For the 200th anniversary of the birth of Frédéric Chopin, the renowned Ruhr Piano Festival in Essen invited the Staatskapelle Berlin to give a truly special program: the rare combination of Chopin‘s two piano concertos in one concert. For this purpose Daniel Barenboim, the orchestra‘s principal conductor, handed over the reins of „his“ ensemble to up-and-coming young conductor Andris Nelsons, assuming the role of piano soloist instead. The press raved: „Storms of applause for a dream couple: Daniel Barenboim and Andris Nelsons won over the audience […] with their rousing Chopin interpretations“.

Maurice Yvain’s operettas were immensely successful in the 1920s. The fantasy of the ‘swing’ music, the catchy songs and the perfectly oiled rhythms were all the rage in the Paris of the Roaring Twenties. But the success of these comedies, with their caustic humour, also owed much to the fabulous texts by Albert Willemetz, considered as one of the fathers of modern operetta in the twentieth century. Yvain and Willemetz’s numbers were hummed in the streets and charmed all who hear them – and still do, even a century later! Les Frivolités Parisiennes set out to revive this music, which is still as young as ever. Yes! was premiered at the Théâtre des Capucines on 26 January 1928 and was an immediate hit: this story of a complicated marriage, moving between Le Touquet and London, was to remain on the bill for years to come. The version presented here by Les Frivolités Parisiennes is as close as possible to the spirit of the work’s premiere, and includes all available musical material. With the exceptional participation of Clément Rochefort as narrator.

The son of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750), Carl Philipp Emanuel, described his father’s Sonatas BWV 1014–1019 as among the best works his father ever wrote and continued to perform them extensively after his father’s death. This is music of implication and inference, the emotions no less real for their apparent lack of specificity. There is pleasure in the paradox: even without a text, the music sings.

The relationship between violinist and violin—not to mention the bow—is its own kind of union. I was 20 years old when I played my first great Stradivari. It was a confusing experience for me—the sound the instrument made was beyond my ability to control, and I had never imagined such possibilities of colour and texture. In fifteen minutes with the instrument, I learned more about the violin than I had learned in my previous two years of practising! One of the pieces I played on it was the Allemanda from Bach’s B minor Partita, an experience that left a lasting impression on me. It was simultaneously humbling and exhilarating, and I had the distinct impression of being in the presence of two giants of the violin, Bach and Stradivari. I realized then that if I wanted to do them justice, there was still a lot of practising to do! Thinking on it now, it is completely inspiring to me that our artform involves the collaboration of so much genius— great violinists play music composed by great composers, on instruments made by great luthiers, creating a single seamless listening experience.

Since the release of the first volume, (Piano Concerto and Symphony, BIS-SACD-1191), in February 2003, this series has been gathering the most extravagant praise, both for the committed performances of Ole Kristian Ruud and the Bergen Philharmonic – Grieg's 'own' orchestra – and for the sound quality, which has been held up as a model for all labels making orchestral Surround Sound recordings. With this, the sixth, instalment the turn has come to the Peer Gynt Suites, possibly the best-loved of all Grieg's orchestral music.

The American countertenor Christopher Lowrey founded the vocal ensemble Altera ‘to form the beating heart of professional choral music in the United States’. Now regarded as one of the finest and most enterprising choirs on the North American continent, Altera has devised this musical tour through sacred territories which focuses on epic narratives from various periods, from Renaissance music to the present day. The programme includes timeless works by Gibbons, Lotti, Scheidt and Bruckner, as well as twentieth-century compositions by Poulenc, Messiaen and others. Barber’s celebrated Adagio sits alongside the moving Salvator Mundi , taken from Herbert Howells’s Requiem . Not forgetting three world premiere recordings of works written or arranged for Altera by composers Joanna Marsh, Zuzanna Koziej, and Michael Garrepy, who has arranged Were you there?

A disc which will delight both Vivaldi enthusiasts and lovers of Baroque music generally. Excellent recorded sound and strongly recommended on all counts.

Complete Discography compiles Minor Threat's entire body of recordings on a single compact disc. Hardcore, as a rule, wasn't particularly musically diverse, but Minor Threat were one of the genre's groundbreaking acts and their music has held up better than most of their contemporaries. As the de facto leaders of the Washington, D.C., hardcore scene, the band pioneered the straight-edge mentality by emphasizing impossibly fast tempos, brief songs, political lyrics, and a drug- and alcohol-free lifestyle. Besides setting the precedent for several generations of punk rockers with their music and ideals, Minor Threat were simply a better band than most hardcore groups. They had a tight, distinctive sound that wasn't as heavy as their Californian counterparts and, therefore, were often more bracing and effective. Although some of the music on Complete Discography, like much of hardcore in general, hasn't aged particularly well – with its cheap production, rigid song structures, and political concerns, it is very much a piece of the early '80s – the sound remains invigorating; the band possessed a visceral energy matched by only a handful of their peers.

