The highlight of the Chandos disc is a real rarity, the 1953 Sinfonietta written as a fruit of Piazzolla’s studies with Ginastera prior to his trip to Nadia Boulanger in Paris. Vigorously rhythmic (as one might expect), the three spans are dramatic, sober and jubilant by turns, even if the melodies do lack the distinctive Piazzolla sound. It’s a well-constructed work, though, and Gabriel Castagna’s account is full of verve.

The organ compositions of Olivier Messiaen firmly established the composer as a figure of 20th century music. This release features his well-known works L’Ascension and Le banquet celeste, along with two pieces which were discovered posthumously in 1997, Offrande au Saint-Sacrement, and Prelude. Organist Tom Winpenny does an outstanding job in these performances, which were recorded at the organ at St. Giles’ Cathedral, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Franz Schubert composed fifteen string quartets during his short life: an astonishing diversity in this most exclusive chamber music combination from which only three popular works are usually heard in the concert hall. With Schubert’s Quartet in D minor “Death and the Maiden“, the Mandelring Quartet have recorded one of the most significant string quartets since Beethoven. It is a dramatically turbulent work, with variations on Schubert’s own song “Death and the Maiden“ as the intimate heart of the work.

In the music industry, time moves ten times faster. There is no pause given to greatness, and legends can vanish amidst the churn of the hit parade. It is no minor miracle, then, that in the face of a deadly pandemic and faltering supply chain, Jazz Is Dead has returned with another offering of top-shelf recordings, paying tribute to past legends and new school torchbearers alike. Whether you’ve known the names of Jazz Is Dead Series 2’s featured guests, or are just meeting them for the first time, prepare to be blown away.

This marks the first release with Robin Ticciati leading the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin, and it makes the requisite splash. There's a world premiere: even if you're not on board with the trend of enlarging the repertory through arrangements of works that are perfectly good in their original form, you will likely be seduced by mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kozená's ravishing reading of Debussy's voice-and-piano Ariettes oubliées, inventively arranged by Brett Dean. There's a little-known work: the opening one, Fauré's Prelude to Pénélope (a sparsely performed opera, with a slightly less sparsely performed prelude) is a lush and beautifully controlled arc. Controlled and detailed are two words that come to mind for Ticciati's interpretation of La mer, the warhorse work on the program; it may seem a bit deliberate, but there are many hues in his performance. The two Debussy works are balanced by two of Fauré's: the fourth work is the suite from Fauré's incidental music to Pélleas et Mélisande (in Charles Koechlin's version), also deliberate and lush. Linn recorded the performance in Berlin's Jesus Christus Kirche, which allows the full spectrum of orchestral colors to come through. Worth the money for Kozená fans for her turn alone, and a fine French program for all.

From the first bass note within the driving drum beat you can tell something is different about the new record from Nikki Lane. The backbeat feels like a gutsy strut while the lead guitar feels like a revved up engine shifting gears. Denim and Diamonds comes out firing, spit shining the cowboy boots and tossing on a jean jacket.

Contemporary composer Fernando Velázquez presents Viento, together with the Basque National Orchestra, the choir Kup Taldea and international star cellist Johannes Moser. After multiple international successes as a film composer, Viento shows Velázquez’s skill in genres such as the symphonic poem, cantata and cello concerto. The album opens with his cello concerto, which combines an elegiac, Stabat Mater-like opening movement with a heroic, rock-inspired middle movement and a finale that employs the Basque Zortziko dance rhythm. Moser’s masterly interpretation brings out all the colours and episodes of this exceptional score.

Editors return with their seventh album, EBM. It’s Editors’ most leftfield material yet – a thrilling, unrelenting thrust of full-bodied electro-industrial rock. Another new dawn: Benjamin John Power – aka Blanck Mass – has co-produced the album and come aboard as an official member. To outside ears, it might seem like an unusual pairing: an anthemic rock band who’ve headlined Wembley Arena and an Ivor Novello-winning composer who is best known for his abrasive noise projects.

Building a bridge between jazz and experimental dance music, Brotherly were one of the most creative bands to emerge from Britain in the mid 2000s. Vocalist-pianist Anna Stubbs and multi-instrumentalist Rob Mullarkey studied jazz at the Leeds College of Music and Guildhall School of Music, and then became immersed in London’s club culture, particularly the broken beat scene that grew around nights such as Co-Op. Brotherly’s 2005 debut single ‘Put It Out’ reflected that influence, and in 2007 the duo released a full length album, 'One Sweet Life', followed in 2010 by 'Find First Light', and a collection of their standout tracks is now issued for the first time on limited edition vinyl (and CD/DL) as Analects.

A staple of New York City's jazz and Afro-Cuban scenes over the last five decades, acclaimed flutist Andrea Brachfeld celebrates the sounds of Brazil with this spirited tribute to Antonio Carlos Jobim. Along with arrangements of classics such as "Waters of March," "Girl From Ipanema" and "Ligia," Brachfeld offers a look into her writing partnership with frequent collaborator Bill O'Connell through their Brazil-inspired compositions, "Espaço Aberto," "Sonhos e Cores," and "Triste e Solitaria." With bandmates: pianist o'Connell, guitarist Roni Ben-Hur, bassists Harvie S & Lincoln Goines, and drummer/percussionists Jason Tiemann, T. Portinho, and Chembo Corniel, Brachfeld creates an inspired, deeply grooving collection of Brazilian gems.