Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is the seventh studio album by Elton John, released in 1973. It is regarded as one of his best and most popular, in addition to being his first double album. It was recorded at the Château d'Hérouville after problems recording at the intended location of Jamaica. Among the 17 tracks, the album contains the hits "Candle in the Wind", "Bennie and the Jets", "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" and "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" plus "Funeral for a Friend" and "Harmony". In 2003, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The album was ranked number 91 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and number 59 in Channel 4's 2009 list of 100 Greatest Albums. The album has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide.

On his first studio outing in eight years, the mythical Okie troubadour turns in a solid set of his trademark dusty blues tunes. What is not so typical, as with Travel Log from 1990, is that Cale steeps himself in technology and evokes the moods and frameworks of music that intersect with the blues or stand in opposition to them. The keyboards, drum loops, and horns on this record are as pervasive as the guitars. Needless to say, this requires an attitude adjustment on the part of the listener. This is not to say there aren't plenty of live musicians here; there are. It's just that the sheeny beats and clean synth lines feel odd when juxtaposed against the murky lyrics and Cale's wispy, smoke-weathered voice.

Composed in 1888 the Fifth Symphony is generally considered to be the most attractive of Tchaikovsky’s major works. When he first began writing the symphony he was suffering from a deep depression. However, he moved to the countryside and his state of mind became much more relaxed, enjoying the peace and quiet, gaining a new-found pleasure from his garden. This E minor Symphony reflects all the violent and conflicting emotions that he was experiencing at the time of its composition.

Colosseum II was a British band formed in 1975 by the former Colosseum drummer and leader, Jon Hiseman, following the 1974 demise of his band Tempest. Hiseman announced his plan to form the band eventually named Colosseum II in November 1974, but only Gary Moore was named as a member. Rehearsals were due to begin on January 1, 1975, but a permanent unit was not finalised until May 1975. Among musicians who almost made the group were Graham Bell, Duncan Mackay and Mark Clarke. The final line-up was completed by Don Airey, Neil Murray and Mike Starrs. The band was oriented toward jazz fusion, much of which was driven by the guitar work of Moore, leading to a much heavier sound than the original Colosseum band.

The Fourth Symphony was written at a particularly crucial point in Tchaikovsky’s life. 1877 was not only the year of his disastrous marriage but also the year in which he began his fifteen-year correspondence with his patroness Nadezhda von Meck. The F minor Symphony has always been a popular work with its muscular and melodic writing. Infused throughout the score is the sense of ‘fate’ which Tchaikovsky believed controlled his destiny as he described in a letter to Madame von Meck, “the fateful force which prevents the impulse to happiness from achieving its goal … which hangs above your head like the sword of Damocles.”

Antonio Vandini was born around 1690 in Bologna, the city where the cello knew its first glories as a solo instrument. He held several assignments in Bergamo, Venice and later Padua, where he developed a friendship with Giovanni Tartini. His virtuosity was brought to fame by Charles Burney who defined him the famous old Antonio Vandini on the violoncello who, the Italians say, plays and expresses a parlare, that is in such a manner as to make his instrument speak. Vandinis cello works are the apex of the instruments output of his time, for the persistent exploration of the high register, the frequent use of double stopping, arpeggios and chords even in unusual combinations, a variety of bowing techniques, and rapid passages.

Boris Giltburg has set out to learn and film all 32 piano sonatas by Beethoven by the end of 2020. The project started as a personal exploration, driven by curiosity and his strong love of the Beethoven sonatas, and the recordings presented in this initial volume display Giltburg’s customary spirit, technical finesse and convey the electric atmosphere of the live recording.

Reinoud Van Mechelen and his ensemble A Nocte Temporis continue their ‘Haute-Contre Trilogy’ with Rameau’s favourite singer, Pierre de Jéliote, probably the finest haute-contre in history. (Reminder: this is a high tenor voice, not to be confused with the countertenor!) Rameau wrote an enormous amount of music for Jéliote, who was not only a singer but also a guitarist, a cellist and even a composer. The album pays tribute to this native of the Béarn region, who was born in 1713 and died at the ripe old age of eighty-four, with a selection of airs by Rameau (from Hippolyte et Aricie, Les Fêtes d’Hébé, Platée, Castor et Pollux, Les Boréades) but also by Dauvergne, Colin de Blamont, Mondonville, Rebel and Francoeur. Though some are well known, others are much more rarely performed today.