Ten Summoner's Tales is the fourth solo studio album by the English rock musician Sting. The title is a combined pun of his family name, Sumner, and a character in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, the summoner. Released in 1993, it explores themes of love and morality in a noticeably upbeat mood compared to his previous release, the introspective The Soul Cages released in 1991 after the loss of both his parents in the 1980s. This album contained two US hits; "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You" reached No. 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 and "Fields of Gold" reached #23. Ten Summoner's Tales was shortlisted for the 1993 Mercury Prize. In 1994, it was nominated for six Grammy awards, winning Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical, Best Male Pop Vocal Performance ("If I Ever Lose My Faith in You") and Best Long Form Music Video. It did not win Album of the Year, Record or Song of the Year.

2009 two set compilation from the legendary Rock guitarist who has played with Thin Lizzy, Pink Floyd and Gary Moore as well as enjoying a successful solo career. This carefully chosen double CD compilation showcases the best of his work from three decades of creativity. It includes his memorable 1983 UK Top Ten hit single Bird Of Paradise and many more tracks from albums made with his own regular White Flames band. Among the 1980s albums that provide a rich source of material for Disc One are White Flames , That Certain Thing , Snowy White , Change My Life and Open For Business . Disc Two covers the period from 1994 to 2005, drawing from Snowy s albums Highway To The Sun , No Faith Required , Little Wing , Keep Out: We Are Toxic , Restless and Way It Is.

Universal Music Distribution's Icon series dealt with Barry White's extensive back catalog in two forms. This one, a single-disc compilation (the other was a two-disc set), stays true to the Icon series format with 12 tracks and minimal packaging. It’s a decent sampler, but it’s nowhere near definitive and it doesn’t distill White’s work to its essence (an impossible task when limited to one disc). Several of the man’s most popular singles are here, including “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe,” “It’s Ecstasy When You Lay Down Next to Me,” “I’m Gonna Love You Just a Little More, Baby,” and “You’re the First, the Last, My Everything.” This merely scratches the surface.

This is definitely a Beethoven footnote, but an interesting one: two arrangements by the composer, one substituting a violin for the clarinet in his Clarinet Trio, the other reducing the Second Symphony to a Piano Trio. The violin version of the Clarinet Trio just seems like a compromise, and the piece misses the color of the clarinet. Paradoxically, trimming down the scoring of the Second Symphony results in a worthwhile alternate, in which listeners who know the Symphony well may be fascinated by the way the great composer attempts to reproduce his orchestral effects with smaller forces.

Trio Parnassus adopts flowing tempos for the “Archduke” trio, which fits into the ensemble’s overall “classical” conception of the work, quite removed from the Beaux Arts Trio’s slower and lovingly elevated performance that holds your attention by its sheer beauty of execution. There’s beauty aplenty in Parnassus’ playing as well, particularly in the serene Andante cantabile, where each variation unfolds in warmly glowing tone colors.

This seems to be a golden age for piano trios: such groups are springing up everywhere, like daffodils in the springtime. The Trio Parnassus are an experienced world-class ensemble who have garnered an extensive discography, and deservedly so.The present disc is hailed as the opening salvo in a complete recorded cycle of the Beethoven piano trios and I am much impressed.

Carlos Chávez is one of Mexico’s most important and prolific 20th-century composers. He championed the symphony form at a time when it was generally neglected by other Latin American composers, and the results are magnificent: when his first symphony Sinfonía de Antígona was premiered in 1933, invoking the best of Mexican tradition in a revived symphonic form, it received a rapturous reception, and led to a burst of inspiration for Chávez, who went on to compose five more symphonies before his death in 1978. He became a master of the symphony, developing and improving his style over the course of his life to great effect; the last movement of his Symphony No.6, a breathtakingly rapid Passacaglia, contains an astonishing 34 variations. This recording also includes his work Sinfonía india, arguably Chávez’s best-known piece, which features his use of indigenous Mexican instruments, played here with extraordinary lyricism and sensitivity.

Soles is a half-hour long ballet “after a Nahua tradition” from 1925 and is in the composer’s nationalistic style (you may think of Villa-Lobos now and again) while the 21-minute Pirámide (1968) is of sterner stuff tonally speaking but always rhythmically gripping.

Carlos Chávez was one of the most influential champions of modern Mexican concert music. He was passionate about his Mexican musical heritage, and recognized this richness. In 1928, he helped to organize the Orquesta Sinfónica de México and was its principal conductor until 1949, when the orchestra became the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional, as it is now known.

Pianist/vocalist Diana Krall pays tribute to the Nat King Cole Trio on her Impulse! set. In general, the medium and up-tempo tunes work best, particularly such hot ditties as "I'm an Errand Girl for Rhythm," "Frim Fram Sauce," and "Hit That Jive Jack." Krall does not attempt to directly copy Cole much (either pianistically or vocally), although his influence is obviously felt on some of the songs. The slow ballads are actually as reminiscent of Shirley Horn as Cole, particularly the somber "I'm Through With Love" and "If I Had You." Guitarist Russell Malone gets some solo space on many of the songs and joins in on the group vocal of "Hit That Jive Jack," although it is surprising that he had no other opportunities to interact vocally with Krall; a duet could have been delightful. Bassist Paul Keller is fine in support, pianist Benny Green backs Krall's vocal on "If I Had You," and percussionist Steve Kroon is added on one song. Overall, this is a tasteful effort that succeeds.

Diana Ross' glossy 1981-1987 tenure on RCA is the subject of this 18-track collection, which includes her hit tribute to the late Marvin Gaye, "Missing You." Other highlights include her cover of Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers' "Why Do Fools Fall in Love," "Mirror, Mirror," "Swept Away" and a solo version of the chart-topping "Endless Love".