The massive popularity of Grieg’s Piano Concerto contributed significantly to his renown, marking a high point in his early period. This is a truly Romantic concerto with parallels to Schumann in its emphasis on melodic lines. The overture In Autumn has an air of Mendelssohn in its sense of drama combined with a ‘union of merry and serious elements’ that characterise the season. The Two Lyric Pieces and the Old Norwegian Melody with Variations provide an attractive mosaic of Norwegian mood pictures. The Elite Recordings for Vox by legendary producers Marc Aubort and Joanna Nickrenz are considered by audiophiles to be amongst the finest sounding examples of orchestral recordings.

This album features two compositions by Jean Sibelius from different moments in the Finnish musician’s life. The Impromptu Op.5 for string ensemble is an early work from 1894, in which Sibelius uses some thematic materials from his solo piano impromptus Nos. 5 and 6 from the Op.5 set. The Romance in C Op.42 (1903) was composed during a difficult phase in the composer’s life caused by excessive alcohol consumption, which prompted him to leave Helsinki and move with his wife near to Lake Tuusula, where he could dedicate himself to composition far from the temptations of the Finnish capital. The piece is divided into short sections in which the melodic ideas arise from fragments of the octatonic, or diminished, scale of alternating whole and half steps supported by dissonant harmonies that add further tonal instability.

Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade is one of the most popular suites in the entire orchestral canon. The work’s imperishable melodies and sonorities were an influence on Stravinsky and have been referred to by innumerable cinema composers ever since. The musical narrative draws on The Arabian Nights, appealing to the imagination with its haunting beauty and enchantingly exotic atmosphere. The entire world of Bedrich Smetana’s beloved opera The Bartered Bride is captured in the Overture, the rousing nature of its dances a further celebration of Czech national resurgence in the 19th century. The Elite Recordings for Vox by legendary producers Marc Aubort and Joanna Nickrenz are considered by audiophiles to be amongst the finest sounding examples of orchestral recordings.

David Crosby's debut solo album was the second release in a trilogy of albums (the others being Paul Kantner's Blows Against the Empire and Mickey Hart's Rolling Thunder) involving the indefinite aggregation of Bay Area friends and musical peers that informally christened itself the Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra. Everyone from the members of the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane to Crosby's mates in CSNY, Neil Young and Graham Nash, dropped by the studio to make significant contributions to the proceedings. (Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, and Bill Kreutzman, primarily, act as the ad hoc studio band, with other notables adding bits of flavor to other individual tracks.)

Carl Seemann's Complete Deutsche Grammophon Recordings box set features recordings with Fritz Lehmann, Berliner Philharmoniker, NDR Sinfonieorchester, Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, Bamberger Symphoniker, Mnchner Philharmoniker, Ferdinand Leitner and many more. Highlights include his celebrated Mozart records on 11 CDs and his famous Beethoven and Brahms duo recordings with violinist Wolfgang Schneider.

A famous French horn virtuoso in his days, the shadowy figure known only as ‘Mr Charles the Hungarian’ was an eccentric opportunist who travelled to Dublin in March 1742. A natural entrepreneur, he capitalized on the ‘Handelmania’ surrounding Handel’s residence in the city at the time, and produced a concert at the Smock Alley Theatre which consisted mainly of Handel’s music. This album recreates the programme and the bohemian atmosphere of the event, showcasing solos for various instruments, some of which had never been heard in Ireland before.

Frith plays the Sonata, and the balance of the program, with clarity and strength, and follows the dramatic contours with vaulting confidence.

A fascinating collection, Best of the Early Years essentially takes the first two 10cc albums in their entirety, replaces four Sheet Music cuts with as many period B-sides, and then jumbles everything up into a running order that works almost as well as the original LPs. It is unlikely whether any true fan would ever consider the instrumental "Hot Sun Rock," or the workaday "4% of Something" and "Bee in My Bonnet" as fitting replacements for the likes of "Hotel," "Baron Samedi," "The Sacro-Iliac" or "Oh! Effendi" (the absent songs). But the presence of "Waterfall" reminds us that not all of the band's best ideas made it onto LP and, while it's difficult to understand why anybody would prefer a collection like this to, say, the Complete UK Recordings package, which takes a fully comprehensive look at the same period, still the budget price is difficult to argue with.

