Nine tracks of the Basie band in its prime playing music composed and arranged by Quincy Jones - that should be enough to tell you this is a superb album. All nine of the originals are virtually forgotten today but are very well-played by this veteran band. Although Frank Foster was still in the band, Eric Dixon (on tenor and flute) was starting to assert himself as a major solo voice while trumpeter Snooky Young has a few strong spots.

Although it has been clearly established for which instruments the Musical Offering and the Art of Fugue were intended, the Musical Offering has continued to be the object of realisations for other instruments, such as Anton Webern's orchestrated version of the Ricercar à 6. Here Cindy Castillo marks the completion of a new organ in the German baroque style by Dominique Thomas in the church of Saint-Loup in Namur with her own realisation of this work, a monument to the late Baroque style.

José de Nebra was to Spanish opera what Rameau was to French opera, both pioneer and architect of the revival of the genre in the eighteenth century. His pastoral melodrama ‘Venus y Adonis’ is recorded here for the first time almost 300 years after its premiere, by Alberto Miguélez Rouco and his ensemble Los Elementos.The result of a meticulous reconstruction by the conductor, a specialist in the composer, this recording allows us to rediscover both the splendour of Nebra's work and the singularities of the exuberant Hispanic Baroque, which is still too little known. Sung exclusively by women, ‘Venus y Adonis’ blends Italian style and traditional Spanish turns of phrase (the aria ‘Calquiera mozuela’, which combines fandango, zarambeque and castanets), with numerous borrowings from zarzuela. Based on one of mythology's most illustrious subjects, the work juxtaposes comedy (the duet of “chickens”) and seriousness, with more sensitive arias, such as the moving farewell aria by Adonis (Natalie Pérez).

A few of these small choral gems are well known to amateur choirs, and Poulenc's secular choral pieces are more often presented one at a time on choral albums than in the groupings in which they were originally included. Francis Poulenc: Secular Choral Music offers the composer's very first choral piece, the Chanson à boire for men's voices (1922), but most of the music here dates from either the late '30s (the Petites voix, for female or children's voices, and Sept chansons) or the World War II era (Un soir de neige), the folk-song settings entitled Chansons françaises, and the ambitious Figure humaine, whose final number, "Liberté," was dropped in sheet music form over French cities by Britain's Royal Air Force. Someone once described Poulenc as "part monk, part hooligan," and these a cappella choral works give evidence of both tendencies. The Chansons françaises are cheerful pieces with just a shade of extended harmony, almost French counterparts to Bartók's folk song settings, while the more serious pieces, such as "Un chien perdu" (A Lost Dog), from the Petites voix, have a mystical tinge that links them strongly with Poulenc's better-known sacred choral music.

Nearly a century before Gluck, another opera called Iphigénie en Tauride – same plot, same protagonists – had immense success on the opera stage. This ‘first’ Iphigénie has rather a curious history. The opera was sketched out by composer Henri Desmarest around the year 1695, but he was then banished from France by Louis XIV for having married a young girl without her father’s consent. The uncompleted score of Iphigénie was then entrusted to André Campra. The opera, since lost and forgotten, was rediscovered by Benoît Dratwicki, Director of the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles, who marvels at its stylistic unity: ‘Campra easily adopted Desmarest’s style. He just added some virtuoso arias to the divertissements, as well as the tuneful choruses that were his speciality.’ Iphigénie en Tauride had its premiere on 6 May 1704, and was revived throughout Europe from 1711. Thanks to Hervé Niquet, a top-flight team of singers, an orchestra well versed in French repertoire, and all their collaborative research into the practices and specific playing techniques of the early 18th century, Iphigénie sees the light of day once more.

Flora Hibberd’s debut album *Swirl* is a rich tapestry of sound and meaning, influenced by her background as a translator. The Paris-based British songwriter uses her experience to explore the nuances of language, decoding the slippages where English and French intertwine. These linguistic intersections become moments of strange poetry, revealing hidden threads of life and deepening our understanding. Hibberd’s songwriting process involves searching for jarring words and natural language breaks, mirroring the framework she uses as a translator to understand how symbols and meanings shift. *Swirl’s* 11 tracks are infused with secret codes, non-verbal signifiers, and intricate musical layers. Produced by Shane Leonard in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, the album features contributions from a versatile group of musicians, including JT Bates, Ben Lester, Pat Keen, and JE Sunde.

This recording combines three of the most significant musicians belonging to the generation of the empfindsame or “sentimental” style. As reaction to the late baroque of J.S. Bach and Handel, they systematically explore contrast and extreme juxtapositions in their compositions. This avant-garde style remained in fashion only for a short period but anticipated many pre-eminent aspects of the early romanticism. In this recording a harpsichord concerto by W.F. Bach (J.S. Bach’s eldest son) is combined with two concertos by Bohemian composer G. Benda. They perfectly illustrate the empfindsame style, quickly oscillating between excitement and melancholy, furious frenzy and serene calm. The program concludes with major solo harpsichord pieces by C.P.E. Bach and a beautiful Adagio and Fugue for orchestra by W.F. Bach – showcasing the composer’s ability in the stile antico.

