‘If you want to know who, for me, is the greatest living composer, I’ll tell you without hesitation – it’s Elgar, whom I place on the same level as my idols Beethoven and Brahms!’ So said the great virtuoso Kreisler.’ Nicolas Dautricourt continues: ‘This Concerto, with its unbridled lyricism and unique proportions, is an Everest for any violinist.’ In this, his first recording for Channel Classics, the French violinist brings together three works by two English composers. In 1888, in the same year Elgar wrote the famous Salut d’amour for his fiancée Caroline Alice Roberts, Frederick Delius composed his Suite for Violin and Orchestra, one of his very first works. The Suite, which only received its premiere in 1984, is heard here in this insightful arrangement by Frédéric Chaslin for violin, piano and string quartet.

In 2020, the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra and the Kaunas State Choir, under the direction of Modestas Pitrėnas, came together at the National Philharmonic Hall in Vilnius for a remarkable recording of Amilcare Ponchielli's opera I Lituani. This project marks the first professional recording of this work, highlighting Ponchielli's significant contribution to 19th-century Italian opera and connecting deeply with Lithuanian heritage. Drawing inspiration from Adam Mickiewicz's poem Konrad Wallenrod, the opera tells the story of medieval Lithuania's resistance against the Teutonic Knights, exploring themes of freedom, national identity, and sacrifice. Ponchielli's rich orchestration and Ghislanzoni's powerful libretto create a dramatic musical experience that has now been captured with vibrant vocal performances and exquisite orchestration in this new recording. I Lituani, which premiered at La Scala in 1874, has long been recognized for its beautiful melodies and emotional depth. This recording revives a significant yet often overlooked masterpiece of Italian opera, offering a fresh perspective on Ponchielli's profound musical and dramatic vision.

Handel’s success with Italian-style opera in London had passed its initial peak by 1729. Lotario – a tale of revenge and heroism based on events in the life of Holy Roman Empress Adelaide of Italy – was the first of a new series of works intended to revive interest and challenge society’s new ‘vile taste’ for satire and light entertainment. Despite being one of Handel’s least-known operas, it displays his renowned talent for writing convincing drama with melodically rich and emotionally charged arias. This live recording is performed on period instruments by the Händelfestspielorchester Halle.

This Horace Parlan session is a bit different from most of his albums for Steeplechase. First, he utilizes a drummerless trio with guitarist Doug Raney and bassist Wilbur Little. Second, it was recorded initially via direct-to-disc, which meant no editing was possible and an entire album side had to be recorded in one take without stopping. The short-lived revival of this process produced albums of exquisite sound, but they had to be limited edition due to the limited wear the few disc masters could endure in the manufacturing process. Fortunately, the masters were either in great condition or the session was also taped on reels as well, because the identical six songs (played in the same order) are heard in alternate versions on this expanded CD reissue…

Philwit & Pegasus is an epic in search of a narrative or gripping theme, not to mention decent pop songs. The quite detailed and lengthy historical liner notes on the CD reissue of this rarity give the impression that principal creator Mark Wirtz thought he was devising an arty song cycle of sorts, or a movie on record. What it sounds like, however, is a collection of fairly unrelated unexceptional pop songs, decorated by occasionally ambitious grandiose instrumentation that sometimes puts it as close to easy listening as to pop/rock. The influence of the most Baroque elements of the Beach Boys and late-'60s California sunshine pop can be felt at times (particularly on "My What a Lovely Day It's Been"), as can (on "Yoyo Thoughts") early mellow laid-back L.A. country-folk-rock. The 2003 CD reissue on RPM adds four bonus tracks.

With Bo Diddley's various hits and anthology packages all out of print and the multi-disc deluxe box set out of pocketbook reach for most casual consumers, MCA finally comes up with a 20-track compilation that hits the bull's-eye and makes this rock pioneer's best and most influential work available to everyone. The song list reads like a primer for '60s British R&B and '90s blues bands: "Bo Diddley," "I'm a Man," "Diddley Daddy," "Pretty Thing," "Before You Accuse Me," "Hey! Bo Diddley," "Who Do You Love," "Mona," and "Roadrunner" are the tracks that made the legend and put his sound on the map worldwide. The transfers used on this set are exemplary, the majority of them utilizing masters that have a few extra seconds (or more) appended to the fades, which will cause even hardliners to hear these old standards with fresh ears; especially revelatory are the "long versions" of "I Can Tell" and "You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover."

Often overlooked, the Hooters' Nervous Night was a defining record not only for the band, but for 1985 itself. Filled to the brim with fun, danceable new wave-ish rock, the album is a wonderful representation of a lighthearted era. The peppy vocals of keyboardist Rob Hyman and guitarist Eric Bazilian give the band an assured, happy energy, while the sporadic use of the mandolin and melodica (a combination harmonica/keyboard) gives the group its distinctive sound. "And We Danced" and "Day by Day" became instant pop hits, but the remainder of Nervous Night is almost as strong. "All You Zombies," which refers to stories in the Bible, is the band's most powerful moment; along with "Where Do the Children Go," the track showed that the Hooters could be serious and dramatic as well as upbeat. Although the band wasn't able to maintain its momentum with subsequent records, Nervous Night remains a noteworthy contribution to mid-'80s rock and doesn't sound quite as dated as the work of some of the band's contemporaries.

