Accordion sensation Ksenija Sidorova in a showcase demonstrating the full range and emotional power of her instrument. 'As an accordionist you sort of have to carve your own path, so I consider it my mission in this way to introduce the instrument to a wider audience', she says. The CD contains old and new repertoire, transcriptions and original works. Fairy Tales concerto by Vaclav Trojan, recorded with BBC National Orchestra of Wales, is written in an enchanting and approachable style with beautiful, heartfelt melodies. Arrangements and transcriptions of virtuosic showpieces include Moszowski’s Caprice Espagnol, the scherzo from Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (a transcription that has its roots in Rachmaninov’s arrangement) and Grieg’s Holberg Suite. Contemporary composition Who’s the Puppet? was written for Ksenija by Russian composer Artem Vassiliev. Petr Londonov’s Scherzo-­Toccata is a popular piece with accordionists but little-­known to wider concert audiences.

Townes Van Zandt was a one-of-a-kind artist who blazed a new trail for singer/songwriters, conjuring a sound that combined elements of country and folk with his own artful melodic sensibility, matched with lyrics that were personal, poetic, and impressionistic while remaining firmly down to earth. A new breed of Texas singer/songwriters followed Van Zandt's example, and it's all but impossible to imagine artists like Guy Clark, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, or Steve Earle finding their voice without his guiding influence. This two-disc set features Van Zandt's first two albums, 1968's For the Sake of the Song and 1969's Our Mother the Mountain.

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was widely known for his passionate, incomparable improvisations on the clavichord, most characteristically in the form of free fantasia. His compositions were unique in style, full of contrasts, and universally admired by several generations; the Vienna Classicists, even Beethoven and Schubert, considered him their musical father.

Juliette Nourredine, known to her fans simply as Juliette, is an acclaimed singer/songwriter from France whose albums regularly chart within the national Top Ten. Born on September 25, 1962, in Paris, France, the chanteuse began her performance career in Toulouse, where as a teenager she performed the songs of Jacques Brel and Edith Piaf on piano. In time she began writing songs of her own and singing. One of her early performances, a theater show from 1986, was released independently on cassette as Juliette (1987).

This release is a source of pride for guitarist Alberto Mesirca for several reasons. First, it’s the culmination of a recording endeavour begun in 2016, which sprung from an idea Mesirca had during an after-concert dinner with his beloved, late mentor, violist Vladimir Mendelssohn, who particularly loved yet had never performed Paganini’s 15th Quartet (more like a viola concerto with strings and guitar accompaniment). Mesirca then managed to convince Vladimir Mendelssohn to prepare scores for the complete repertoire.

Carl Vine has been firmly established as one of Australia’s leading composers for some years now although in the U.K. his name may be most familiar to many for his orchestral work, Descent, which figured as a finalist in the very first Masterprize competition several years ago.

From the mid-1810s until the end of his life, Beethoven constantly tested to the limit the forms he had inherited from Haydn and Mozart. His last two cello sonatas bear witness to this structural preoccupation, which was to open up so many new spaces . . . as do the final sets of Bagatelles, as disconcerting as they are innovative! Two genres shrewdly linked by Andreas Staier and Roel Dieltiens in these interpretations, in which eloquence merges with historically informed performance practice.

As part of Blue Note's Finest in Jazz series, guitarist Grant Green is spotlighted on six tracks recorded between 1969 and 1971, along with his first release for the label, "Miss Ann's Tempo," in 1961. This set is aimed at the casual funk and acid jazz fan, which is the reason his earlier hard bop material is substituted with later groove tracks like "California Green," "Cantaloupe Woman," and "Down Here on the Ground" (which was sampled by A Tribe Called Quest for their track "Vibes and Stuff"). These performances provide a decent snapshot of the guitarist's later recordings.

Unlike most DJs, the German duo of Piet Blank and Jaspa Jones actually write some of their own music. Hence this impressive album, the duo's fourth, which consists almost entirely of original compositions. Would that it also consisted almost entirely of original beats, but alas, most everything thumps along in predictable Euro-dance fashion, with the exception of the wonderfully funky and breakbeat-based title track. What redeems the sameness of the beats, though, is the shifting array of fine vocalists, the lush atmospheres, and the unabashedly sweet melodies that dominate the album. More impressively, the singers even make it possible to overlook the songs' giddily horrible lyrics ("Like a ghost that came from an old beginning/You heated up a freezing destiny," etc.)…

NOW Music is proud to present the next instalment in our ongoing ‘Yearbook’ series, NOW – Yearbook 1978; 85 tracks from a magical year in Pop!

Jessie Ware releases her fifth studio album That! Feels Good! via EMI Records. Lead track Pearls sees the dancefloor diva back where she belongs. Thumping with 70’s funk infused basslines and infectious grooves towed by sonic synthesisers, the track was co-written and produced by Coffee Clarence JR, Sarah Hudson and legendary British producer Stuart Price. The track is riding high on captivating energy that seems like it could’ve emerged straight from a mirror ball.

Everything is real. Olivier Messiaen’s piano cycle, Catalogue d'oiseaux (Catalogue of Birds), besides being one of the monumental creations of modern music, is one of the greatest 'cathedrals' among works ever composed for the piano (or any keyboard instrument).

“I was finally able to trust myself fully,” says Indigo De Souza of making her masterful third album All of This Will End. Across 11 its songs, the LP is a raw and radically optimistic work that grapples with mortality, the rejuvenation that community brings, and the importance of centering yourself now. These tracks come from the most resonant moments of her life: childhood memories, collecting herself in parking lots, the ecstatic trips spent wandering Appalachian mountains and southern swamps with friends, and the times she had to stand up for herself.

What is a Spark Bird? It's the bird that changes everything. It's the bird that inspires an ongoing curiosity and passion for these magical creatures. And in Emilie-Claire's case, the birds that helped changed the course of her life, and inspired her to put together this collection of songs.