On his latest album “Liszt: Via Crucis & Solo Piano Works”, releasing on Aprill 11 2025 for Sony Classical, Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes unveils the often forgotten side of the famed virtuoso Franz Liszt - the sacred music that offers a more intimate picture of the man and his deeply held faith.With acclaimed vocal ensemble the Norwegian Soloists’ Choir, Andsnes has recorded Liszt’s remarkable late work Via Crucis (The Way of the Cross’) for choir and piano. The pianist completes his all-Liszt album with the solo piano work Consolations and two movements from the composer’s Harmonies poétiques et religieuses.

Savina Yannatou’s fifth ECM album revolves around the theme of water in its many manifestations. Water as a blessing and a curse. A life-sustaining source and a mortal threat in the elemental power of the storm. Shakespeare’s The Tempest with the spirit Ariel’s song, “Full Fathom Five”, provided an inspirational starting point for Greek vocalist Yannatou and the Primavera en Salonico band in a project in which they are also joined by Tunisian singer Lamia Bedioui. There’s a special magic that occurs when Savina and Lamia sing together – as was already evident on Yannatou’s Terra Nostra more than 20 years ago. In the present recording Bedioui embodies the desert realm, as the Arabic language and the Bedouin dialect intersect with the languages of Mediterranean Europe and elsewhere. Songs come from many compass points and historical epochs. A traditional piece from Egypt segues into one from North Macedonia. A setting of a 10th century poem by Arab prince Abu Firas al-Hamdani is situated between a South Italian lament and a Greek carol. An Irish Gaelic song precedes a Corsican tune and Primavera En Salonico’s unique take on the African-American spiritual “Wade In The Water.” Multi-cultural in their musical passions, and daring in their stylistic juxtapositions, Savina and friends also illuminate the connections between the traditions.

Mostly removing the layers that have swathed his voice and sometimes cocooned his songs over the past decade or so, Justin Vernon seems to be in a revelatory mood. That's not to say the singer-songwriter—who, as Bon Iver, has long straddled the seemingly incongruous worlds of his Wisconsin base and the A-list heights of collaborators such as Taylor Swift—has gone back to the stark folk of his debut, 2008's For Emma, Forever Ago. But this stripping away lends itself well, symbolically, to the self-examination that pervades his fifth album. "I get caught looking in the mirror on the regular," he sings on "Things Behind Things Behind Things," suggesting vanity before exposing the Wilde-ian truth: "And what I see there resembles some competitor … I am afraid of changing.

Yasunori Imamura presents the second instalment of Bach’s Cello Suites arranged for theorbo (Volume 1 is available on 8.574617). The theorbo is the most important plucked instrument in the lute family, with a range very similar to the cello. Certain technical elements, such as the playing of arpeggios are, in fact, easier on the theorbo whose unique timbres bring a new sonic quality to the performances heard here. These elements are most evident in Suite No. 6, composed for a cello with five strings, but which sounds totally idiomatic when played on the theorbo.

Nicola Benedetti presents a major work of the violin repertoire, Beethoven's 'Violin Concerto'. Recorded with Nicholas Collon and the award-winning Aurora Orchestra. The entire concerto was filmed to create a dynamic, full-length video. As well as a GRAMMY winner, 2 x Classical BRIT Award winner, BBC Music Magazine's 2021 personality of the year and a CBE, Nicky runs the incredible Benedetti Foundation for young musicians, and in 2022 became the first ever female director of the world-famous Edinburgh International Festival.

A Bestiary Of is a compilation album by The Creatures (aka singer Siouxsie and musician Budgie), issued on CD in 1997. It compiled remastered recordings made by the band between 1981 and 1983, including the Wild Things EP, the Feast album, the B-side of "Miss the Girl" and the "Right Now" single (backed by "Weathercade").

Alexey Shor was born in Ukraine but now lives in New York pursuing a distinguished career filled with prestigious performances and recordings in collaboration with leading international musicians. Childhood Memories traces a path from early childhood to adolescence in a nostalgic reflection on youth, while Verdiana is a musical tribute to Giuseppe Verdi that reworks his famous melodies into Latin dance styles including samba, bossa nova and tango. Both of these works feature Shor’s trademark of melodic clarity and emotional depth.

