With this new recording, the madly epic and romantic opera, Il Giustino, finally receives its place in the spotlight, something that the history of music has denied it up until now. The fifty-eighth recording and eighteenth opera in the Vivaldi Edition, which began in 2000, solidifies the status of Vivaldi as the greatest of opera composers - and of composers full stop. It needed the talent, charisma and poetic energy of a great conductor to bring back to life this gem, and it is Ottavio Dantone who assumes this mantle.

In commemoration with her concert in Japan in July, Sarah Brightman brought a new greatest hits album exclusively released in Japan. The album includes leading songs in her career such as "Time to Say Goodbye (solo version)," "Nessun Dorma," "Canto Della Terra," "Stranger In Paradise," and "Pie Jesu." Features the high-fidelity SHM-CD format. Japanese original release. Tracks 16-18 are bonus tracks.

During 1969 and 1970, CCR was dismissed by hipsters as a bubblegum pop band and the sniping had grown intolerable, at least to John Fogerty, who designed Pendulum as a rebuke to critics. He spent time polishing the production, bringing in keyboards, horns, even a vocal choir. His songs became self-consciously serious and tighter, working with the aesthetic of the rock underground – Pendulum was constructed as a proper album, contrasting dramatically with CCR's previous records, all throwbacks to joyous early rock records where covers sat nicely next to hits and overlooked gems tucked away at the end of the second side.

Two great Shostakovich concertante works, in dazzling performances from soloists István Várdai (cello) and Aleksey Semenenko (violin), with accompaniment from the BBC Philharmonic and conductors John Storgårds and Martyn Brabbins.

"Rademann conducts with feeling and strives for a round and harmonious sound. The musicians of the GaechingerCantorey play excellently and show that historically informed performance practice and Romantic music-making are not necessarily mutually exclusive.necessarily mutually exclusive. It is the result that counts. And that is more than convincing with Rademann and his Cantorey.Above all, because the listener can't get enough of it."pizzicato

Campra’s famous Requiem emerged from a tradition that is still unjustly neglected. Sébastien Daucé and Ensemble Correspondances offer us an opportunity to discover these maîtres de musique of Notre-Dame who, though now overshadowed by their brilliant colleague, made no less of a contribution to the development of the ‘French style’ emblematic of the reign of Louis XIV.

After building a solid core audience through relentless touring and a string of hard-rocking albums, Foghat finally hit the big time in 1975 with Fool for the City. It still stands out as the best album in the group's catalog because it matched their road-tested abilities as hard rockers to a consistent set of tunes that were both well-crafted and ambitious. The tone for the album is set by its title track: This hard-rocking gem not only pairs riff-driven verses with an effective shout-along chorus, but also throws in a few surprising moments where the guitars are taken out of the mix completely and Nick Jameson's bass is allowed to take the lead in a funky breakdown. Fool for the City also produced an enduring rock radio favorite in "Slow Ride," a stomping rock tune that transcends the inherent clichés of its "love is like a car ride" lyrics with a furious performance from the band…

Ascending in Synergy proves that this promising German unit is on top of their game and skillfully manages to balance the tightrope act between diving into the early beginnings of symphonic metal, reminiscent of old Nightwish, yet splicing all songs with a contemporary vibe. Opening track “Unbound” impresses with skillful orchestral arrangements and vocalist Nele Messerschmidt’s extraordinary voice. The following “A Vagabond’s Heart” features an exciting intro and one of the catchiest choruses on the album. Dramatic and dark soundscapes and heavy riffs on songs like “Ocean Of Treason” and “The Aftermath Of Life” keep the listener in a tight grip. Elvellon’s dreamlike, cinematic side shines especially bright on tracks like “Last Of Our Kind” and “The Aeon Tree”. Massive album finale “Epiphany Of Mine” closes Ascending in Synergy impactfully, leaving the listener wanting for more.

Lester Bowie's projects apart from the Art Ensemble of Chicago tread a high wire between challenging improvised music and R&B-pop. This seeming dichotomy purports a universally appealing sound close to selling out, but speaks more to the whimsy and farcical elements Bowie sees in the hypocrisy of life. The Great Pretender is a perfect title for this effort, a mix of funk and humor, gospel and jazz, with no small points of reference to Dizzy Gillespie, early doo wop, Mahalia Jackson, James Brown, and Sun Ra. The lengthy title track modernizes the Buck Ram hit on many levels, as Bowie's sly, ribald, and comedic trumpet playing hits every nerve over a head nodding church hued backbeat, accented by the ooh-ooh vocals of Fontella Bass and David Peaston…