Bach's celebration of Easter is a mostly joyous one, opening with a three-movement sinfonia, richly orchestrated, and complete with trumpets and drums: the third movement includes the chorus inviting listeners to rejoice and hasten to the tomb of Jesus, "For our Savior has awakened." There follow recitatives and arias for Mary Magdalen, Mary, the mother of James, Peter, and John. Each character goes through grief to love and gratefulness, and Bach's endlessly inventive scoring, melodic lines, and changing orchestral textures take us on a rich, 40-minute musical journey to peace. Only a too-long soprano aria tends to wear.

There's a long-standing debate over the issue of OVPP (one voice per part) in performing Bach's choral works. On this disc, it works better in some choruses than others–for example, it lacks the majesty that a choir can bring to the start of the Magnificat's Gloria. As to the individual voices, in the oratorio's two big arias, soprano Kimberly McCord sings with beguiling poise, though some may find her vibrato a touch fidgety; while Paul Agnew's moving singing of the heavenly tenor aria reflecting on Christ's grave-clothes has bags of intensity, though line and focus occasionally suffer. Neal Davies's forthright bass makes the best impression.

Das im Jahr 2010 begonnene Bach-Projekt mit dem Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks unter Leitung von Peter Dijkstra findet seinen Abschluss mit der Gesamtaufnahme der Messe h-moll, die im April 2016 im Herkulessaal der Münchner Residenz aufgenommen wurde. Damit umfasst es nun die vier Gipfelwerke Bachs – die drei »protestantischen Oratorien« sowie die »große katholische Messe« – in einer herausragenden künstlerischen Qualität, mit renommierten Vokalsolisten und begleitet von hochkarätigen Ensembles der historischen Aufführungspraxis: drei Werke entstanden in Zusammenarbeit mit Concerto Köln, ein weiteres mit der Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin.

At this point, it is easy to see that the John McLaughlin story has become a peripatetic journey of electric-acoustic switchbacks, with the formation of the One Truth Band that plays on this LP being just another short chapter in the saga. And this time, McLaughlin is thoroughly in charge: there is little of the competitive dueling or tightly drilled, high-volume unison lines of the past; it's the guitarist and his sidemen, although sometimes keyboardist Stu Goldberg steps out with some wicked chops. McLaughlin returns Miles Davis' favor of naming a piece on Bitches Brew after him by turning the tables, and indeed, "Miles Davis" often has the loose, jamming feeling (and a quote of "It's About That Time") of the maestro's own jazz-rock sessions.

Since John McLaughlin's first two post-Shakti albums – Electric Guitarist and Electric Dreams – featured the word "electric" in their titles, it seems that the guitarist wanted to emphasize his more plugged-in side to those who might not have followed along on three previous releases featuring his acoustic world music band. He also thumbed through his impressive phone book to call in some of the cream of the 1977 crop of jazz fusionists to help him out on Electric Guitarist, a true return to form. Ex-Mahavishnu members Jerry Goodman and Billy Cobham assist in kicking things off just like in the old days with "New York on My Mind," a tune that could have been an outtake from his earlier Mahavishnu Orchestra work.

The last of the classic Sonny Rollins albums prior to his unexpected three-year retirement features the great tenor with pianist Hampton Hawes, guitarist Barney Kessel, bassist Leroy Vinnegar, and drummer Shelly Manne (all bandleaders for Contemporary Records during this era) on an unusual but inspired list of standards. Rollins creates explorative and often witty improvisations on such songs as "Rock-A-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody," "You," "In the Chapel in the Moonlight," and roaring versions of "I've Found a New Baby" and "The Song Is You." Great music.

In the early '70s John McLaughlin was one-third of the supergroup Lifetime with drummer Tony Williams and organist Larry Young. This particular CD from 1994 matches him with drummer Elvin Jones and organist Joey DeFrancesco, but the music has little in common with Lifetime. Instead many of the tunes can be considered to be tributes to John Coltrane; Jones's participation certainly reinforces that connection. McLaughlin, back on electric guitar after several years sticking almost exclusively to acoustic, is in top form on such numbers as "Take the Coltrane," "My Favorite Things," "Crescent," and "Afro Blue." The improvising is advanced and colorful with DeFrancesco keeping the proceedings swinging, and even if the results are not quite classic, the collaboration is somewhat unique.

This production resuscitates Gounod s original composition, largely forgotten. A triumph for Minkowski, conducting at the Opera national de Paris, it attracted more than 1 million viewers when broadcast on TV! No competition on DVD or Bluray At last, Mireille one of the most original works of the 19th century has found its rightful place at the Palais Garnier. In 1854, a young Provençal poet, Fredéric Mistral, founded a literary association with a few other people, the aim of which was to uphold and illustrate its language and culture. They called this school Félibrige, a word of mysterious origin - a blend of joy, books and freedom. In 1859, he took things one step further and gave Félibrige its battle flag and masterpiece, Miréio, a vast epic love poem. As it happened, Gounod, whose Faust was created that year, read Mireille shortly after publication and was full of enthusiasm and went to Saint-Rémy de Provence to seek out this passionate music. Due to its singularity and density, the work has had a difficult career and was revised and altered several times. In 1939, Guy Ferrant and Henri Busser, disciples of Gounod, restored the original and Mireille was finally restored from the fine midsummer's morning and its dancing to the gripping scene in the desert-like Crau region.