David Atherton made a fine reputation for himself as a contemporary music conductor back in his salad days with the London Sinfonietta, nowhere more so than in his three-disc (now two-CD) set of music by Kurt Weill. He certainly hasn’t lost his magic touch in the intervening years. These performances of the two symphonies sweep the (not very full) board. Swift, lean, incisive, and always exciting, Atherton reveals all of this music’s anger, irony, and bittersweet lyricism without a trace of histrionics or self-indulgence. Indeed, a certain coolness is part of the point too. And so in the marvelous Second Symphony, Atherton catches the neo-classical temper of its outer movements with impeccable wit and grace, making the passionate intensity of the magnificent central slow movement all the more shocking as a result.

Experience the iconic music from movies and series such as Babylon Berlin, The Great Gatsby and Burlesque with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Danish Radio Big Band and guests.The Babylon Hotel is the concert where the upper class meets the underworld in a melting pot of euphoria and extravagance, nostalgia and pleasure with a carefree sinfulness only seen in the exuberant nightlife of the 1920s around the world. This concert evening takes you through the fictional Babylon Hotel, where the doors are opened to a world of music from movies like The Great Gatsby, Babylon, Burlesque, the TV series House of Dreams and Babylon Berlin and the operas Porgy and Bess and Mahagonny - and much more.

Although Kurt Weill's principal legacy lies in music theatre works of both popular appeal and intellectual weight, he was equally at home in purely orchestral works as evidenced by his two symphonies. Written just over a decade apart, they reveal his chameleon-like ability to work with any range of style and form. The Symphonie in einem Satz (Symphony in one movement), completed when he was barely 21, adopts an expressionist idiom that shows intricate writing, dense counterpoint and quick shifts reminiscent of Schoenberg's First Chamber Symphony. Completed in France in 1934 after Weill had to flee Nazi Germany, the Fantaisie symphonique is filled with allusions to the 'sung ballet' The Seven Deadly Sins, composed at the same time.

‘A dancer’s blood runs in my veins’ announces the heroine of Léhar’s Giuditta in the beguiling bolero-cum-waltz ‘Meine Lippen, sie küssen so heiß!’ which blazes into life around fifteen minutes into today’s Recording of the Week from Egyptian soprano Fatma Said, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo and special guests including lutenist David Bergmüller, Quinteto Ángel and the vision string quartet.

This is exuberant music-making with real life to it. Whoever is responsible for the feeling of spontaneity, it embraces every performance, and the shifting colors from one selection to the next insures enough variety. First-rate side musicians come and go, and vocalist Joy Denalane embodies an iconic blues singer in Sam Cooke’s plaintive “A Change Is Gonna Come.”

Brilliant covers album from 2001 by the UK Popstar. Instead of your standard album of recent songs, Williams reaches back to the days of the Rat Pack (Frank, Dean and Sammy) and comes out swingin', with most of the tracks recorded at the same studios that many of Capitol Records' original crooners recorded at using some of the same musicians! Featuring duets with Frank Sinatra, Nicole Kidman, Jane Horrocks, Jon Lovitz and Jonathan Wilkes. Tracks include, 'Something Stupid', 'Do Nothing 'Till You Hear from Me', 'Mack the Knife', 'I Will Talk And Hollywood Will Listen', 'Well, Did You Evah' and 'Mr. Bojangles'.

Composers Kurt Weill and Hanns Eisler had great success with their songs, creating an unmistakable style that has remained unique with its mixture of popular music, supreme musical sophistication and political claims. Salome Kammer is a versatile artists and an ideal advocate of this music.

Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin is as well-loved by the public as he is appreciated by his peers, who awarded him the Canada Council for the Arts Virginia Parker Prize in September 2000. At the helm of the Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal since March 2000, Yannick Nézet-Séguin has worked tirelessly to broaden the scope of the orchestra’s involvement in a variety of venues, while always maintaining his own rigorous standards and keeping in close touch with the music-loving public.

The Berliner Philharmoniker played under the baton of their new chief conductor Kirill Petrenko for the first time at the New Year’s Eve concert – presenting a vibrant facet to Petrenko’s repertoire. The program takes us on a musical journey to the USA: with dances from Bernstein’s West Side Story and Gershwin’s An American in Paris. Moreover, it features star soprano Diana Damrau in captivating musical songs.

Revealing an affinity for Weill, Teresa Stratas fulfills her promise to Lotte Lenya on her deathbed to "carry on the torch for Kurt Weill's music." Stratas's glorious soprano has never sounded better as she applies her operatic expertise to deliciously caress this music without losing any of the underlying subtext. Lacking the grittiness of other interpreters, she captures the emotional angles by letting her beautiful voice express the tortured heart beneath it; where others shout at you, Stratas sings at you. She casually bounces off the cheerier selections from One Touch of Venus and Happy End, letting Gerard Schwarz's brilliantly conducted orchestra display their wit. Program notes include a fascinating interview with Stratas.

There are now many exponents and interpreters of Weill’s extraordinary output, from his German roots, through his French exile to his American and Broadway successes. The repertoire chosen for this disc reveals the variety and flavour of Weill’s writing. Von Otter’s honeyed tone and her ability to stamp sharply observed characterisations on the songs make this recording highly individual compared to that of Weill’s wife Lotte Lenya or, more recently, Ute Lemper. This is vocalised, rather than angst-ridden cabaret-style Weill, though Von Otter certainly delivers the dramatic intensity.