Richard Jones's radical new production of Lohengrin was the talk of the 2009 Munich Festival. It was also a triumph for Jonas Kaufmann in the title role. Die Welt added that they "could not think of any cast more perfectly matched, so youthfully enthralling, in short: so wonderful … ". With striking costumes and designs by Ultz - and directed by Maestro Kent Nagano - it represents a bold new Lohengrin for today's world.

The Salsoul Orchestra - How High (1979) {2014 Remastered & Expanded - Big Break Records CDBBR 0270}
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© 1979, 2014 Big Break Records / Cherry Red / Verse Music | CDBBR 0270
R'n'B / Funk / Disco / Soul / Philly Soul

BBR is proud to bring you HOW HIGH, the seventh instalment of our Salsoul Orchestra reissues. THE SALSOUL ORCHESTRA was the brainchild of once MFSB member and legendary vibraphonist, Vince Montana Jr. Formed in 1974, THE SALSOUL ORCHESTRA, house band for the remarkable Salsoul Records, sometimes featured up to 50 members amongst its ranks including a number of former musicians from MFSB, and fused elements of Funk, Latin, Disco and Philly Soul into their compositions. THE SALSOUL ORCHESTRA began an eight-year recording period in 1975 releasing eleven sensational albums during that time featuring production input from, Stan Lucas, Patrick Adams, Bunny Sigler and Tom Moulton through the years.

The Fray is an American rock band from Denver, Colorado. Formed in 2002 by schoolmates Isaac Slade and Joe King, they achieved success with the release of their debut album, How to Save a Life in 2005, which was certified double platinum by the RIAA and platinum in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK. A collection includes all the studio albums by The Fray at the moment, also 1 Live, 1 EP and 3 singles.

This release is more properly identified as a various artists compilation, which includes the pop sounds of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. Most of the orchestrations and arrangements are pleasant, even if they're not blatantly original. Alto saxophonist Bobby Watson is superb on "Mood Indigo" and the exotic "Fleurette Africaine." The orchestra does a fine job with the rarely heard suite "Night Creature." Singer Dee Dee Bridgewater shines frequently; backed by a superb quartet including Wynton Marsalis, she delivers a delightful cover of "I'm Beginning To See The Light."

The Salsoul Orchestra - Up The Yellow Brick Road (1978) {2014 Remastered & Expanded - Big Break Records CDBBR 0267}
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© 1978, 2014 Big Break Records / Cherry Red / Verse Music | CDBBR 0267
R'n'B / Funk / Disco / Soul / Philly Soul

BBR is proud to bring you UP THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD, the sixth instalment of our Salsoul Orchestra reissues. THE SALSOUL ORCHESTRA was the brainchild of once MFSB member and legendary vibraphonist, Vincent Montana Jr. Formed in 1974, THE SALSOUL ORCHESTRA, house band for the remarkable Salsoul Records, sometimes featured up to 50 members amongst its ranks including a number of former musicians from MFSB. THE SALSOUL ORCHESTRA began an eight-year recording period in 1975 releasing eleven sensational albums during that time featuring production input from, Stan Lucas, Patrick Adams, Bunny Sigler and Tom Moulton through the years.

Sam Most - Musically Yours (1956) {2014 Japan Bethlehem Album Collection 1000}
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© 1956, 2014 Solid Records / Bethlehem | CDSOL-6142 | LP BCP-6008
Jazz / Cool / Bop / Flute

Features the latest remastering. Includes a Japanese description. Features original cover artwork. One of the loosest, most relaxed albums ever from flute man Sam Most – cut with a cool quartet that also features Bob Dorough on piano, Bill Crow on bass, and Joe Morello on drums! The inventive touches of all the rhythm players are really felt strongly – creating these modern moments that really have Sam stretching out on his instrument, and moving it way past any cliches of a few years before. Most handles flute on almost all the tracks, but also throws in some great clarinet as well – with archly-crafted solos that really swing, but with kind of an arch modernist tone – in the manner of some of Jimmy Giuffre's best rhythm-bound work of the 50s. Titles include "Obvious Conclusion", "Stella By Starlight", "Two For Three", and "House Of Bread Blues".

