La morte di San Giuseppe (The Death of St. Joseph) is a fascinating curiosity from the pen of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, the Italian composer of La serva padrona – the little intermezzo through which the irreverent breezes of Mozartian opera first blew. This recording is a world premiere of La morte di San Giuseppe, which was known to scholars through fragmentary manuscripts in European libraries but for which a full autograph manuscript only recently surfaced. Designated as an oratorio, the work depicts the death of Joseph, husband of Mary. It features three characters in addition to Joseph, a tenor; St. Michael and Divine Love, both sopranos; and Mary, a contralto.

Govinda start their activities in 1994, when original members of Keshava (Satya Mana, Pandit Ananda and Yasodanandana), that had some of their new age tracks released on Klaus Schulze label Innovative Сommunication” decided to change. Everything started when the three Keshava members met DJ Om, who was quite well known in the Los Angeles area, Balearic Islands and Barcelona, so they decided to start a new project, Govinda, along with the support of Indian and Sri Lankan singers, plus the singer/dancer "Chandra". The new project gets immediate interest, and Govinda release their first album "Selling India by the pound" and their first 12" single "Trascendental Ecstasy" which also includes a long and uptempo version of "Awaken"…

The short-lived Casimir Cartellieri was definitely a composer of note and this is amply demonstrated in this comprising three clarinet quartets. Dieter Klocker is a comfortable exponent of the many beautiful melodies that are found embedded in the music, very Mozartian in nature and which dances along at a pretty pace!

The Ballad Hits is the second greatest hits compilation album by Swedish pop duo Roxette, released on 4 November 2002 by Roxette Recordings and Capitol Records. It was the first of a two-part series of "best of" albums released by the duo in quick succession, and was followed by The Pop Hits in March 2003. Two new songs were recorded specially for The Ballad Hits: lead single "A Thing About You" and "Breathe". The album was a commercial success upon release, and has been certified gold or platinum in a number of territories.

This series of the complete harpsichord concerti of C.P.E. Bach is one of the most important and monumental recording projects of the century so far… it is a whole planet of delights and amazing discoveries.

The soundtrack to the movie Big Bad Love, made from Larry Brown's collection of stories is, as it should be, a very Southern affair - more accurately, a thing of the Mississippi hill country, also acting as a very effective ad for the Fat Possum label, since seven of the tracks here come from their artists.
What will attract a lot of people to this disc is the appearance of two new Tom Waits tracks. "Long Way Home" takes him on the kind of blues route that's become so familiar in his work - a kind of enigmatic blues that remains a love song and a promise for the future, putting it in the same realm as "Jayne's Blue Wish," a Waits-ian lullaby with gentle, if sometimes disturbed, dreams for tomorrow, his guitar work cast into relief by a quiet trumpet solo…

The Overture seems to have been Telemann's favourite compositional form. His Overtures outnumber the solo concertos by far. These Overtures - or Suites - show a great variety, as this CD amply demonstrates. It starts with one of Telemann's most popular works, the 'burlesque' Don Quixotte and also contains two Overtures with a solo instrument. In some of his Overtures Telemann abondons the traditional dances and replaces them by character pieces, which indicates French influence.

The folks at BMG Heritage did a wonderful job assembling Rick Astley's long-overdue Greatest Hits, for it succeeds in presenting a definitive and complete collection of the 1980s pop sensation's U.S. and U.K. hits. Not only does this set include all of his singles, it also boasts excellent liner notes, photographs, and chart positions. Included are his American chart-toppers "Together Forever" and "Never Gonna Give You Up," the latter arguably one of the 1980s' most recognizable songs, as well as all of his other Top Ten hits, including the Motown-ish "It Would Take a Strong, Strong Man," "She Wants to Dance With Me," and the 1991 ballad hit "Cry for Help."

Chandos’ first disc of orchestral music by Cornelis Dopper was very enjoyable, but this is better still. The Third Symphony, subtitled “Rembrandt” (apparently for no particular reason), enjoys the virtue of brevity. Composed in 1904/05, its opening may remind listeners of Elgar, and it’s every bit as good: stately, a bit foursquare, rich strings backed by harp. However, once the allegro gets going there’s no looking back as Bamert and his orchestra attack the music with unbridled gusto. The Andante features some gorgeous writing for solo winds backed by harp; the scherzo is an earthy sort of country dance; and the finale, though it ends triumphantly, spends most of its time exploring surprisingly delicate, nocturnal moods, with particularly Romantic soft brass fanfares echoing through the texture. It’s all over in 29 very pleasant minutes.

Nach dem nun schon viele Jahre ungebrochen andauernden Erfolg der Kuschelrock-Reihe, mausert sich auch das Pendant aus der Klassik zielsicher zu einem Hit. Was nicht verwundert, denn auch Klassikfans wollen romantisch sein. Während bei Kuschelrock in letzter Zeit der Trend allerdings zu mehr Charts-Titeln und daher zu einem eher geringeren Kuschelfaktor ging, blieb Kuschelklassik dem Kuscheln treu. Auch auf Volume 7 wird wieder eine Klassikauswahl präsentiert, die romantische, zärtliche Stunden für Genießer mit gehobeneren Ansprüchen garantiert.

Recorded live in Tokyo in April 2001, Always Let Me Go is Keith Jarrett's 149th concert in Japan. Joined by his long-standing partners Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette, these performances are playful, explosive, somber, and completely improvised. After 20 years of working together, they trust each other (and the audience) enough to deliver over two hours of unscripted music. DeJohnette prowls through his drums like a restless cougar: he chatters, scuffles, and pounces on the skins with agility. Likewise, Peacock spoons out a concrete foundation of bass; one that bubbles as it spreads through the cracks in Jarrett's 88 keys (which serve the pianist so very well).