Founded in 1904 and therefore the oldest of the city's symphony orchestras, the London Symphony Orchestra became world-renowned for recordings that date back to early gramophone records in 1912. Amid decades of diverse classical programming that followed, including performances for radio and TV, the orchestra also became known for its appearances in numerous film scores, including the Star Wars series. The LSO also tours and first visited North America in 1912 (narrowly avoiding passage on the Titanic).

Every once in a while a record comes along that somehow manages to define an era, 'Playing With Fire' is one of them. Reissue of 1989 album features 22 tracks including a bonus CD with 9 tracks worth of studio out-takes & demos, 'Honey' (Demo), 'Let Me Down Gently' (Drum Mix), 'How Does It Feel' (Alternate Version), 'Suicide' (Alternate Mix), 'Lord Can You Here Me?' (Demo Vocal), 'I Believe It', (Alternate Mix), 'Che' (Maracas Mix), 'Any Way That You Want Me' (Demo) & 'Girl On Fire' (Demo). Space Age Recordings.

Martin Charles Scorsese (born November 17, 1942) is an American film and television director, producer, screenwriter, and film historian, in addition to occasionally serving as an actor. One of the major figures of the New Hollywood era, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential directors in film history. Scorsese's body of work explores themes such as Italian-American identity, Catholic concepts of guilt and redemption, faith, machismo, nihilism, crime and sectarianism. Many of his films are known for their depiction of violence and the liberal use of profanity. Scorsese has also dedicated his life to film preservation and film restoration by founding the nonprofit organization The Film Foundation in 1990, as well as the World Cinema Foundation in 2007 and the African Film Heritage Project in 2017. A fan of rock music, which often permeates the soundtracks of his films, he has also been involved with a number of high-profile music documentaries, serving as the editor of the film Woodstock (1970), and directing the critically acclaimed The Last Waltz (1978) and No Direction Home (2005) among many others.

‘A dancer’s blood runs in my veins’ announces the heroine of Léhar’s Giuditta in the beguiling bolero-cum-waltz ‘Meine Lippen, sie küssen so heiß!’ which blazes into life around fifteen minutes into today’s Recording of the Week from Egyptian soprano Fatma Said, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo and special guests including lutenist David Bergmüller, Quinteto Ángel and the vision string quartet.

Smooth Jazz at Midnight brings together some of smooth jazz's best-known artists playing some of their lesser-known songs from some of their better-known recordings. As the title implies, this compilation is ripe with 13 previously released late-night tracks. It also features an exclusive track by trumpeter Tony Guerrero called "If I Could Have It All." His muted approach is flawless in the lower registers and provides the listener with the soothing sounds of his take on night music with just the right balance of guitar symmetry. However, the crème de la crème piece is Brian Bromberg's composition from his tribute to Jaco Pastorius. "Tears" is a beautiful song lead by Bromberg's electric bass voicings, and through his music and guitar savvy, it is a voice that pays homage to the bassman.

Following the 2011 landmark Beethoven cycle, Riccardo Chailly returns with a recording of the complete Brahms symphonies and orchestral works including the overtures and Haydn Variations. Rarities include world premiere recordings of two piano intermezzi orchestrated by Paul Klengel (brother of the Gewandhaus’ long-standing principal cellist Julius Klengel); the 9 Liebeslieder waltzes; the original first performance version of the Andante of Symphony No. 1 and the even rarer revised opening of the Fourth Symphony. Chailly has radically rethought his approach to these works, re-examining the scores and returning to the recorded interpretations of a generation of conductors alive during Brahms’ lifetime, principally Felix Weingartner and one of his Gewandhaus predecessors Bruno Walter.

Carmen McRae, a good friend of Thelonious Monk, sang 13 of his songs (two of which are also heard in different live versions) on this memorable project. Half of the lyrics are by Jon Hendricks, while the remainder were written by Abbey Lincoln ("Blue Monk"), Bernie Hanighen, Sally Swisher, or Mike Ferro. On all but the two concert performances, McRae is assisted by tenor saxophonist Clifford Jordan, pianist Eric Gunnison, bassist George Mraz, and drummer Al Foster; Mraz's solos are particularly impressive, although everyone is in sensitive form. The live recordings give listeners two more chances to acknowledge the uniqueness of tenor saxophonist Charlie Rouse's tone. As for McRae, her phrasing has rarely sounded better than on this classic set, and it is a particular pleasure to hear her interpret the intelligent lyrics and unusual melodies…

Entente Cordiale, the new album by guitarists Nigel Price and Alban Claret is a celebration of great jazz compositions brought to life through Price and Claret’s guitars, backed by their dynamic quartet. Entente Cordiale is an album that plays across a choice menu of jazz compositions and makes them sound as if they were all written for guitar. The two guitarists’ styles are well suited to each other throughout, speaking the same language with slightly different inflections and accents. The name of the album — translated as a cordial agreement with — is playful in that these musicians play as if they were born in agreement.