Gerard Hugh "Leo" Sayer is an English-Australian singer-songwriter musician and entertainer whose singing career has spanned four decades. He is now an Australian citizen and resident. Sayer launched his career in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s, and became a top singles and album act on both sides of the Atlantic in the 1970s. His first seven hit singles in the United Kingdom all reached the Top 10 – a feat first registered by his first manager, Adam Faith. His songs have been sung by other notable artists, including Cliff Richard ("Dreaming").

The Chicago Transit Authority recorded this double-barreled follow-up to their eponymously titled 1969 debut effort. The contents of Chicago II (1970) underscore the solid foundation of complex jazz changes with heavy electric rock & roll that the band so brazenly forged on the first set. The septet also continued its ability to blend the seemingly divergent musical styles into some of the best and most effective pop music of the era. One thing that had changed was the band's name, which was shortened to simply Chicago to avoid any potential litigious situations from the city of Chicago's transportation department – which claimed the name as proprietary property.

As her 1993 blockbuster debut approached its 25th anniversary, Toni Braxton proceeded to collect accolades while moving forward. Her duets album with Babyface was designated Best R&B Album in 2015 by the Recording Academy – making her a Grammy winner in three decades – and the connection with her foundational audience was reaffirmed in 2017 with a Soul Train Legend Award. Her every-few-years release schedule was maintained with this short album, in which she responds to a habitually philandering lover with her distinctive mix of fire and finesse. This has more of the former element than any previous Braxton release.

To commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the original Beatles Anthology project comes The Beatles Anthology Revisited, an 18-episode, 28-hour long audio documentary podcast presenting the Beatles' story in the Beatles' own words. John, Paul, George, and Ringo, are joined by George Martin, Brian Epstein, Neil Aspinall, Mal Evans, Pete Best, and Derek Taylor in the retelling of the history of the Beatles, from its beginnings during the bandmates’ childhoods in World War II, up until the present day, most recently when Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr performed together at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2015. At more than twice the running time, hear all the details left out of the original Anthology. Discover the inspiration behind virtually every original song the Beatles ever released.Listen as the story is told beyond the breakup, exploring the Beatles' history through the 1970s and after. Every tour, every album, every film, and every hit single is recounted in painstaking detail by John, Paul, George, and Ringo and their inner entourage. The Beatles Anthology Revisited is the Beatles' Anthology like you've never heard it before.

Fables of the Reconstruction was intentionally murky, and Lifes Rich Pageant was constructed as its polar opposite. Teaming with producer Don Gehman, who previously worked with John Mellencamp, R.E.M. developed their most forceful record to date. Where previous records kept the rhythm section in the background, Pageant emphasizes the beat, and the band turns in its hardest rockers to date, including the anthemic "Begin the Begin" and the punky "Just a Touch." But the cleaner production also benefits the ballads and the mid-tempo janglers, particularly since it helps reveal Michael Stipe's growing political obsessions, especially on the environmental anthems "Fall on Me" and "Cuyahoga." The group hasn't entirely left myths behind – witness the Civil War ballad "Swan Swan H" – but the band sound more contemporary both musically and lyrically than they did on either Fables or Murmur, which helps give the record an extra kick. And even with excellent songs like "I Believe," "Flowers of Guatemala," "These Days," and "What if We Give It Away," it's ironic that the most memorable moment comes from the garage rock obscurity "Superman," which is sung with glee by Mike Mills.

The five albums collected in this 2013 slipcased box – The Wishing Chair, In My Tribe, Blind Man’s Zoo, Our Time in Eden, and MTV Unplugged – capture 10,000 Maniacs' work during their Elektra years. 1985 to 1993 represents the group's most popular and creative peak, and this box is an easy, affordable way to get all the material from that era in one purchase. Each album is presented as a mini-LP housed in a cardboard sleeve as a way to cut down cost and save space.

Let Me In is a star-studded all-blues set from Johnny Winter, featuring cameos from Dr. John, Albert Collins, and several others. Though the set focuses on blues material, Winters can never leave his rock roots behind – the sheer volume and pile-driving energy of his performances ensures that. For most of the record, his enthusiasm is contagious, but there are a couple of bland, generic exercises that fail to work up a head of steam. But there is a lovely acoustic number called "Blue Mood," which shows Winter trying to stretch a bit by playing jazzy licks. It's a refreshing change of pace.