Graham Johnson’s complete Schubert and Schumann songs series for Hyperion are landmarks in the history of recorded music. Now this indefatigable performer and scholar turns to the songs and vocal works of Brahms. Each disc of this Hyperion edition takes a journey through Brahms’s career. The songs are not quite presented in chronological order but they do appear here in the order that the songs were presented to the world. Each recital represents a different journey through the repertoire (and thus through Brahms’s life). In a number of these Hyperion recitals an opus number will be presented in its entirety (in the case of this disc, Op 48). The folksongs of 1894 will be shared between all the singers in the series.

Divin poeme starts off with an immediate advantage over the others listed above: it has the obvious and perfect coupling.

The Mnchner Philharmoniker are continuing to open up their vast archives, giving listeners the opportunity to enjoy one of the richest collections of recordings by legendary artists. This recording of Mozart's 'Piano Concertos Nos. 20 and 26' allows listeners to relive a remarkable concert evening with Friedrich Gulda as conductor and soloist at once.

Manouevres was released in 1983 as the follow-up to Greg Lake's 1981 self-titled debut album. His core group of musicians (Gary Moore, Tristam Margetts, Tommy Eyre, and Ted McKenna) is still present, but Manoeuvres is a different sort of album than the '81 effort. The heavy, gritty, guitar-driven feel of the previous record is not quite as evident and this seems a more restrained album. Many, Greg Lake included, tend to sell this album short and that is a mistake. Perhaps sales were discouraging, but this is a well-crafted, well-performed album on which Lake seems to rely more on melody than he did in 1981.

Vocalion Ltd repackaged and re-released two Blood, Sweat and Tears LPs originally on Columbia – Mirror Image (1974) and New City (1975) – as a SACD Hybrid Multi-channel. Included on these mid-'70s releases are "Look Up to the Sky," "Are You Satisfied," "Ride Captain Ride," "One Room Country Shack," and "Got to Get You Into My Life." All tracks available in stereo and quadraphonic mixes.

A much loved score, this Octet, cast in six movements is scored for clarinet, bassoon, horn, two violins, viola, cello and double bass. It was written in 1824 as a commission from the amateur clarinettist Count Ferdinand von Troyer who was an official at the court of Archduke Rudolf, an heir to the Austrian throne. Troyer stipulated that the score should be modelled on Beethoven’s Septet, Op. 20 (1799) a work that at the time was enjoying great popularity in Vienna. At a fertile time for Schubert’s chamber music the Octet was composed during the same period as his String Quartets No. 13 in A minor, D804 ‘Rosamunde’ and No. 14 in D minor, D810 ‘Death and the Maiden’.

Among the many recordings celebrating the 300th anniversary of Chopin's birth, this disc will stand out as an historic record of the composer's extraordinary influence and legacy. Chopin's unique style of piano writing transformed the way in which composers wrote for and thought about the piano. Many composers and pianist-composers have felt moved to pay their respects to Chopin by writing their own works in homage of Chopin. This collection includes works by Mompou, Grieg, Tchaikovsky, Godowsky, and others.