Classical in its respect for established forms, romantic in its clearly autobiographical nature, the chamber music by the composer of The Bartered Bride is not plentiful, especially when compared with the output of his younger, immediate successor, Antonfn Dvoiik, who returned to the string quaner form rhroughout his creative life, producing fifteen between 1862 and 1895. Well removed from absolute music - as would be Leoš Janáček's after him -, Smetana's surviving chamber catalogue consists of only four works that make up a rare case of psychological programme music. The Piano Trio(1855) already represented a sort of tombeau for the small daughter he had recently lost to scarlet fever.

As a Bach interpreter, Richter was almost unrivalled worldwide for many years and his Bach interpretations set standards. Karl Richter and his choir became the formative interpreters of the internationally renowned Bach Festival in Ansbach, a meeting place for the musical elite from all over the world. For almost two decades, the Munich Bach Choir and Orchestra has had the musical world from New York to Leningrad, from Tokyo to Paris at its feet, and many of its highly decorated recordings are among the best-selling recordings.

What else can be traced and discovered from Handel’s lost music? Well, once again the Brook Street Band embark on their exciting quest with their fourth disc on AVIE, bringing music unheard since the time of Handel: English Cantatas and Songs.

A melancholy singer-songwriter Michael Gately's nice debut album in 1972. Michael released two albums in his recording career and soon after he disappeared from music scene. The two albums have never been reissued for over four decades but now finally released on CD.

The 17 selections on this disc represent the earliest recordings by one of the most important and definitive jazz combos in history. These are interesting because Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond on alto sax had established the basic sound long before bassist Gene Wright and drummer Joe Morello would join them for the 'classic quartet' era. One other thing that is interesting is even though recording technology was relatively crude in the very early 1950s the sound quality on this album is more than acceptable.

The Hollywood Years Vol. 1. Tangerine Dream has composed scores for dozens of films. The process of creating for the cinema always leaves the performer with loads of unused material. The Hollywood Years, Vol. 1 features unused soundtrack material composed and performed by Edgar Froese and Jerome Froese. (While they are credited with composing and performing, some of the material sounds very familiar, like it is from the lineup with Christopher Franke and Paul Haslinger.) Tangerine Dream's proliferation in this arena has yielded some excellent music that can stand on its own. It also has yielded, understandably, some uneven pieces and even some absolute losers. The Froeses handpicked this material and it is very good-to-excellent e-music…