The long awaited Karizma re-release featuring Carlos Vega, Steve Lukather, Michael Landau, Nathan East, Lenny Castro, Brandon Fields, Mike O'Neill, Jimmy Johnson, Luis Conte, David Garfield and others.

At the initiative of the creation of the KLM trio there was the idea of ​​Philippe Macé to bring together the sound conditions, timbres and spaces, for a musical construction that relies on the artistic potential of the three musicians, improvisers and composers concerned and on an original instrumentation: trumpet/flugelhorn, vibraphone, double bass. There was also everyone's desire to create a fusional sound space, enriched by their personal journeys in jazz, contemporary music, world music. Thus the trio's music offers the listener a sonic journey that fluctuates between long, resonant beats and rhythmically denser short beats, between suppressed compositions and free improvisations.

Campra's Idomenee (based on the same story as Mozart's Idomeneo) was first staged in 1712. Campra significantly reworked the score for the 1731 revival, and it is this second version of the opera that is recorded here. The opera follows the traditional tragedie-lyrique pattern having five acts and a prologue. But under Campra's pen (I mean, quill), the formalities of the genre are transformed into a genuine drama. The comparison between the 1712 and 1731 versions of the opera confirms Campra's intention to produce an emotionally realistic drama: the second version eliminated several minor characters and streamlined the plot thus achieving a better dramatic effect.

Handel wrote incidental music for only one play, Tobias Smollett's Alceste, and it was never produced, so the composer, characteristically, recycled most of its major numbers. In this recording, Christian Curnyn and the Early Opera Company deliver a distinguished account of the rarely performed or recorded complete score. Written in 1750, late in Handel's career, it is clearly the work of the composer at the height of his powers, and many of its numbers deserve broader exposure. The soprano aria "Gentle Morpheus" is easily among the loveliest the composer ever wrote, and Lucy Crowe sings it with ravishing sensuality. Crowe's luminous singing in her three arias is one of the highlights of the album. Tenor Benjamin Hulett, whose part is given the bulk of the solos, performs with agility and lightness.

Elegance and passion are the outstanding qualities of Hungarian jazz pianist Mátyás Bartha, and he recorded his second album “From This Moment On” in trio format once again: "As a pianist, you really want to play in a trio," he believes, "because you can't hide behind a wind player." Bartha started playing music at the age of eight when he discovered his father's organ on his own. His parents recognized his talent and gave him piano lessons and a piano. He discovered jazz when he was thirteen.

Keeping your own band together is no small thing, but the Nuremberg alto saxophonist Markus Harm has been able to do this for the past ten years. His quartet, Foresight, is now releasing their third album, following the first two: “Dig It” and “As It Is”. Harm and his fellow musicians, Christoph Neuhaus on guitar, Jens Loh on bass and Dominik Raab on drums, have consistently further developed their specific ensemble sound. Harm composed nine new pieces for his musicians, from the fluffy opener "One Way Out" to the beautiful ballad "You" – dedicated to Harm's wife Alex – to "Iaen's Mess", in which the saxophonist grapples with the French composer Olivier Messiaen.

Innovative string trio Time For Three (TF3) – praised by Simon Rattle as “benevolent monsters, monsters of ability and technique surely. But also conveyors of an infectious joy that I find both touching and moving”– releases the new album Letters for the Future with the Philadelphia Orchestra led by Xian Zhang on Deutsche Grammophon on June 10. The album comprises world premiere recordings of two technically demanding and musically virtuosic concerti for trio and orchestra by two Pulitzer Prize-winning composers, written fifteen years apart but both commissioned for the group: Jennifer Higdon’s 2007 Concerto 4–3 and Kevin Puts’s brand-new Contact, the first track of which is available May 20.