Riccardo Muti takes time out here to present some of the lesser known, rarely heard orchestral scores of his fellow countrymen, and a superbly played, enjoyable concert it is too. Proceedings commence with a fine and spirited performance of Alfredo Casella's divertimento Paganiniana—not a great piece by any means but a work possessing plenty of charm and humour nevertheless; the outer movements are a bit of a romp (very opera buffa) and must have been as much fun to write as they clearly are for the La Scala Philharmonic to play.

Nobody knows why Johann Sebastian Bach composed his six suites for solo cello. Nor does anybody know how it came about that the suites were soon afterwards consigned to oblivion and more than a century before a 13-year-old Spanish musical prodigy discovered a worn copy of the score in a second-hand bookstore store in Barcelona. For the next 11 years Pablo Casals practiced them every day. Finally, in 1936, he entered London’s Abbey Road studios to record the second and third suites for the first time. The rest, as they say, is history. Today, Bach’s cello suites have become a rite of passage for all aspiring cellists.

Born on 28 november 1956 in Massa, Italy, Roberto Zanetti studied piano at the age of 14. Had his first hit in 1978: Souvenir, with the band Santarosa, which sold 200,000 copies in Italy.
In 1983 he launched his own group, Taxi (with Zucchero "Sugar" Fornaciari) and released the single To Miami.
He had chosen the Savage alias based on the comic character Doc Savage and composed one of the most popular Italo-Disco slow tracks: Don't Cry Tonight.

ABBA's self-titled third album was the one that really broke the group on a worldwide basis. The Eurovision Song Contest winner "Waterloo" had been a major international hit and "Honey, Honey" a more modest one, but ABBA was still an exotic novelty to most of those outside Scandinavia until the release of ABBA in the spring of 1975. "I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do," a schmaltzy tribute to the sound of '50s orchestra leader Billy Vaughn, seemed an unlikely first single, and indeed it barely scraped into the Top 40 in the U.K. But in Australia, it topped the charts, causing the Australian record company to pull its own second single, "Mamma Mia," off the album. This far more appealing pop/rock number followed its predecessor into the pole position Down Under and also topped the charts throughout Europe…

Teddy Wilson covers a dozen songs by George Gershwin on this live date with bassist Arvell Shaw and drummer Bert Dahlander. All of the music had been in Wilson's repertoire for some time at this point in his career, so his playing seems effortless. The sequencing is a bit unusual, in that all of the faster numbers, including a very brisk "Liza" and "Oh, Lady be Good" (powered by Dahlander's brushwork), are on the first side, while all of the ballads, including a lush "Summertime" and an inventive "Bess, You is My Woman Now," are heard on the second half. Wilson is in top form with his typically eloquent yet swinging style. Shaw is given a number of solo opportunities, displaying his superb arco bass technique in "Nice Work If You Can Get It" and "Our Love Is Here to Stay."

Over the years, trying to determine what is true "prog rock" and what is not has become an increasingly tricky proposition. In the early '70s, it was easy - any band that performed "suites" that extended across entire album sides and dressed in capes and/or cloaks was a dead giveaway. However, when the early '80s rolled around, most former prog rockers trimmed out the fat from their compositions (and exchanged their medieval wear and kimonos for what looked like sports coats). Ever since, there have been bands that have aligned themselves to either of the aforementioned prog rock approaches. But along came Porcupine Tree, who somehow have found a way to incorporate both into their 2009 effort, The Incident. Set up similarly to Rush's 1978 classic, Hemispheres, The Incident is comprised of a single long song - the title track - that features many different movements…

Western Spaces is a collaborative album by the American ambient musicians Steve Roach, Kevin Braheny and Richard Burmer. This album is the first of Steve Roach’s many musical tributes to the Southwestern Desert. This recording conjures up the desert vistas and the vast stark beauty of the American southwest through a collection of pieces that play like a soundtrack to a road trip through the Mojave Desert, Death Valley and Joshua Tree, California. All of these locales were the inspiration for the musicians during the creation of the music.