Instead of being a one-off comeback, 2002's Heathen turned out to be where David Bowie settled into a nice groove for his latter-day career, if 2003's Reality is any indication. Working once again with producer Tony Visconti, Bowie again returns to a sound from the past, yet tweaks it enough to make it seem modern, not retro. Last time around, he concentrated on his early-'70s sound, creating an amalgam of Hunky Dory through Heroes. With Reality, he picks up where he left off, choosing to revise the sound of Heroes through Scary Monsters, with the latter functioning as a sonic blueprint for the album. Basically, Reality is a well-adjusted Scary Monsters, minus the paranoia and despair – and if those two ingredients were key to the feeling and effect of that album, it's a credit to Bowie that he's found a way to retain the sound and approach of that record, but turn it bright and cheerful and keep it interesting.

The stage was set for the Police to become one of the biggest acts of the '80s, and the band delivered with the 1980 classic Zenyatta Mondatta. The album proved to be the trio's second straight number one album in the U.K., while peaking at number three in the U.S. Arguably the best Police album, Zenyatta contains perhaps the quintessential new wave anthem, the haunting "Don't Stand So Close to Me," the story of an older teacher lusting after one of his students. While other tracks follow in the same spooky path (their second Grammy-winning instrumental "Behind My Camel" and "Shadows in the Rain"), most of the material is upbeat, such as the carefree U.S./U.K. Top Ten "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da," "Canary in a Coalmine," and "Man in a Suitcase." Sting includes his first set of politically charged lyrics in "Driven to Tears," "When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around," and "Bombs Away," which all observe the declining state of the world. While Sting would later criticize the album as not all it could have been (the band was rushed to complete the album in order to begin another tour), Zenyatta Mondatta remains one of the finest rock albums of all time.

A stunning Wagner collection featuring all the major overtures and preludes (including the very rare and very beautiful ‘Die Feen’ – The Fairies), this collection is also noteworthy for other reasons. For a start, it brings together in a single collection the complete Decca Wagner recordings of Zubin Mehta and the complete Philips Wagner recordings of Edo de Waart. It also features two further rarities – Wagner’s early Symphony (with the San Francisco Symphony and Edo de Waart) and a tiny choral piece – ‘Kinderkatechismus’ – an absolute Decca rarity and much sought-after by collectors.

Major share in the pleasure Ziani's oratorio gives, the excellent singer, especially Furio Zanasi, who is David draws sensitively with his velvety soft baritone, and Giampaolo Bassoonto as an agile narrator. At Alan Curtis' sensitive line, they're reaching an er- count density and representational presence, which to breathless listening.

Until recently, so much of this first opera that Handel wrote for Italy was lost that it was unviable to stage it. The rediscovery of the missing material, a triumph of scholarly detective work, reveals the confident high spirits which characterise so much of Handel’s music during his Italian visit. It lacks the instrumental colours of his more lavish London productions, with many arias supported by continuo alone. All are here, complete (even six which Handel himself discarded), but many are brief and, under Curtis’s lively direction, the dramatic tension builds up splendidly.

"His music is poetry," writes Kian Soltani in his own liner notes for his much-anticipated, all-Schumann release. Together with Camerata Salzburg, the young cellist simultaneously plays and conducts the monumental Cello Concerto, as well as orchestrated songs. Additionally, the album includes a smattering of Soltani's most cherished lieder transcriptions, accompanied by pianist Julien Quentin.

Michael Nyman came of age as a classical composer in the radical London of the late '60s. His work embraces multiple vernaculars (jazz, avant garde, conceptual art) and helped cement the foundation of what came to be known as minimalism. Decades into his career, Nyman's score to Jane Campion's film The Piano made him a star. The movie's themes of colonialism and silence (its protagonist, portrayed by Holly Hunter, cannot speak) were perfectly aligned with his longtime interests in world and ambient music. Horn players assist members of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra in fleshing out Nyman's stately, hymn-like motifs. On the more heavily orchestrated cues, sentimentality wins out over minimalist restraint; the best tracks feature Nyman on solo piano, playing the rudimentary, faux period repertoire of Hunter's character.