For those new to the music of Tony Bennett, Improv was a label started by Tony Bennett and businessman Bill Hassett. Bennett was fed up with the suits at Columbia Records, who were trying to make him sing rock & roll. When his contract expired at the beginning of the 1970s, he and Hassett formed a label to help him realize his aesthetic ambitions, and Improv was born. Bennett recorded five albums for the label between 1975 and 1977 before it went bankrupt.

Artistic development doesn't always improve an artist's work, as the members of Air discovered when their second album, 2001's 10,000 Hz Legend, disappointed fans and critics expecting another pop masterpiece to rank with their debut, Moon Safari. 10,000 Hz Legend buried the duo's clear melodic sense underneath an avalanche of rigid performances, claustrophobic productions, and a restless experimentalism that rarely allowed listeners to enjoy what they were hearing. Gone was the freshness evident on Moon Safari: the alien made familiar, the concept that electronic dance could be turned into a user-friendly medium, the illustration of simplicity and space as assets, not liabilities. Fortunately, Air learned from their mistakes - or, at least, their limitations - leading up to the recording of third album Talkie Walkie, and the happy result is a solid middle ground between both of their previous records…

Recorded in 1995, this Esther was first issued as Collins Classics 7040-2 early the following year. Like Hogwood, Harry Christophers recorded the original 1718 version of what has gone down in history as Handel’s first English oratorio.
In point of fact, the complex and still largely unresolved history of Esther suggests that it was not originally composed as an oratorio at all, but rather as a staged work that would have formed a companion to the near-contemporary Acis and Galatea.

Gösta Nystroem may have been diffident in his life decisions – he only chose music as a career in his mid-thirties – but it is clear from the two works on this 2004 BIS release that he was an earnest composer indeed when he set his mind to it. Perhaps too earnest: the Symphony No. 4, "Sinfonia shakespeariana," and the Symphony No. 6, "Sinfonia Tramontana," are long essays of some technical competence, but also unrelievedly gray, joyless creations that require a great deal of patience to get through.

This is the third in a series of "Discovery" discs dedicated to unknown or rare works by three famous Italian composers, Rossini, Verdi and now Puccini. Chailly had already recorded some Puccini rarities in the early 80's but this new issue contains quite a few works that never seem to have seen the light of day.

Blue Note Plays the Beatles contains 11 previously released performances by jazz artists dipping into the Lennon/McCartney songbook. When deciding to cover such well-known songs, an artist has two possible ways of going about it: either re-create the track with no challenge to the original or attempt the complete opposite. Falling into the first category are "I've Just Seen a Face" by Holly Cole, "And I Love Her" by Kevin Hays, and "Come Together" by Dianne Reeves and Cassandra Wilson with Bob Belden.

There is a story about Arnold Schoenberg that bears retelling now. He was in the midst of teaching a class at UCLA when a colleague burst in excitedly proclaiming "Arnold! I am just hearing Verklärte Nacht mit HORNS!" Amid much startled posturing the two rushed out to destinations unknown, leaving the class unacknowledged. But all the various arrangements of Schoenberg’s work (I’ve never heard it with horns, but the string orchestra version with timpani is quite a good one) don’t begin to compare with the numerous outrages wreaked upon this helpless Vivaldi composition.

His most loyal fans are trombone teachers and students, but Christian Lindberg deserves a much wider following, not only for his extraordinary technical gifts, but also for his refined and deeply felt interpretations of music from many periods. Classical Concertos is an excursion into charming eighteenth century works by Michael Haydn, Georg Christoph Wagenseil, Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, and Leopold Mozart second-tier composers, admittedly, but competent craftsmen who turned out admirable works for their day.

Christian Lindberg is perhaps the first classical trombonist to maintain a successful full-time performing career as a soloist. Though now considered among the instrument's foremost exponents, he actually took up the trombone fairly late, only starting playing at age 17 after hearing recordings by the great jazz trombonist Jack Teagarden. By 19, Lindberg was the principle trombonist of the Royal Opera Orchestra in Stockholm. But he left that position after just a year, saying he was bored playing in an orchestra.

Diva is an entertaining and attractively packaged compilation of Angela Gheorghiu's EMI recordings made between 1996 and 2002. All of the selections have appeared on previous releases, but some of them only in the context of complete operas. As a one-disc snapshot of Gheorghiu's career so far, Diva does pretty well, and it would make a good first choice for anyone looking to get to know her work.

It seems strange to see the output of Mickie Most's RAK label finally being taken seriously by record labels as well as collectors, 30-plus years after the imprint established itself as the epitome of disposable pop tunes. Yet EMI's ongoing As, Bs & Rarities series offers nothing less than the same thorough treatment that any other, more hallowed, label could expect. The format is essentially the same throughout: a gathering up of every RAK single (A-sides and B-sides) released by a given band, with the remainder of the CD filled with choice outtakes and oddities – an approach that the average Mud fan will relish. This is not the first time around for the bulk of the band's As and Bs – the German Repertoire label long ago created a masterful two-CD set around the same theme. But they still missed one B-side, 1973's "Do You Love Me," which now makes its CD debut here, and besides, two CDs of Mud can be a daunting prospect for the average consumer.

Although he was a student at the Paris Conservatoire at the same time as Debussy, studied with Massenet and Franck, won the Prix de Rome, and even succeeded Franck at the venerable post of organist at Sainte-Clotilde, the name of Gabriel Pierné is little remembered today, to say nothing of his compositions. Fortunately for listeners, the Canadian ensemble Trio Hochelaga has among its missions the revitalization of forgotten and underappreciated French compositions. Pierné's C minor trio certainly falls into their purview.

Rich, smooth, creamy, and very, very warm, Renée Fleming's soprano pours all over the music of George Frideric Handel like melting chocolate. From the voluptuous Oh sleep, why dost thou leave me through the luxurious Endless pleasure to the opulent Calm thou my soul, Fleming's voice fulfills the heart and soul of Handel's music. Better yet, Fleming sounds like she really means it. Each aria has its own emotional character and each aria has its own musical personality.

Throughout its history, the Mediterranean on all its shores has been a region where ideas, inspiration, and beliefs were exchanged. From the 16th century, each kingdom and area acquired a more distinct cultural identity; music took the same route, yet always keeping something of a common heritage. The works performed on this disc reflect both this common heritage and the various forms of its lineage. They come from the Ottoman, Byzantine, Castilian, and Persian musical traditions. With the Greek ensemble En Chordais, Constantinople is back in this their fifth ATMA Classique release, both to rouse and to captivate.