During his long life, the priest, nobleman, poet, and painter from Rome, Ermenegildo del Cinque (1700–73) wrote over 100 sonatas for two cellos and eighteen pieces for three cellos. Although he was a dilettante di musica, he was the most prolific composer of cello music of all time. Yet despite the fact that he also composed cantatas, a serenata and some sacred music, and was a renowned cellist in Rome, he remains virtually unknown today, even among cellists. This recording, made in the theatre of the Palazzo Altemps in Rome where del Cinque often performed, rescues some of these extraordinarily beautiful compositions from oblivion.

The works included on this album span 25 years of creative activity. While current projects are always my focus, looking back is not something I often do; however, this recording confronted me with compositions representing a good part of my creative life. Most interesting was to notice that, although my music has changed through the years, there are traits common to all these pieces. These are elements that encompass aspects ranging from the expressive to the technical. A penchant for certain types of melodic constructions, harmonies, and orchestration choices is always present in these works. Another common element is the use of idioms that stem out of Afro-Caribbean and, more specifically, from the folk and popular music of Puerto Rico’ Composer, Roberto Sierra.

The prosperous Hanseatic city of Hamburg with its thriving cultural life always attracted capable minds. One of these was Thomas Selle (1599-1663), who worked here as city cantor from 1641. Around 1650, he compiled what he considered to be the most relevant of his own sacred compositions for printing, in order to preserve his work for posterity. As was customary at the time, there were different instrumentation variants of the works, so that he presented several alternatives in Concertuum Latino Sacrorum. The result is a fascinating compendium by one of the most important composers of his time.

Heritages is another personal compilation of recordings by Balázs Fülei. All the pieces on the record are related in some way to folk music. The composers were touched by musical heritage, and from this soil there sprang new works. Thus, in their notes, the past and the present are joined together, the music of the community is linked to the expression of the individual artist.

Perfetto is the thirteenth studio album by Italian singer-songwriter Eros Ramazzotti, released on 12 May 2015 by Universal Music. The album released in 60 countries around the world - contains 14 new songs made between Milan and Los Angeles, with a central vision of the good life; love is in all its forms and manifestations, and elevates the soul to a perfect condition like "save the world". The album is available in three versions: the classic version in Italian, the Spanish version, and a special deluxe edition, which includes both versions of the songs, sung in Italian and then Spanish.

Songs from the Mirror was the third studio album that Fish released and it was the second of his two albums to fulfill his contract for Polydor. Fish needed more time to write a new album and he decided that to complete his current contract he would release an album of cover versions, an idea first conceived when he was with Marillion. The band was the same as the previous album except that Foster "Foss" Paterson replaced Mickey Simmonds as he had done on the tour. The songs chosen were personal favorites of Fish and are not all prog rock tracks as may have been thought from listening to his music. Of the tracks on the album, a number are fairly faithful to the originals; "Question" (Moody Blues), "Boston Tea Party" (Sensational Alex Harvey Band), and "Jeepster" (T. Rex). Fish did tend to adapt the slower songs on the album (e.g. Pink Floyd's "Fearless" and Sandy Denny's "Solo") to his own vocal style and his added depth to the music…

In his informative review of Michael Kieran Harvey’s excellent CD covering most of this repertoire (Tall Poppies 190), Phillip Scott aptly summarized Carl Vine’s music as “large-gesture Lisztian Romanticism, tempered by the influence of Messiaen, Carter, and other modernists” ( Fanfare 30:5). You might also want to throw Read more Lento middle section of the First Sonata’s second movement).

Like Seven, released four years earlier, Lisa Stansfield's eighth album bounces from style to style with the singer's deeply impassioned, life-embracing approach a constant feature. Sophisticated pop, Motown/Philadelphia International-styled retro-soul, a few flavors of house, and even muted go-go and elegant drum'n'bass factor into the material. Most unforeseen is "Hercules," not an update of the Allen Toussaint classic but a fiery hero's theme that incorporates the Bo Diddley beat, a triumphant horn arrangement from master Jerry Hey, and the main riff from John Carpenter's "Assault on Precinct 13." A few cuts rate with Stansfield's best. The title song sounds like it was designed to fit with smooth early-'80s R&B grooves like the Mary Jane Girls' "All Night Long" and Keni Burke's "Risin' to the Top."

London Baroque, one of our best pre-classical ensembles, has chosen an all-Marais programme for its debut on gramophone records. Both works come from a collection published in 1723 containing unusually extended pieces in a style often removed from that of Marais's Pièces de violes. The most elaborate of them is La gamme which, as its name suggests, relies both on the ascending and descending levels of the scale for its invention.

A modern adult contemporary singer, Kelly Sweet's debut album, We Are One, made moves on various AC radio charts after its release, based on the power of a few important singles. "Raincoat" and "We Are One" show a soft-voiced approach to ballads that's just a bit upbeat. This is normally the territory of singers like Dido and Norah Jones, but Sweet adds a deeper touch of production to the mix, making a slightly more man-made sound and using it for dramatic effect.

!!! could be lumped in with the other new wave dance-punk revivalists like the Rapture or Radio 4. That would be easy enough, as they all share an allegiance to the punky funk sounds of the '80s as pioneered by groups like Gang of Four, the Pop Group, Talking Heads, and others. Rather than merely lumping them in, maybe one could say they are leading the pack. Louden Up Now is easily the best record to come out of the movement; its ten tracks are filled with fervor, hooks, passion, and power. And unlike many of their peers, !!! have politics. Angry, righteous politics. Antiwar, anti-Giuliani, anti-Bush and Blair, and proud of it. It is like a blast of fresh retro air to have a band not just updating the sound but carrying over similar ideals as well…

La Passione is a novelty in the Chris Rea catalog, but a nice one at that. It’s a film soundtrack to a film he wrote but it sounds like a musical at times. With orchestral string movements mixed between familiar sounding Rea songs the overall is a relaxing lounge affair that even has guest vocals from the legendary Shirley Bassey on two numbers, making one a duet. It’s funny hearing Rea’s bluesy growl amid a sixties style orchestral sweep and although he’s no Tony Bennet it’s still pleasant. If you prefer the more pop/rock Rea then this is not the place to go but if like the cinematic atmosphere then it’s a nice detour and one of the strongest of his nineties albums.