Wieder einmal vergrub sich Gardiner in alle möglichen Quellen, um auch Haydns lebens- und sinnenfrohes Oratorium in neuen, trotz schlanker Besetzung nicht minder prallen Farben malen zu können. In den teilweise hymnischen Chorszenen treibt er seinen erstklassigen Monteverdi-Chor behende durch die Fugen und enorme Steigerungen hinauf. Sein Orchester stürzt sich geradezu auf die vielen Lautmalereien, und die Solisten können nahezu als Idealbesetzung gelten. Auch wegen der exzellenten Aufnahmequalität die zweite Platte des Monats.

The Room started out as a bunch of chums in Blandford in Dorset getting a band together for a bit of fun and also to make their fortune playing at local village halls. This was 1968, post-flower power, but very much Hendrix and ultra-light guitar strings. As time went by, the band gained experience and moved on up the ladder, gigging around the country, making a record… Recorded at the Decca studios in the summer of 1970, Room's Pre-Flight was an ambitious blend of Rock, Blues, Jazz and Classical influences. The album was critically well received but unfortunately, like many strong releases, did not achieve the hoped for breakthrough to greater commercial success.

Recorded in London in the summer of 1971 by Austrian singer/songwriter Bobby Haumer and an English pick-up band, Zakarrias was issued on the highly collectable Deram label. However, Deram withdrew the album almost immediately when they discovered that Haumer didn't have a work permit and therefore had to return to Austria. Full of unexpected melodic shifts, and with an over-whelming sense of space and unresolved tension, the album skillfully blends singer/songwriter introversion with elements of Folk, Blues, Psychedelia and Progressive Rock. The results have been compared to outtakes from the third Led Zeppelin album, but while the lead vocals are certainly reminiscent at times of Robert Plant, the overall sound and general air of quiet pretension is probably closer to Van der Graaf Generator leader Peter Hammill's early solo work. The album went unnoticed at the time, but has since become a collectable rarity.

Considered to be one of Norway’s most iconic prog rock bands, Aunt Mary’s music has influenced generations of fans of all ages from around the world. Their music is the perfect blend of hard-rock heavy beats combined with cool symphonic and melodic undertones. Originally formed in 1969, very few Norwegian bands have achieved such international recognition as Aunt Mary. In the mid-1970s they were compared to giants like Deep Purple, Yes, and Jethro Tull. Each band member has contributed uniquely to Aunt Mary’s incredible stage presence and overall success throughout the years. The band is comprised of highly skilled talent - all equally proud to have contributed this important part of global pop culture. Aunt Mary continues to play sold out shows, especially at festivals, every single year.

The Schola Cantorum in Basel has long championed the imaginative exploration of early music, creating expertly-researched programmes and encouraging superbly-performed interpretations with a close attention also to the most appropriate recording conditions. Such was the case with Amours amours amours, a disc of lute duos starting from music composed in the fifteenth century, recorded in 2001 by Karl-Ernst Schröder and Crawford Young.

These splendid performances from Anthony Halstead directing the Hanover Band from the keyboard are appealingly fluent, full of flair and vitality… His solo playing is very persuasive and the result is delightfully intimate.

This disc will benefit from a strong curiosity factor, for the Goldberg who composed the music here is indeed the one for whom J.S. Bach is said to have composed his monumental Goldberg Variations for harpsichord, BWV 988. The story goes that the Russian ambassador to the Dresden court, one Count von Keyserlingk, had insomnia and wanted a long, gentle work that could be played by his house keyboardist, the then teenaged Goldberg, in the next room.

Rachel has presented her Latin Jazz project in many different formats since 2009 with compositions and arrangements tinted with many musical influences from different Latin-American and Caribbean countries. After living in Cuba, studying at the Instituto Supérior de Arte in Havana Cuba in 2008 and having a multitude of experiences with many latin music groups, Therrien founded her own project to play the music of the cultures she’s so passionate about.

The Sound of Simon Rattle is a collection entirely dedicated to the best performances put on record by the conductor during his mandate as musical director of the Berliner Philharmoniker. It includes his biggest hits, from Mahler and Beethoven to Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky.

Pamela Harrison belongs to a generation of women composers whose star shone brightly in the aftermath of the second world war but who subsequently faded into obscurity as the establishment turned towards the European avant-garde. Here, the Gould Piano Trio, with clarinettist and project curator Robert Plane, are joined by friends and colleagues in this survey of her work.

For Brahms, folk songs were sources of musical inspiration, not subjects for academic study. The songs from Books 6 and 7 of the Deutsche Volkslieder exemplify how Brahms’ distinctive and expressive accompaniments brought unique qualities to these songs, how he intensified certain verses to draw out their power, or allowed the piano its own revealing melodic phrases. In Book 7 the songs are divided between a lead singer and a chorus, adding fresh musical possibilities. In the Volkskinderlieder (‘Children’s Folk Songs’) Brahms’ economy and deftness turn lullabies into works of art.

Arabella Steinbacher is a multiple award-winner with an extensive Pentatone discography, including Mozart’s complete violin concertos (2014 and 2021), Four Seasons (Vivaldi & Piazzolla, 2020), Mendelssohn & Tchaikovsky Violin Concertos (2015) and many others. Christoph Koncz and the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester make their Pentatone debut.

Anthony Romaniuk, multi-keyboardist, alchemist of pianos, or ‘musical polyglot’ as some people call him, presents his new album as follows: ‘I remember very clearly the occasions in my childhood when I would be at a concert and a magical feeling would overtake both the audience and the performers. It was as though everyone in the room was part of the performance and we were all experiencing a kind of collective bliss. As an adult I have tried to understand this phenomenon of communal concentration. It seems to me that a certain kind of musical work will naturally induce this state, works in which the rhythm is hypnotic, trance-like and ongoing. For this album I wanted to find music embodying this quality, pieces in perpetual motion.’ As if in some fascinating portrait gallery, we meet music by Kapsberger, Scarlatti, Purcell, Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Ravel, Satie, Ligeti, Adams, and improvisations, played on a Fazioli concert piano, a Graf fortepiano from 1835, a Flemish muselar, a seventeenth-century harpsichord, a Yamaha CP80 electro-acoustic piano and a Prophet Rev2 synthesiser.

Alla Milanese (‘in the Milanese style’) explores the connections between musicians at the heart of Milan’s scene for experimental music, c.1592–1626.Alongside compositions from the city’s most illustrious musical families – Rognoni and Cima – The Gonzaga Band has sought to rediscover the music of their lesser-known contemporaries, including Biumi, Casato, and the nun-composer Caterina Assandra, to illuminate a rich and complex network of stylistic innovation at the dawn of the Baroque era.

The latest in the Lost Not Forgotten Archives, Distance Over Time Demos (2018) documents the writing sessions for Dream Theater's fourteenth studio album. Presented here in the original order in which the tracks were written and recorded, this release gives a fascinating glimpse into the DT creative process.