Elina Mustonen began playing the harpsichord at the age of eight. After completing her studies at the Sibelius Academy in 1983, she proceeded to the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam to study with Ton Koopman and was awarded a soloist diploma in 1988. In 2006 she obtained her Doctoral degree at the Sibelius Academy. The topic of her thesis was J.S. Bach's harpsichord pedagogy. Ever since her debut concert at the Jyväskylä Summer Festival in 1987 Ms. Mustonen has performed widely as a soloist and chamber musician. In addition to Finland, she has been heard in Estonia, Iceland, Germany, the UK, Italy, Holland, Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal and the United States. Ms. Mustonen has appeared as a soloist with most of the Finnish orchestras such as the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Tapiola Sinfonietta, the Sinfonia Lahti and the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra. Her repertoire includes not only the major Baroque concertos but also the harpsichord concertos of Francis Poulenc, Bohuslav Martinu and Manuel de Falla. Ms. Mustonen has made several critically acclaimed recordings. Her latest achievement is a complete recording of the Six Partitas by J.S. Bach.

All of King's recordings for the Bobbin label are on this 22-track disc, including everything from his 1959-1963 singles for the label and previously unissued alternate takes of "Why Are You So Mean to Me," "The Time Has Come," and the previously unissued "Blues at Sunrise." While these are decent journeyman urban blues/R&B, they're not up to the level of his subsequent recordings for Stax. Albert King just sounds too much like the records another King – B.B. King, that is – was making during the same era. There are similar horn arrangements and alternation of stinging guitar with smooth, confident vocal phrasing. It's a tribute to Albert King's abilities, in a way, that it does sound confident, and not the work of an imitator, despite the similarities.

By the time they released Fire On the Bayou in 1975, the Meters (now a quintet, with addition of Cyril Neville to the lineup) had graduated from regional cult heroes to internationally renowned recording act. In addition to playing on records by the likes of Paul McCartney, Dr. John, LaBelle and Robert Palmer, they were personally invited by the Rolling Stones to open their 1975 U.S. tour. The momentum helped Fire On the Bayou to become one of the Meters' most acclaimed and commercially successful albums. It remains a fan favorite, thanks to such gritty classic jams as "Talkin' 'bout New Orleans" and "They All Ask'd for You," which demonstrate the band's effortless instrumental expertise and organic rhythmic rapport. This remastered expanded edition contains five bonus tracks.

Blending the eclectic energy that first captivated her fans with a bold, fearless artistic vision, 'Mayhem' marks a triumphant return to Gaga's pop roots. The album explores themes of chaos and transformation, celebrating music's power to unite, provoke, and heal. 'The album started as me facing my fear of returning to the pop music my earliest fans loved', said Gaga. Far from a nostalgic throwback, 'Mayhem' reinvents her early sound with a kaleidoscopic approach that draws from her expansive musical library while embracing a fresh and fearless artistic perspective. Gaga describes the creative process as 'reassembling a shattered mirror: even if you can't put the pieces back together perfectly, you can create something beautiful and whole in its own new way'.

18th-century Venice is the ultimate setting for splendor—architectural, pictorial, theatrical, musical, and vocal. Venetian opera shines across Europe, combining dramatic intensity with the beauty of vocal lines. Just as Canaletto and Guardi capture every facet of La Serenissima in their panoramic paintings, composers seek to explore the full spectrum of human emotions through opera.Returning to the recording scene, Sophie Junker invites us to discover these composers alongside Martyna Pastuszka, leading the {oh!} Orkiestra. Her brilliant and agile soprano flourishes in arias of fury and vengeance (Vivaldi and Lotti) as well as in the heartrending laments of an Iphigenia (Porta) or an Ariadne (Marcello). Meanwhile, Martyna Pastuszka’s violin leads one of the magnificent concertos from La Stravaganza (“The Extraordinary”)—a fitting subtitle for this program!

If Born This Way was made for the Little Monsters, its 2013 sequel ARTPOP was made for the world. Lady Gaga has grand designs for her third album, to pull a "reverse Warhol," which presumably means she wants to channel high art into pop instead of pop into high art, but it's a little difficult to discern Gaga's intent, either in this statement or ARTPOP as a whole. Willfully existing simply on the surface, a surface that perhaps (or perhaps not) signifies a greater depth, ARTPOP is teasingly garish, its bright colors and brittle beats attacking with glee, the emphasis always on big, pulsating beats, shattered reflections, and sound cascading over song in every instance. Inevitably, this emphasis on production means the pop in ARTPOP winds up diminished; perhaps it's "pop" in the pop-art sense, as it's shamelessly intentionally populist, but as pop music it's stiff, relying not on hooks in either its melody or rhythm…

Could Alain Planès let the centenary of Satie’s death go by without paying tribute to this composer whom he admires above all others? On a 1928 Pleyel, he offers us a panoramic survey of this often droll, caustic music, which stubbornly resists classification. Marc Mauillon (in the songs) and François Pinel (in the pieces for piano four hands) accompany him in his exploration of the finest compositions of the ‘Maître d’Arcueil’. An exceptional CD, with a booklet ‘personally’ illustrated by both the composer and the performer themselves.

