This remains the only recording of this exuberant and unique baroque piece, and a multiple award-winner. António Teixeira's extraordinary and grandly structured setting of the Te Deum was written for a New Year's Eve performance in 1734 in the Italian Church of his home city, Lisbon. Calling for eight soloists, five spaced choirs and a large orchestra, this lavish and ornate piece bubbles and sparkles through the text with an easy zest and breezy charm that is distinctively Portuguese, giving us a rare insight into musical life in Lisbon before the devastating earthquake of 1755.

Wagner's genius is often associated with his unique feeling for orchestration. Yet the transcriptions and paraphrases for piano solo recorded here lay bare the beauty and boldness of his harmonic language, with an evocative power unrivalled at the time. Nikolai Lugansky, at once narrator and virtuoso, immerses us in a world where the heroes of legend tell us - and with what loftiness of spirit! - of the torments and aspirations of humanity.

Clas Pehrsson, recorder, studied both music teaching and musicology and was active as a violinist and violist before deciding in the mid-1960s to dedicate most of his time to the recorder. His extensive international career as a soloist and chamber musician has included collaboration with the Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble in many countries in Europe and Asia as well as in the USA and Australia.

Peter Steele predicted that the follow-up to Bloody Kisses would accentuate Type O Negative's melodic side, specifically for the purpose of making money. Steele's attempt at "pop-goth" actually works well for a while; his cynical take on goth rock's typical subject matter is in full swing over the first half of October Rust, and the band gleefully wallows in its stated commercialism by personally thanking the listener for purchasing the album at its start and finish. Unfortunately, the songwriting runs out of steam over the second half, and the cover choice (Neil Young's "Cinnamon Girl") doesn't lend as much this time out; the overall entertainment value suffers as a result. October Rust comes off as a promising concept and a nice try, but lacks the consistency to fully realize the band's potential

The times had certainly changed since Déjà Vu's release in 1970. Nevertheless, there was a hunger in audiences for a return to the harmony-soaked idealism with which the trio had been catapulted to popularity, and CSN consequently reached number two on the charts, behind Fleetwood Mac's megasuccessful Rumours. The music here is very good, though probably not up to the hard-to-match level of Crosby, Stills & Nash or Déjà Vu. Still, the songs showed a great deal of lyrical maturity and compositional complexity compared to those earlier albums (from a far more innocent time). "Just a Song Before I Go" was the latest of Graham Nash's radio-friendly acoustic numbers, and a Top Ten single. "See the Changes" and "Dark Star" ranked with the best of Stephen Stills' work, while David Crosby contributed three classics from his distinctive oeuvre: "Shadow Captain," "Anything at All," and the beautiful "In My Dreams"…