Mao Fujita, one of the most sought after pianists of his generation, debuts with a major recording project – the eagerly anticipated studio recording of Mozart’s complete Piano Sonatas, presented across 5 CDs. With an innate musical sensitivity and naturalness to his artistry, Mao Fujita has already impressed many leading musicians as one of those special talents which comes along only rarely.

Realistics Revelations of intimate Inner Psychology La Traviata represents a milestone in musical history, marking a move from Romantic opera towards a greater degree of realism. For the first time ever, contemporary material and figures had been chosen as the basis for an opera. A real prostitute, tuberculosis, a so-called man of honour whose provincial morality collides with the more flexible and superficial world of the French capital, money, bourgeois righteousness versus high-society superficiality and decadence – themes such as these have become well established on the operatic stage since then.

London Early Opera continue their programme themed around a typical evening’s entertainment at the 17th & 18th century Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, with a second collection of works by George Frideric Handel and contemporary composers of the day (John Stanley, Thomas Gladwin, John Lampe and Johann Adolph Hasse). Featuring performances by soloists Claire Bessent, Mary Bevan, Benjamin Bevan, Eleanor Dennis, Charles MacDougale, Nicky Spence and Greg Tassell, the programme evokes the carnival of music and entertainments that amused visitors in these London gardens for nearly 200 years.

The "laude" of the Renaissance Italian city-states have survived in just two manuscripts; until recently they constituted one of the last major genres of Early Music to be reconstructed and performed. Essentially, they were the music commissioned by the guild-like confraternities (with members from the middle and lower economic classes of the cities) for performance by the members and by well-paid professional soloists, at festivals and in the side-chapels of the cathedrals where most lay people attended to their religious devotions. In short, the music of the people rather than the priests.

Featuring seven original studio albums and two discs of rarities, ‘Sensational Sweet (Chapter One: The Wild Bunch)’ is set to be the most thorough account of glam icons Sweet yet. Fully documenting the classic line up (Andy Scott, Steve Priest, Mick Tucker and Brian Connolly) the nine disc set includes 1971 debut studio album ‘Funny, How Sweet Co Co Can Be’ and the five following albums up to and including ‘Off The Record’. The set is rounded out by: ‘The Lost Singles’, a bonus disc of non-album singles and B-sides; ‘The Rainbow (Sweet Live In The UK)’ – the legendary 1973 Christmas show; - ‘The Sweet At The Beeb' (BBC Radio Sessions 69-72)’ – previously unreleased radio session recordings and 52 page booklet with new liner notes from renowned UK music journalist Dave Ling.

Andras Schiff - Complete Decca Recordings [78CD Box Set] (2024)
MP3 320 Kbps | Run Time: 81:40:04 | 11.2 Gb | Scans 273 Mb
Genre: Classical | Label: Hänssler Classic

As Sir András Schiff turns 70 (in December 2023), this 78-disc edition celebrates an artist who has made a significant contribution to shaping Decca's history through an array of artistic endeavours. Neatly divided into four sections - solo, concertante, lieder and chamber music, the set includes several currently unavailable recordings; the first international release of Beethoven's complete Violin Sonatas, with Sándor Végh; four CDs' worth of material recorded on Mozart's fortepiano; and the booklet includes an interview with Misha Donat in which Schiff tells the story of his journey with Decca.