Johann Franz Xaver Sterkel was born in 1750, died in 1817. He first prepared for a service in the church, taking holy orders in 1774. Being musically gifted he was educated on organ and fortepiano and regularly played in the cathedral and at the seminary Stift Neumünster in Würzburg, his native city. When a minister in the service of the Elector of Mainz heard him play he invited him to visit the court in Mainz. Apparently the Elector liked his playing and offered him a permanent position. The political situation was difficult and considerably influenced his career. In 1792 French troops attacked Mainz and the court moved to Aschaffenburg; the chapel was disbanded.

Ernest Chausson’s death in 1899 in a bicycle accident robbed French music of a major talent. Almost his entire orchestral output fits on this extremely fine CD. Yan Pascal Tortelier’s performance of the richly romantic Symphony is the best since Munch’s Boston Symphony recording. Like Munch, Tortelier knows how to keep the music moving along–he’s only an insignificant two minutes slower than Munch for the whole work–without overindulging the more luscious moments, which in Chausson’s opulent setting really do take care of themselves. Even better, rather than some overplayed encore piece by another composer, the symphony is coupled with two very attractive, rarely heard tone poems and two charming orchestral excerpts from the composer’s incidental music to Shakespeare’s The Tempest. The orchestra plays with conviction, Chandos’ sonics are gorgeous, and if you don’t buy this disc, you’re missing out on some marvelous stuff.

Sanborn's '83 release brought a new meaning to late night or midnight music listening ! By no means is this elevator muzak, either ! In fact, Sanborn was on the cutting edge in using drum machines and synthesizer arrangements without stifling his sax playing or throwing the whole project out of whack. Sanborn's playing is very upfront and sharp ! While the recording may sound dated, it is only in a very good positive way to demonstrate what is lacking in some of today's so-called pop-jazz or r & b instrumentalists.

To mark his debut on Deutsche Grammophon with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Yannick Nézet-Séguin pays tribute to his legendary predecessor on the podium, Leopold Stokowski. The transcriptions of Bach's organ music are among Stokowski's most celebrated achievements, and none is more famous than his expansive arrangement of the Toccata and Fugue in D minor, which was prominently featured in Walt Disney's Fantasia. It's a classic showpiece for the orchestra, as are Stokowski's fulsome orchestrations of the "Little" Fugue in G minor, and the Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor.

As the Otis Williams-fronted Temptations learned with Ear-Resistible, the group's surprisingly successful album from a year earlier, it's best to play it safe and stay true to the times. And that's precisely what Williams does on Awesome, an album that models itself after Ear-Resistible. There are mostly ballads here and some innocent concessions to the hip-hop audience. Overall, though, this is the Temptations sounding like the Temptations, albeit a tender yet resilient Temptations.

This recording of Vivaldi's Four Seasons violin concertos is ad hoc in more ways than one. The only name listed on the cover is that of violinist Alexandra Conunova, who, in the midst of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, assembled a one-off group of players in Switzerland. There is no shortage of recordings of these concertos, but this one has an unusual feature: Conunova begins not with the Violin Concerto in E major, Op. 8, No. 1 ("Spring"), but in medias res with the "Fall" concerto. No explanation for this is given, although it does result in the placement of the "Summer" finale, arguably the movement that Vivaldi's audiences would have found the most striking, as the final climax of the whole set. Conunova has been touted as a talent to watch, and those interested in her developing career may find this bold release of interest.

Time is the ninth studio album by English rock band Electric Light Orchestra. It topped the UK Albums Chart for two weeks. Time is a concept album written about a man from the 1980s who is taken to the year 2095, where he is confronted by the dichotomy between technological advancement and a longing for past romance. Time is a work of synth-pop that combines elements from 1950s music, new wave, reggae, rockabilly, the Beatles, Phil Spector and the Shadows. The album signalled a departure from the band's sound by emphasising electronics over its usual orchestra.

Canned Heat founder and guitar great Bob Hite once described his band as "a rock band with country/blues roots" and perhaps a little less modestly, "the first and greatest boogie band ever." Canned Heat's "greatness" has always seemed to elude them by a hair, however, regardless of their versatility and devotion to the strange and wonderful mutations their music endured, particularly in the '60s. But these dudes do nothing if not persevere. Having lost their signature falsetto and lowdown harp man Alan Wilson in 1970, 1996's Canned Heat Blues Band fronts "The Bear's" third vocal replacement, Robert Lucas, who wisely doesn't pretend he can cover those cool old road-trip-on-acid songs (like "Going Up the Country") in a particularly familiar manner.

Cold Chisel's following had been steadily building for a number of years when their third – and slickest to date – album, East, broke them through to a wider audience in 1980. More commercial without compromising on the rawness of their roots, the band hit pay dirt with a clutch of songs it seemed everybody could get into. The virtuosity of the Chisel's musical abilities still comes through on songs that were, nevertheless, compact enough to be radio-ready. The up-tempo loner anthem "Standing on the Outside," the enchanting ballad and breakthrough single "Choirgirl," and the tongue-in-cheek "Ita" all had the hooks to land a singalong audience. On "Star Hotel," the sonic fury of the chorus captures the essence of the subject matter: a wild street battle between angry pub patrons and police that took place in the city of Newcastle, Australia, in September 1979.

Red Rose Speedway is the twelfth release in the Paul McCartney Archive Collection, personally supervised by Paul McCartney. Released in April 1973 and featuring the #1 single My Love, Red Rose Speedway was the first Wings album to hit #1 on the U.S. chart. The 2CD digipack features the original album remastered at Abbey Road Studios on CD1 and bonus audio of singles, B-sides and previously unreleased tracks on CD2.