I read a rave review of Vadim Gluzman in concert, and since I hd never heard of the Ukraine-born, naturalized Israeli violinist, I sought out this CD. The 45-year-old virtuoso is from the Oistrakh-Vengerov mold: intense, large-scaled, and powerful. All his talents are needed in the late, bleak Shostakovich Violin Sonata. The cover art, showing Gluzman dressed in black gazing out over a flat gray landscape typifies the music.

A killer record from the Japanese scene of the 70s - one that begins with a funky drum break, then only gets better and better as things move on! Hiromasa Suzuki plays plenty of sweet keyboards on the record - at a level that's definitely influenced by Herbie Hancock's work from the time, but which also brings in some of the best funky currents of Japanese soundtrack material - so that there's a blend of electric jazz with some great crime/cop movie modes too - served up with some nice saxophone solos from Takeru Muraoka on a few tracks, and tenor from Mabumi Yamaguchi on the rest.

Made In Germany was a real musical transformation for Amon Düül II. If you took this album, and ADII's first album "Phallus Dei" and played them both for an unknowing listener, they would never even suspect it was the same band! The songs like "Ludwig" have an almost Beatlesesque quality to them (albeit on much more drugs). Ambitious vocal harmony arrangements, pristine production values, orchestral flourishes… Amon Duul? Anyway, this album is a masterwork of a completely different sort than their earlier releases, so naturally many fans will not still be onboard at this point. Short, vaguely Floydian spacy instrumental breaks replace the full-on sonic assaults of yore, and the main feature is… songs. Beautiful, sometimes achingly melancholic, sometimes witty and humorous, always honed like a gem; this is top-notch songwriting without ever losing ADII's keen eye for ambition.

Serge Douw was born in Australia and is an expert in laser technology, this album being the musical score to a laser light show which tracks the formation of life on Earth.
Powerful and emotive, grand and majestic, the strength and purpose of this futuristic music will entrance you. Monumentally moving music with percussive and inventive scores that captivate the essence of life on Earth, and the changes that are needed to create harmony and to evolve positively into the future.
Basically if you are "into" Jarre then you should find much to your liking on this album.

Although Joseph Haydn is still regarded principally as a master of instrumental music, he was also one of the forward-looking opera composers of his day, devoting a significant portion of his working life to the genre. As the opera director for Prince Esterházy, he oversaw more than a thousand opera productions at the Esterházy court, which included popular stage works of the time, as well as his own. These two operas are unusual and ahead of their time in that it is women who take centre stage. These female protagonists are people of real flesh and blood, strong, pragmatic, and clearly representative of the spirit of the Enlightenment.

Münchinger uses WF Bach's alterations to Einfeste Burg (the addition of trumpets and kettledrums to the two largest movements), which - with the fresh, even raw, singing from soloists and chorus alike — makes this a dramatic almost triumphalist account; Wochet aufis similarly spacious and joyful. The sound is excellent; die chorus particularly vivid.

This enthralling recital by the young American pianist George Li, silver medallist at the 2015 International Tchaikovsky Competition, marks his recording debut and launches a new relationship with Warner Classics. Captured at a live performance in the Mariinsky Concert Hall in St Petersburg, it presents a dramatically conceived programme of works by Haydn, Chopin, Rachmaninov and Liszt: a descent into deep darkness; re-emergence into the light, and a concluding, boisterous celebration.