The legendary Kultivator LP was released in 1981. This release has rightly gained itself a good reputation for its unusual mixing of Zeuhl and Canterbury elements, as well as Swedish folk! The bass and drums churn in the background, setting up Zeuhl-inspired rhythms, while the organ and electric piano, along with the worldleess female vocals definitely strike up a serious Canterbury flavor. Kultivator's musical influences: Magma, King Crimson, Hatfield and the North, Henry Cow, Art Bears, Gentle Giant, Art Zoyd and Univers Zero. This new version includes 7 bonus tracks on the second CD.

After shocking the R&B world with 1986's Control – a gutsy, risk-taking triumph that was a radical departure from her first two albums – Michael and Jermaine Jackson's younger sister reached an even higher artistic plateau with the conceptual Rhythm Nation 1814. Once again, she enlists the help of Time graduates Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis (one of the more soulful production/songwriting teams of 1980s and '90s R&B) with wildly successful results. In 1989, protest songs were common in rap but rare in R&B – Janet Jackson, following rap's lead, dares to address social and political topics on "The Knowledge," the disturbing "State of the World," and the poignant ballad "Living in a World" (which decries the reality of children being exposed to violence). Jackson's voice is wafer-thin, and she doesn't have much of a range – but she definitely has lots of soul and spirit and uses it to maximum advantage on those gems as well as nonpolitical pieces ranging from the Prince-influenced funk/pop of "Miss You Much" and "Alright" to the caressing, silky ballads "Someday Is Tonight," "Alone," and "Come Back to Me" to the pop/rock smoker "Black Cat." For those purchasing their first Janet Jackson release, Rhythm Nation would be an even wiser investment than Control – and that's saying a lot.

This one-off collaboration between the Cure's Robert Smith and Siouxsie & the Banshees' Steven Severin resulted in an eccentric, and at times incompatible, mix of psychedelic sounds wrapped around alternative '80s pop. Writers Smith and Severin's more eccentric tendencies are as likely to evoke pictures of a carnival as a funereal march, but the backbone rests largely on tightly constructed tunes with occasional forays into the experimental. Jeanette Landray sings the majority of the tracks, while Smith takes the lead twice amongst a smattering of instrumentals. Standout tracks include the Middle Eastern-twinged "Orgy" and the more conventional "Mouth to Mouth." Smith's distinctive warbling on the first-class "Perfect Murder" takes the album directly into Cure territory, as do the instrumentals which could equally find a home on Seventeen Seconds…

Carmina Burana, the staged cantata by Carl Orff, is a work unique in musical history, claims conductor Paavo Järvi: ‘The convergence of medieval texts with such daringly original orchestral colours creates a soundworld that is both archaic and yet beyond time, in which chorus, orchestra and soloists vie in splendour.’ The work also has an unusual history: composed shortly after the Nazi takeover of Germany, it was at first rejected because of its Latin texts and the erotic character of some of its songs; yet Orff and his work subsequently became highly prized by the Reich. The composer (who was secretly ‘a quarter Jewish’) did not support the regime, but made the best of his success… Orff was 42 by the time he experienced this breakthrough with his Carmina, which he designated as his Op. 1, disowning all his previous compositions. Departing from the Romantic style, he now wanted to create music linked to rhythm, simple repeated melodies, and non-complex forms. This work’s popular success confirmed that decision.

Saxophonist Jan Garbarek is very much at home in the quiet throes of “Farewell Theme” and lends his focused energy to a nexus of strings and santouri that, in a short span, scales the heart’s deepest cliffs. This piece both begins and ends a disc comprised of Karaindrou’s best from the 1980s, and is also the longest. “Elegy For Rosa” and “The Journey” are among the briefer portals into the album’s blinding refractions, such as “The Scream” and “Return,” the latter something of an anthem in its present context. The chromatically inflected evocations of “Wandering In Alexandria” quiver with curiosities, as if lost in a land one has forgotten. The oboe of “Adagio” spins a rope of travel across the sky, sending down threads of hope into “Fairytale” and “Parade”…

Percy Grainger (1882–1961) and Ronald Stevenson (1928–2015), both composer-pianists of the Golden Age of keyboard virtuosity, shared a passion for folksong, especially the modal Celtic melodies from the fringes of the British Isles. Though the two never met, they corresponded for many years, with Stevenson arranging many of Grainger’s transcriptions in a deliberate act of homage to the older man, whose quirky originality brought Stevenson illumination on his own idiosyncratic path. This seventh instalment in Christopher Guild’s Toccata Classics survey of Stevenson’s piano music uncorks the exultant good humour that he and Grainger found on that common Celtic ground.

The Great Sounds Of The Lean On Me: Soul Power – CDs with the greatest hits of the Geno Washington & The Ram Jam Band, The Alan Bown Set, Jimmy James & The Vagabonds and many more!

A three-CD box set that enshrines Barrett's complete recorded legacy as a solo artist. Besides including his two 1970 albums, this collection includes the 1989 compilation of unreleased material, Opel. The chief attraction of this set for Barrett fans is no less than 19 previously unreleased alternate takes from throughout his quite brief solo career. All of those alternate takes, it's important to note, are alternate versions of songs that appear on the three previously available albums; no entirely unheard compositions were unearthed. Nonetheless, these alternate takes are more interesting listening than you might expect, for a couple of reasons.