Walked All Night Long marked the first recorded pairing of blues guitarists Louisiana Red and Lefty Dizz in 1976. Most of the tracks are originals, with the exception of the traditional "Ever Heard a Churchbell Sound" and Slim Harpo's "King Bee." The intensity here is not for the faint of heart, evident on tracks like "Bring Me My Machine Gun," "Stole From Me" (featuring blazing harmonica from Red), "Too Poor to Die," and "Cold White Sheet." The later features piano backup from Kyril Bromley who also appears on two other tracks. If you're a fan of hard-hitting gritty slide guitar with raw emotion, Walked All Night Long is a treasure you should search for from the Blues Alliance label.

One of the unsung heroes of 1970s soul, Willie Hutch was never the big name he deserved to be. The smooth singer/composer had a few major and moderate hits, but commercially, he didn't make it to the level of Marvin Gaye, Ronald Isley, and Curtis Mayfield (all of whom he inspires comparisons to). Released in late 1998, The Very Best of Willie Hutch spans 1972-1982 and reminds us how engaging a singer he was in his heyday. Hutch could get funky when he wanted to, and he does so with splendid results on "Get Ready for the Get Down" (a number 24 R&B hit), "Brothers Gonna Work It Out," and the theme from the 1973 blaxploitation film Foxy Brown. But for the most part, Hutch made his mark as a romantic crooner. It is Hutch's smooth, romantic side that prevails on "Sunshine Lady," "I Choose You," "What You Gonna Do After the Party," and his inspired makeover of Barbra Streisand's "The Way We Were." Appropriately, the CD opens with Hutch's biggest hit: the perky, feel-good anthem "Love Power," which went to number nine on the R&B singles charts. Full of gems that were recorded during Hutch's peak years, this CD is essential listening for lovers of 1970s soul.

If listeners had to commit to a single version of Vivaldi's Four Seasons for the rest of their lives, this 1984 BIS recording would be thoroughly satisfying choice. Superbly played, brilliantly recorded period instrument performances of this perennial masterpiece are all but a dime a dozen, and the differences between Hogwood's and Pinnock's and Harnoncourt's readings don't begin to make up for the fatal boredom of their performances. This version with Nils-Erik Sparf and the Drottningholm Court Baroque Ensemble would be an ideal choice because theirs is the freshest performance of the piece. Beyond their excellent technique and impeccable sense of style, Sparf and the Swedish musicians bring joy and enthusiasm to the music, and sound like they are in turn receiving happiness and energy from the music. There's real pleasure here, and real affection, as if the concertos were newly composed and these were their world premieres. Filled out with witty accounts of Vivaldi's F major Concerto for Bassoon and his G minor Concerto for Flute and Bassoon, this disc is a delight.

Teacher of Rachmaninov and Scriabin, Anton Arensky (1861-1906) divided his life between metropolitan St Petersburg and provincial Moscow – during the second half of the 19th century, as Stephen Coombs points out in his excellent notes, ‘a city of sharp contrasts, fiercely religious, noisy and mournful… [of] sober days… followed by riotous nights’. A contemporary recalled him as ‘mobile, nervous, with a wry smile on his clever, half-Tartar face, always joking or snarling. All feared his laughter and adored his talent.’ Rosina Lhevinne remembered him being ‘shy and rather weak’. Tchaikovsky, like Prokofiev and Stravinsky, had time for his art, but Rimsky (whose pupil he’d been) thought he would be ‘soon forgotten’. Maybe Arensky, drunkard and gambler, was no genius, and he was demonstrably lost among the elevated peaks of Brahmsian sonata tradition. But that he could turn a perfumed miniature more lyrically beautiful than most, more occasionally profound too, is repeatedly borne out in the 27 vignettes of this delicate anthology (Opp. 25, 41, 43 and 53 in full and excerpts from Opp. 36 and 52 ).

Polish-born Mieczysław Weinberg twice escaped from Nazi invasions, finally settling in Moscow, where for more than 30 years he was Shostakovich’s closest musical friend. Composer of 26 symphonies, seventeen string quartets and seven operas, he was also a master of the solo string sonata, a genre not touched by Shostakovich and little cultivated in the Soviet Union. His four sonatas for cello solo were composed between 1960 and 1985 and enshrine some of his most concentrated and poetic inspirations.