After a pair of solo efforts that veered from eccentric yet inspired (Monkey Grip) to eccentric and uninspired (Stone Alone), Bill Wyman (The Rolling Stones) perfected his blend of rock & roll and oddball humor into one solid album on 1982's Bill Wyman. Instead of utilizing the all-star group of backup musicians that dominated his previous solo outings, Bill Wyman found the veteran rocker handling much of the instrumentation himself, with only a rhythm section and a few guest stars pitching in. The result is a crisp, consistent sound that mixes the electronic edge of new wave with good, old-fashioned rock & roll production values. Bill Wyman also benefits from catchy, well-written songs that provide a hook-laden backdrop for Wyman's humorous musings: "A New Fashion" is a witheringly acidic send-up of trend-chasing pop stars that layers a memorably melodic chorus over an effectively sparse electronic backdrop…

This is a previously unpublished album including Beethoven's late masterpieces, Piano sonatas, Op.109 & 110 and Bach's uncommon Overture in the French Style, drawing inspiration from the French tradition of François Couperin and showcasing the perfect technique and musical inspiration of one of the greatest French pianists at his best.

In the early nineteenth century, the house concert was the most common form of musical performance in Vienna. Professionals featured alongside aristocratic music lovers and ambitious bourgeois amateur musicians, and composers presented their works. While Beethoven's admirers were largely counted among the Austrian and Bohemian nobility, Schubert's circle tended to consist of literati, artists, and state officials who saw the salon as a protected space where both aesthetic and political debates could be held.

This collection of classic Aretha Franklin songs includes timeless hits like "Just for a Thrill", "Maybe I'm a Fool", "Unforgettable", "Only the Lonely", "Until You Were Gone", "Blue Holiday" and more.
Aretha Franklin was one of the giants of soul music, and indeed of American pop as a whole. More than any other performer, she epitomized soul at its most gospel-charged. Her astonishing run of late-'60s hits with Atlantic Records earned her the title Queen of Soul. Franklin never rested on her laurels. Following the early-'70s LPs Spirit in the Dark and Young, Gifted and Black, she scored more hits on the R&B charts than pop, adeptly following the progression of soul in the '70s and '80s thanks to her collaborations with Curtis Mayfield (1976's Sparkle) and Luther Vandross (1982's Jump to It)…

The Wildhearts return in 2025 with a brand new album. Titled ‘Satanic Rites of the Wildhearts’ produced / mixed by Jim Pinder and Carl Bown (Sleep Token / Bullet For My Valentine / While She Sleeps) the record is conceived as a belated follow-up to the classic debut, ‘Earth vs The Wildhearts’. These are songs of defiance and hope, of ragged glory, of true heart-on-sleeve emotion; songs that sound like no-one else on this planet (or the explored parts of space) – all of which holds true for the new album, the band’s first for Snakefarm…. Lead single / video, ‘Failure Is The Mother Of Success’, sums up the album – the 11th since ‘Earth vs…’ – via a spectacular eight minute lap taking in all manner of twists and turns, and the message here is plain, forged through sharp-end experience…

Named after the legend painted on Paul Weller’s amp, Fire And Skill is a superb six disc boxed set – featuring six previously unreleased concerts, one from each year of The Jam’s major-label career.

The Jam were the most popular band to emerge from the initial wave of British punk rock in 1977; along with the Sex Pistols, the Clash, and the Buzzcocks, the Jam had the highest impact on pop music. While they could barely get noticed in America, the trio became genuine superstars in Britain, with an impressive string of Top Ten singles in the late '70s and early '80s. The Jam could never have a hit in America because they were thoroughly and defiantly British. Under the direction of guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Paul Weller, the trio spearheaded a revival of mid-'60s mod groups, in the style of the Who and the Small Faces. Like the mod bands, the group dressed stylishly, worshipped American R&B, and played it loud and rough. By the time of the group's third album, Weller's songwriting had grown substantially, as he was beginning to write social commentaries and pop songs in the vein of the Kinks. Both his political songs and his romantic songs were steeped in British culture, filled with references and slang in the lyrics, as well as musical allusions. Furthermore, as the Jam grew more popular and musically accessible, Weller became more insistent and stubborn about his beliefs, supporting leftist causes and adhering to the pop aesthetics of '60s British rock without ever succumbing to hippie values. Paradoxically, that meant even when their music became more pop than punk, they never abandoned the punk values – if anything, Weller stuck to the strident independent ethics of 1977 more than any other punk band just by refusing to change.

One of the best releases of 2025 so far happens to be this lazy, breezy, folk-country gem from 1977. Oceanside Countryside is part of Neil Young's Analog Originals project, designed to preserve the sound quality of the original masters, and it's a real joy to dive into this era and hear anything new (or in this case, newly reconstituted).