Obsessive in gambling and in love, the soldier Hermann is the protagonist of Tchaikovsky’s Pique Dame, based on a story by Pushkin. He is smitten with the aristocratic Lisa and fixated on learning the winning secret of ‘the three cards’ from her grandmother, the Countess, played by iconic contralto Ewa Podles. This opulent production from Barcelona’s Liceu captures St Petersburg in the era of Catherine the Great, while the house’s Music Director Michael Boden conducts a large and impressive cast.

Unlike either its predecessor Alone in the Universe or 2001's Zoom, From out of Nowhere didn't appear after a prolonged period of silence from Jeff Lynne's ELO. It arrived in November of 2019, nearly exactly four years after Alone in the Universe, a rapid turnaround that recalls Lynne's work schedule as a bandleader and producer in the 1970s and '80s. That's not the only way From out of Nowhere conjures memories of the past. From the spaceship hovering on its record cover to the song title "Sci-Fi Woman" stirring up the ghost of "Evil Woman," the album is designed to sound and feel like an Electric Light Orchestra album from the late 1970s.

It was Joe Strummer's good fortune that he was the frontman of one of the greatest rock bands of all time, the Clash. It was his burden that after the group broke up, he had to spend the rest of his career being judged by a standard that meant only so much to him. Very little of what Strummer did as solo artist followed the musical template of the Clash, and that was just the way he wanted it. His albums had as much to do with folk as rock in their focus on storytelling and character studies, as well as his willingness to incorporate acoustic guitars and fiddles in their arrangements to give them a sound and personality distinct from what he'd done in the past.

A collection of previously unreleased songs from Gary Moore's substantial body of outstanding work in his back catalogue. The album contains 4 originals, and 4 songs previously recorded and made famous by classic bluesmen like Elmore James, Sonny Thompson, Memphis Slim and BB King. It's our hope that current and future generations of music fans discover and re-discover Gary Moore, revelling in the artistry of not just a great guitarist, but a supremely talented musician. Back to the future with Gary Moore.

Four examples of Bohemian Expressionism: Romantic with the tombeau ‘to the memory of an angel’ that Smetana erected to his daughter Bedřiska, and the two pieces that Suk wrote under the influence of Schumann and Dvořák, his father-in-law; and modern with the premiere of the Trio 1978 by the late Luboš Fišer, tormented composer, too soon forgotten, of the 15 Prints on Dürer’s Apocalypse (1965).

Michael Alexander Willens führt dieses Werk in solistischer Besetzung auf und erzielt dadurch ein Höchstmaß an Klarheit, Homogenität und Stringenz. Ein wichtiger Baustein für die Geschichte der oratorischen Passion.