Bocelli is the second studio album by Andrea Bocelli, released in 1995 on the Polydor GmbH label. This album is the follow-up to his debut album, Il mare calmo della sera. In Germany, the album was certified 4× Platinum for shipping two million units, making it one of the best-selling albums ever in the country. From his childhood on the family farm in rural Tuscany to the worldwide stage, Andrea Bocelli has achieved phenomenal success. His singing is only partially the point and his fame owes much more to the aura of romance and the romantic archetype that's attached to him. This is basically for the die-hard fan who simply must have all Bocelli titles in possession. Bocelli was his first release, before the singer had hit the big time and before he had been marketed as a bona fide opera singer. Much of the same material was later released on Bocelli's big seller Romanza. As far as his opera chops go, Bocelli has won the approval of Pavarotti but likely will not wow enthusiasts.

Dean Martin finally got access to conductor/arranger Nelson Riddle for an album project, and the result was an easy swinging collection with appealing horn charts and a series of comfortable readings of recent and vintage standards. Especially notable were the two songs borrowed from My Fair Lady, "On the Street Where You Live" and "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face," which Martin and Riddle re-imagined as straight-forward love songs; "You're Nobody 'til Somebody Loves You" (which Martin would try again in a more contemporary arrangement four years later for one of his biggest hits); and a solo version of "Just in Time," which the singer had recently done with Judy Holliday in the film version of the musical Bells Are Ringing. This Time I'm Swingin'! was a good, confident set by an artist who had figured out how to make competent albums without expending a lot of effort, which was a key to his charm.

With most classic R&B acts, we feel lucky to get one genuine live recording – in the case of Ike & Tina Turner, by contrast, we have an embarrassment of riches in the way of concert recordings from the early- to mid-1960s, and it started with this Kent Records release. Issued in 1964, soon after they left Kent, it captured 35 minutes of their live act, from the Club Imperial and the Harlem Club in St, Louis. In addition to Tina Turner in an extended rap attached to "Please, Please, Please," we also get Jimmy Thomas in a rousing version of "Feel So Good," Venetta Fields' mournful, magnificent "The Love of My Man," Bobby John on the smooth, soulful, soaring "Think," Stacy Johnson doing "Drown in My Own Tears," Robbie Montgomery's "I Love the Way You Love," and Vernon Guy singing "Your Precious Love".

Paul Wranitzky began composing late in life compared to his friend Mozart, but quickly rose to become the most important symphonist in Vienna by the end of the 1790s. The dramatic Grande sinfonie caractéristique pour la paix avec la République françoise depicts the French Revolution and France’s subsequent war with Austria. Political complications saw its performance in Vienna forbidden by Imperial decree, but this did not end Wranitzky’s success at court: the exuberant Symphony in D major and the charming ‘Hunt Symphony’, both unpublished, come from the collection of the Emperor’s brother.

Peter Donohoe's first album devoted to Busoni was enthusiastically received by the critics, and nominated for a BBC Music Magazine award. This second volume offers playing and musicality of the same high standards. His programme opens with two of Busoni's finest Bach transcriptions, widely seen as a pinnacle of the repertoire for pianistic virtuosity, and much more widely played than Busoni's own compositions. This is followed by the Variations on Chopin's Prelude in C minor - a work in which Busoni demonstrates his innate skill of re-interpretation, and his mastery of counterpoint, and a piece he reworked several times. The following works are 'all Busoni' - the first and second sonatinas, and the Fantasia contrappuntistica, in the composer's later adaptation for two pianos. The first Steinway Artist of Indian origin, Karl Lutchmayer is equally renowned as a concert pianist, a lecturer, and a broadcaster. He joins Peter Donohoe in the Fantasia, and also performs the Second Sonatina.

Paris discovered Massenet's Grisélidis at the Opéra-Comique on 20 November 1901. The work is based on a medieval folktale retold by Boccaccio and Perrault, among others, and already set to music several times in the Baroque era. It gave Massenet the opportunity to handle the ‘Gothic’ colouring of which the early twentieth century could not get enough. The inventive libretto by Armand Silvestre and Eugène Morand explores unusually contrasted registers: the religious, the fantastical, the sentimental and the warlike. Above all, the presence of a scene-stealing Devil, saddled with a cantankerous wife, offers the possibility of contrasting the serious (or sublime) and the comic (or grotesque). Massenet thus produced a rare example of cross-genre equilibrium, a jewel of French demi-caractère, typical of the Opéra-Comique repertory. Although the opera renounces spoken dialogue, theatrical declamation nevertheless creeps into a few particularly successful scenes. Two magnificent baritone roles – the Marquis and the Devil – oppose each other with the full trappings of Romantic vocality, while Grisélidis makes a noble and introspective heroine, the perfect model of the French soprano.

Tom Meighan returns with his new Album 'Roadrunner'. Sucessor to Tom's 2023 album 'The Reckoning', which reached #2 in the Indie Album chart. Tom says about the album: "This record is dedicated to my wife Vikki, I love you forever and my girls, the babies! My friends, my Mam and Dad John and Carol, my brother John, his wife Lisa and the boys. I couldn't have done this record without the love of my brothers and sisters in the band. G man my brother, Bnann's the blitz buff, the destroyer baby Brody and lightning Elles couldn't have done it without you, love you. Also like to say thank you to Jules for believing in me, Ross the chipmunk couldn't have done it without you."

Although it is not known to which mysterious figures they were dedicated, Joseph de Boismortier’s cantatas Les Quatre Saisons, published in 1724, resonate with the splendour of court festivities and the eloquence of the salons de conversation. The libretto, written by an anonymous but undoubtedly romantic hand, unfolds its poetry through the seasons, and the composer seems to have enjoyed recreating all its subtleties in his music. For her first recording as conductor, Chloé de Guillebon surrounded herself with young talent, accompanied by the skilful musicians of the Orchestre de l'Opéra Royal de Versailles.