"I don't think I've ever heard Bronfman play better." - Gramophone

Because authentic Baroque performance practices have become so widely accepted, the appearance of Bernard Labadie's excellent 2007 recording of George Frideric Handel's Water Music might not seem exceptional; the use of period instruments by his superb chamber ensemble, Les Violons du Roy, might not seem extraordinary to anyone who has heard recordings of eighteenth century music since the 1980s.

The German label CPO, consistently dedicated to underappreciated music, has brought along many recordings of unfamiliar works ranging in status from central to the literature to wholly unworthy of revival. One of the most distinguished, and consequential, projects that CPO has undertaken is its recording of the complete Symphonies Concertantes of Johann Christian Bach as performed by the Hanover Band under Anthony Halstead.

Much has been said and written about Handel and Metastasio, and the composer’s supposed lack of interest in the librettos of the famous Roman poet. The fact is that Handel generally used adaptations of much older librettos which perhaps represented a bigger space of liberty for its work and conception of drama. Though Handel set to music only three librettos by Metastasio (Siroe, Poro and Ezio), we can hardly doubt he knew and recognised the qualities of their dramaturgy. Two of the three were successful and all of them gave him opportunity to write beautiful music.

This collection of English verse anthems and viol fantasias – there are no examples of the a cappella, highly polyphonic full anthem – comes from Montreal's vibrant early music scene and it offers a fresh version of these often-recorded classics of English choral music of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. The verse anthem, written in English, was a characteristic Anglican genre, alternating between choral and solo passages and deploying the text across plain but often rather fervent lines of music. It is accompanied here, as was normal, by viols; an organ can also be used. Done right, a work like John Ward's Prayer is an endless chain (track 2) or any of the three thorny but exultant anthems by Orlando Gibbons should have the combination of piety and rich beauty that would be characteristic of Bach's music a century or more later.

The anglophone listener may be deceived by both parts of the "Concertos pour flûte" title of this program of little-known Alessandro Scarlatti chamber music: the music is not for flute (or at least is not played by one), and there aren't any concertos. The recorder was and is known in French as a flûte a bec, whereas the transverse flute would have been known to Scarlatti's associates simply as a traverso.

Suzy Bogguss issued her fine Swing album in 2003. Other than a Christmas recording – why does every artist feel the need to issue one of those? – she hasn't released anything in four years. She's toured hard, written songs, and spent her time and energy conceiving the provocative Sweet Danger. Bogguss may no longer be on the country charts, but perhaps with contemporary country's willingness to embrace other American popular song forms she may end up there yet again. For the listener, it doesn't matter.

Although progressive rock's popularity peaked in the '70s, it continued to enjoy a cult following in the 21st century - and one of the noteworthy prog rock bands that came out of Europe in the 2000s was Sweden's Beardfish.
Sleeping in Traffic: Part One (2007) is Beardfish's third album, but the Swedish outfit's first for a major progressive rock record label, namely InsideOut. Even though the album went by rather unnoticed, prog rock fans should take note of it. Beardfish do not break new ground, but their take on the genre has a lot of balls and feeling. Blending an occasional Gentle Giant influence with a strong Genesis background and a deep-running blues basis, the group is particularly successful in the melody department, without devolving into ersatz melodic hard rock. In other words, these Swedes strike a very fine balance between prog complexity and sincere feeling…

The French-born guitarist Roland Dyens began studying his instrument at the age of nine. By age 33, he was listed as one of the world’s best by The Guitarist Magazine. Dyens is currently a professor at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. Known also as a brilliant arranger, Dyens has chosen some of the most memorable guitar repertoire by late 18th and early 19th - century composers and arranged it for solo guitar and string quartet, specifically the Quatuor Arthur LeBlanc: seven études by the 19th century Catalan composer Fernando Sor; and one of the six Rossiniana composed by Mauro Giuliani on themes from Rossini operas. Dyens also performs Giuliani’s Variations on a Theme by Handel and Sor’s Grand Solo, opus 14 for solo guitar.

Canadian composers have managed, at least to some degree, to avoid the dichotomy between "high" and "low" art that causes so much animosity on the American new music scene; advocates of "popular" classical composers such as Glass and Adams, and of "serious" classical composers like Babbitt and Carter, tend to be divided by distrust, if not downright contempt for each other's aesthetic. Québécois composer André Hamel is one of a substantial group of Canadian composers who draws freely and productively on a variety of traditions, without embarrassment or apology. His À Huit for eight saxophones is remarkable in that it sounds like it was created almost entirely with computer-generated sonorities and not by live performers.

The Stabat Mater Dolorosa is a sequence, not a chant, and no unified melody was established for it until the mid-nineteenth century; it was even banned for a time by the Council of Trent, but restored to liturgical use in the late 1720s by Pope Benedict XIII. Much as Prohibition did not stem the tide of alcohol use, the Council of Trent's ban on the text did not diminish the popularity of the Stabat Mater. It was during the official, 160-year-long period where the Stabat Mater was not heard in churches that Giovanni Felice Sances composed the title work on this Mirare CD Stabat Mater, featuring Carlos Mena, Philippe Pierlot, and the Ricercar Consort.

After the release of there one and only album on the famous Vertigo label in 1972, Odin were invited by German radio SWF to produce 4 titles for a radio show in February 1973. A 12-minutes version of 'Live is only' and a 11-minutes version of the Zappa composition 'King Kong' are fine examples for Odin's terrific musicianship. 'Oh no' and the Terstall composition 'Turnpike lane' make the radio recording session complete. In addition to the radio recordings there is a bonustrack from a concert in autumn 1971 titled 'Make up your mind' which is an impressive example of the bands early works. All titles are digitally remastered. The booklet contains a comprehensive band history with a lot of rare photos.

This recording showcases the superb John Grew, a leading figure among Canadian organists, performing on the 1914 Casavant organ in Montréal’s l’Église Très-Saint-Nom-de-Jésus. Grew is University Organist at McGill University, where he is also chair of the Organ and Church Music area of the Schulich School of Music. With 90 stops over four manuals and an electro-pneumatic action, the Casavant organ is divided into two parts in the French cathedral style. At the time of its installation in 1915, it was the largest organ in Montréal, and still enjoys a world-wide reputation for its fine balance and finish, perfected by the Saint-Hyacinth-based organ builders Casavant Frères.