There's a cult of Meet Danny Wilson lovers and if you ever ask them about the album, a Steely Dan comparison is bound to come up. It's not without merit, and considering that the other bands the album might remind you of – Deacon Blue and Fairground Attraction – aren't on the tip of much of anyone's tongue, Steely Dan is at close as it comes. But the Dan never sounded this lively, this exuberant, this finger-snapping. If that makes them sound light as feather, keep in mind that Lloyd Cole loves this record. Head songwriter Gary Clark shares some of Cole's love of literate and clever lyrics that fit just right with the notes they land on, but he prefers a horn-section blast to Cole's guitar jangle (plus Clark has more Jimmy Van Heusen records than Cole does, no doubt). The sweet "Mary's Prayer" is the almost-hit, barely making enough impact to call the band a one-hit wonder. It's only part of the story for an album that effortlessly hurls clever arrangements and lyrical stingers out of the speakers. Opening with the syncopated and humble "Davy" and then switching to the Vegas hipster, Bobby Darin-for-the-'80s "Aberdeen" makes for a killer opening, and the album keeps minding the pace.

Between 1961 and 1986, Herbert von Karajan made three recordings of the Mozart Requiem for Deutsche Grammophon, with little change in his conception of the piece over the years. This recording, from 1975, is, on balance, the best of them. The approach is Romantic, broad, and sustained, marked by a thoroughly homogenized blend of chorus and orchestra, a remarkable richness of tone, striking power, and an almost marmoreal polish. Karajan viewed the Requiem as idealized church music rather than a confessional statement awash in operatic expressiveness. In this account, the orchestra is paramount, followed in importance by the chorus, then the soloists. Not surprisingly, the singing of the solo quartet sounds somewhat reined-in, especially considering these singers' pedigrees. By contrast, the Vienna Singverein, always Karajan's favorite chorus, sings with a huge dynamic range and great intensity, though with an emotional detachment nonetheless. Perfection, if not passion or poignancy, is the watchword. The Berlin orchestra plays majestically, and the sound is pleasingly vivid.

Foreigner is a British-American hard rock band formed in 1976 in New York City by Mick Jones (who had previously worked with George Harrison), and Ian McDonald of King Crimson. The name Foreigner reflects the band's composition - half of the members were British.

Here it is, then - the latest pendulum swing from Architects. With their last two albums, For Those That Wish To Exist (2021) and the classic symptoms of a broken spirit (2022), the Brighton heroes did something no-one had expected of them: diverting from the musical and thematic heaviness of the records that had come before, paring down the technicality in order to do more with less, which, for them, presented a fresh challenge. And while For Those That Wish To Exist perfectly embodied that bigger and more bombastic idea, its follow-up saw its restless creators already pushing for new sounds and new ground, much of it less heavy and more deliberate in its catchiness, and proving somewhat divisive as a result. The Sky, The Earth & All Between is, in part, an album for those who feared Architects were gradually uncoupling from the colossal and the cacophonic…

Winner of the 2009 Van Cliburn competition, Haochen Zhang is no stranger to a challenge. On this début concerto disc he proves this once more, boldly jumping in at the deep end as he takes on Sergei Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2. The demands posed by Prokofiev’s concerto are famous, starting with a huge cadenza already in the first movement. This may explain why the concerto was for a long time relatively unknown and, … Read moreunlike the First and Third Piano Concertos, has only recently taken its rightful place in the repertory.

As the possessor of one of the great lyric soprano voices of our time, soprano Renée Fleming is in demand in the world's great opera houses. (It doesn't hurt that she's also lovely and a fine actress.) This album is an outstanding collection of great arias, ravishingly sung.

The French cantata had a brief, but vibrant life during the first three decades of the 18th century. Beginning with Morin's first book in 1706, there followed dozens of books of cantatas by a number of French composers. Clerambault, Boismortier, Rameau and Monteclair all published cantatas during this period. Monteclair may by relatively unknown, but he was a composer of undoubted talent if judged by the works on this recording…If you like the French baroque, do yourself a favor and try to buy this recording. It is a high point in the art of the cantata, and in the musicianship of William Christie and his colleagues.

2025 marks a new chapter for symphonic metal innovators Epica, with the announcement of their 9th studio album titled Aspiral. For more than 20 years now, Epica have been standing tall. And while already their last efforts clearly showcased their commitment to the game, it is Aspiral that truly distills the very heart of their trademark sound.