The most comprehensive edition devoted to Gioachino Rossini marking his 150th anniversary. Born in 1792, Rossini was the most popular opera composer of his time. Although he retired from the Opera scene in 1829, he continued to compose in other genres, including sacred music, piano and chamber works. He did gather his late works under the ironic title Péchés de vieillesse (Sins of Old Age), which veils a true collection of masterworks.

We possess many works by Jean Richafort, but very little biographical information on the composer. In the 16th century he was the object of veneration and admiration. The great Ronsard himself spoke of him in the most enthusiastic terms, and most of his contemporaries - Mouton, Morales, Gombert, Palestrina - based Masses on his music.

Anatoly Grindenko is one of the most important musicians working in the field of early Russian chant. With the male-voice Moscow Patriarchal Choir (amongst other groups) he has over the last few years brought new standards to the interpretation of the important but largely unfamiliar sixteenth- and seventeenth-century repertoire. This anthology is made up of chants from the Vigil Service (that is, Vespers and Matins) and a shorter selection from the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom.

One of the top hard bop contingents of the '50s and '60s, the Art Farmer and Benny Golson co-led group known as the Jazztet featured some of the best original charts and soloing of the entire era. While the group was only in existence between 1959-1962, its excellent reputation could rest on this stunning disc alone. Cut in 1960, the ten-track date features four of Golson's classic originals ("I Remember Clifford," "Blues March," "Park Avenue Petite," and "Killer Joe") and one very fetching Farmer-penned cut ("Mox Nix"). The rest of the standards-heavy mix is given the golden touch by the sextet. And what a combo this is – besides Farmer's svelte trumpet lines and Golson's frenetically vaporous tenor solos, one gets a chance to hear a young but already very accomplished McCoy Tyner, the tart and mercurial trombonist Curtis Fuller, and the streamlined rhythm tandem of Addison Farmer and Lex Humphries. An essential hard bop title.

Reprogrammed, resampled and reimagined, 11 5 18 2 5 18 is a collection of 9 tracks that serve as a translation of Tiersen’s live show, taking songs from his 2021 release Kerber plus additional tracks from his catalog, completely restructured to present a brand new album. With a mesmerizing mix of piano patterns, swirling electronics and dancefloor-ready grooves, these songs continue an exciting new chapter in his career.

That 2022’s GET ON BOARD is Ry Cooder and Taj Mahal’s first collaboration in more than 50 years is trivia and nothing more—these guys have sounded ancient since they were teenagers, and, like the folk-blues legends Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee to whom they pay tribute here, they never cared about trend or passage of time such as it pertains to art. Even those only glancingly exposed to American folk music know these songs: “Pick a Bale of Cotton,” “Drinkin’ Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee,” “I Shall Not Be Moved,” “The Midnight Special.” And while artists like Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf followed the raw, modern sound of the electric guitar, Terry and McGhee remained stubbornly unplugged, as connected to the white folk of Pete Seeger as the Black blues of their Southern forebears. Some songbooks come alive with fresh interpretation; GET ON BOARD does its source justice by doing nearly nothing at all.

The planets align as the mighty Sun Ra Arkestra, under the direction of the maestro Marshall Allen, are releasing their first studio album in over twenty years, ‘Swirling’.

Lonely Robot, the project masterminded by producer, guitarist and singer/songwriter John Mitchell (It Bites, Frost*), returns with its 5th studio album A Model Life. Broadening his sonic palette, John explores new territory on this record, crafting sounds more expansive in nature but never lacking his inherent feel for big melodies and even bigger choruses. From the introspective title track, to the soaring and epic ‘Duty Of Care, this a record unlike anything in Mitchell’s catalogue. Once again joined by drummer extraordinaire Craig Blundell (Steve Hackett), ‘A Model Life’ is yet another brilliant entry into an already impressive career.

Neglecting two other émigrés and their works—five symphonies by Beethoven pupil Ferdinand Ries (1784–1838) that he composed for (and premiered at) the Philharmonic Society between 1813 and 1822, as well as the surviving fragments of four ambitious later pieces by Muzio Clementi (1752–1832) —Cipriani Potter emerges as the first England-based symphonic composer of Beethoven’s time. Potter would continue to foster the development of this tradition in London; for instance, through George Alexander Macfarren (1813–1887; nine symphonies, 1828–1874) and William Sterndale Bennett (1816–1875; five symphonies, 1832–1864), both students of his.

Drawing inspiration from late-'60s psychedelia and mid-'90s pop underground acts like Matthew Sweet, Australia's Lovetones formed in the early 2000s with Matthew J. Tow, Matthew Sigley, Serge Luca, and Chris Cobb.

"Bricolage," a French word meaning to assemble something from available materials, is such a perfect term for the art of the remix that it's surprising no one has ever used it before. It's less surprising that Ryuichi Sakamoto, whose work has always had a cool Continental flair despite the artist's Japanese roots, would choose such an elegant term for his swish remix collection. Focusing on reworks of material from 2005's back-to-the-roots electro-pop experiment Chasm, Bricolages features a cross-cultural and cross-generational batch of remixers including Cornelius, whose playful sense of pastiche is to current hipster Japanese pop what Sakamoto's Yellow Magic Orchestra was a quarter-century before; his take on the spoken word cut-up "War & Peace" is considerably lighter and groovier than Aoki Takamasa's tense, austere version. Former Japan drummer Steve Jansen, whose collaboration with Sakamoto goes back to the early '80s, contributes the skittering "Break With," bridging the gap between new wave disco and contemporary IDM.