C.P.E. Bach eclipsed his legendary father s fame to become the mid-18th century s leading German composer. This wide-ranging collection of symphonies, concertos and vocal works by the great forerunner of Haydn and Mozart is performed by authoritative interpreters including Trevor Pinnock and The English Concert. The evident delight of the musicians in this music makes for rewarding listening … Impressive and fascinating.

Spyra is a German musician and producer from Berlin who has made numerous records in more than a decade, including releases with Dr. Alex Paterson, Hyperium Records, Fax Records and Manikin Records. His interpretation of post-electronic is a well-tempered mix of Krautrock-infused sequences accompanied by modern, neo-classic melody structures. Staub is not a memory of what Spyra has accomplished in the past, it presents modern live electronic elements with modern rhythms, building something epic and unexpected towards the finish line. Composed, played and recorded in only one take at each night, the music of Staub offers a fascinating duality between the blackness and the clearness. It's a strange ballet stuffed of contrasting choreographies. It's also an attractive pastoral ode where the shadows crawl on innocents melodies which try to anchor near our ears.

The Concerts in China is a live album by Jean Michel Jarre, recorded in 1981 and released in 1982 on Disques Dreyfus. It was recorded during Jarre's Concerts in China tour of Autumn 1981, which consisted of five Beijing and Shanghai concerts in China; this was the first time a Western pop artist performed in China after the Cultural Revolution. The album is a balance of previously released tracks by Jarre, new compositions inspired by Chinese culture, and one rearranged traditional Chinese track ("Fishing Junks at Sunset"). The album consists mainly of live material, plus ambient sound recordings and one new studio track "Souvenir of China". Other new compositions recorded live include "Night in Shanghai", "Laser Harp", "Arpegiator" and "Orient Express". "Fishing Junks at Sunset" is a new arrangement of a very old traditional Chinese song known as the "Fisherman's Chant at Dusk", which was performed and recorded with The Peking Conservatoire Symphony Orchestra and is often wrongly attributed as being composed by Jean Michel Jarre, misled by the album inlay.

Beethovens String Quartets are the undisputed sine qua non of the string quartet genre, with all other works in this form, as well as the ensembles themselves who must inevitably perform and record them, measured against this body of work and its associated recordings. The Philharmonia Quartet of Berlin, four members of the BPO, has been termed a ""top-flight-ensemble"" by the Chicago Tribune, possessing a heart melting sound (Boston Globe). An ensemble of thirty years standing, the PQB has established itself as a highly regarded, standard-setting body, and one in great demand worldwide.

The current Scharwenka concerto discography is thin but strong, with sturdy representations of the Second and Third (by Seta Tanyel, Fanfare 27: 3) supported on either end by recordings that can only be called exceptional: Wild (19:4 and 31:3) and Hamelin (29:5) in the First, Hough in the Fourth (19:3). Still, even someone who has already gathered up all four concertos will want to explore these new recordings by Alexander Markovich, plausibly advertised as the first complete cycle by a single pianist (Laurence Jeanningros’s promising edition, 25:3, apparently stalled mid-way through).

Henry Mancini - Eight Classic Albums (2014) [4CD Set] {Real Gone Music Remaster}
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© 2014 Real Gone Music | RGMCD097
Jazz / Easy Listening / Stage & Screen / Light Jazz / Soundtrack

This set contains eight Henry Manicini albums, all from his jazz period. Six of these albums were soundtracks written for either television series or for movies. All of the albums, except Hatari, contain twelve tracks. The album identifications and track listings for each CD appear below. The sound quality of this set is fantastic. Mancini recorded over 90 albums, in styles including big band, jazz, light classical and pop. Eight of these albums were certified gold by The Recording Industry Association of America. He had a 20-year contract with RCA Records, resulting in 60 commercial record albums that made him a household name among artists of easy-listening music. Mancini's earliest recordings in the 1950s and early 1960s were of the jazz idiom; with the success of Peter Gunn, Mr. Lucky, and Breakfast at Tiffany's, (all included here)Mancini shifted to primarily recording his own music in record albums and film soundtracks.