singer. She topped the singles chart in the United Kingdom in 1988, and Germany in 1989, with her single "First Time", which had come to the public's attention via its use in a Coca-Cola commercial. Other well-known songs of hers are "Save Up All Your Tears", "In My Heart to Stay", "Tears in the Rain" and "Close to You". Also, "First Time" was successfully covered or sampled many times, the most recent was made by Sunblock in 2006, peaking at number nine on the UK Singles Chart. Beck also performed it with German pop star Helene Fischer.

The first notes of the descending chromatic theme break the silence and it seems as if time has stopped. The listener is drawn into the world of John Dowland, the greatest lutenist of all, in a journey through multiple shades of melancholy and lucent hope. Never before had the lute sounded as expressive and colourful as in these masterful Fancies, as dynamic as in these sparkling dances: Renaissance lute music here reached its summit. Bor Zuljan explores these qualities in his debut solo recording, breathing new life into Dowland's masterpieces.