Nightlife is a loose concept album – more of a song cycle, really – about nightlife (naturally), a collection of moods and themes, from love to loneliness. In that sense, it's not that different from most Pet Shop Boys albums, and, musically, the album is very much of a piece with Very and Bilingual, which is to say that it relies more on craft than on innovation…

Pierre Génisson and Quartet 212 resurrect the arresting delicacy of Mozart’s clarinet quintet in this quietly authoritative album. Génisson nails the composer’s tender lyricism with an airy nonchalance that gives the impression he has pondered every note and cadence. Quartet 212 offer a formidable balance to Génisson’s solos.

Cellist Ophélie Gaillard embraces diversity and empathy in this rich, cinematic album of world music. She rides Korngold’s volcanic, rollercoaster melodies into expressive excellence in the “Concerto in One Movement for Cello and Orchestra,” while her reading of Bloch’s “From Jewish Life” bears a beautiful sadness that feels transcendental.

Anyone who knew anything about Pink Floyd knew that a dance band they were not, so this compilation, courtesy of Columbia Records, was intended ironically…

With his 2017 release on Erato, Jean Rondeau illustrates the beginnings of the harpsichord concerto, which can be traced from the Baroque masterpieces of Johann Sebastian Bach through the early Classical period, represented here by works of his sons, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, and Johann Christian Bach. While this celebrated musical dynasty contributed to many forms in the 18th century, the keyboard concerto was given a special, innovative treatment by the Bachs, who effectively put the genre on the map.

Traditional Hawaiian slack key guitar from Molokai where James Keli'ipio Kahea Mawae was born and raised. Keli'i learned slack key guitar from his tutu (grandmother) Lucy Kapika Mahina Panaewa on the homestead. His Aloha shines forth through the music.

Part of the ultimate audiophile Prestige stereo reissues from Analogue Productions — 25 of the most collectible, rarest, most audiophile-sounding Rudy Van Gelder recordings ever made. All cut at 33 1/3 and also released on Hybrid SACD. All mastered from the original analog master tapes by mastering maestro Kevin Gray.

Part of the ultimate audiophile Prestige stereo reissues from Analogue Productions — 25 of the most collectible, rarest, most audiophile-sounding Rudy Van Gelder recordings ever made. All cut at 33 1/3 and also released on Hybrid SACD. All mastered from the original analog master tapes by mastering maestro Kevin Gray.

Part of the ultimate audiophile Prestige stereo reissues from Analogue Productions — 25 of the most collectible, rarest, most audiophile-sounding Rudy Van Gelder recordings ever made. All cut at 33 1/3 and also released on Hybrid SACD. All mastered from the original analog master tapes by mastering maestro Kevin Gray.

Jacob Kirkman was a member of one of the most important harpsichord builder dynasties of his time. Even Charles Burney (music historian, composer & musician) was full of praise of him. Kirkman‘s family was also able to master the transition to the Fortepiano with a series of innovations. Medea Bindewald partly performs on keyboards built by the Kirkman company, with compositions by Jacob Kirkman.

From the moment he first raised the baton as principal conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker in 2002, Sir Simon Rattle brought electrifying energy and a unique vision to the traditions established under his illustrious German predecessors, Karajan and Abbado. Renowned as one of the finest orchestras in the world, the Berliner Philharmoniker have thrived for 15 years under the guidance of the British maestro, its deep understanding of the great Germanic masterpieces enriched by new directions and broader musical horizons. The Rhythm & Colours box set celebrates this long and fruitful partnership with seven bestsellers and prize-winning Berlin Philharmoniker albums from the Rattle years. From monumental Mahler to the explosive rhythms of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana; from the sensual colours of Debussy to the soaring anthems of The Planets by Rattle’s countryman Gustav Holst, Rhythm & Colours showcases the very best of Rattle’s legacy in Berlin.

The protagonist of Saint-Saëns’ Proserpine, premiered at the Opéra-Comique on 14 March 1887, is no reincarnation of the ancient goddess, but a Renaissance courtesan well versed in culpable amours. According to the composer, she is ‘a damned soul for whom true love is a forbidden fruit; as soon as she approaches it, she experiences torture’. Yet for all the innocence of her rival Angiola, the unexpected happens: ‘It is the bloodthirsty beast that is admirable; the sweet creature is no more than pretty and likeable.’ Visibly enraptured by this delight in horror, Saint-Saëns indulges in unprecedented orchestral modernity, piling on the dissonances beneath his characters’ cries of rage or despair. He concluded thus: ‘Proserpine is, of all my stage works, the most advanced in the Wagnerian system.’ The least-known, too, and one which it was high time to reveal to the public, in its second version, revised in 1899.