​The Concerti of the violinist-composer Francesco Venturini (c.1675-1745) are a real discovery - melodious, virtuosic, elegant and dance-like, combining Italian and French stylistic elements to form a "mixed taste", as Telemann described this mélange. Inspired by the pulsating cultural and intellectual life at the Hanoverian court, Venturini wrote ambitious orchestral music full of joie de vivre, defined by numerous concertato passages for both wind and string instruments.

The universal appeal of the music of Johannes Sebastian Bach is such that most musicians, regardless of their instrument, long to play it. As a consequence, his works are constantly being arranged for other instruments – following a practice that Bach himself excelled at, repeatedly reworking his own music as well as that of others. A case in point are the four so-called lute suites, all of which now belong to the standard repertoire of most concert guitarists. To what extent they were originally composed for a plucked instrument has always been a matter of contention and has given rise to many hypotheses.

​A classic returns! Carlos Kleiber reportedly suffers from such nerves that he rarely manages the fortitude necessary to commit his interpretive thoughts to disc. That makes every one of his all too few recordings special, and this is no exception. Kleiber's Brahms is straightforward, rock steady, and superbly played. There are many versions of this symphony that feature more emphatic highlights and individual features, but few have the sort of cumulative power that carries right up to the last note. This one does. Kleiber's architectural grasp is especially evident in the finale, which, as a series of variations over a repeated bass line, is in itself a type of musical architecture. An unforgettable experience.

Beacons of Ancestorship is the 7th full-length studio album by American experimental rock act Tortoise. The album is a return to familiar instrumental experimental rock territory after a short excursion into vocal rock territory on The Brave and the Bold (2006) where Tortoise were helped out by Will Oldham. Tortoise continue to play with and twist the rules of rock music by adding electronic and semi-jazzy elements to their music.

Almost two years after its pretty dystopian predecessor ‘Afterlifelines’ Peavy Wagner (vocals, bass), Jean Bormann (guitar) and Vassilios “Lucky” Maniatopoulos (drums) unleash a positive, ultra-heavy thrash metal firework which blends that typical Rage sound with contemporary elements and in its entirety represents probably the band’s most diverse work to date.

One of the reasons we have so much Duke Ellington to enjoy on record is that he liked to tape everything - concerts, works in progress, prototypes, and alternate editions. That, plus the quality of his output, has left us with treasures like this - in contrast to MusicMasters' Benny Goodman archival releases, which are generally inferior to his official releases, the label's Ellington vault releases are essential and delightful. Anyone who has taken in Paul Gonsalves' extended solo from the 1956 Ellington Newport performance may want to own this disc, just for the equivalent Jimmy Hamilton tenor sax showcase on "The Old Circus Train" - Hamilton's clarinet gets center stage on "Girdle Hurdle." Other highlights include the moody, languid, but gorgeous "Swamp Goo," a piece intended for the band's 1967 European tour, in its first studio version…

Harmonic Divergence is the perfect companion piece to Steven Wilson’s highly acclaimed 2023 album The Harmony Codex. On this very limited nine track release, music from the original album has been remixed and reimagined by Wilson, alongside longtime bandmates/collaborators and like-minded bands and producers. The result is a warped mirror image of the original, where oblique electronics are replaced by spidery gothic guitar riffs and cyclical piano tracks are mutated and transformed for the dance floor.

A successful attempt to combine the acoustic ideas of Amadeus Reineck on guitar and sitar with the electronic experiments of Michael Lapp on keyboards, while the vocals (by guest singer Caroline McCombs) and bass (Dieter Bauer) are well in the background. The two of them had met in Berlin in 1976 and started to work together until in 1980 they released their LP "Just a Try".
Sadly it would be their only album together. But while Try was and will always be an obscure little project, it was a memorable and lovely moment. Thankfully it was remastered from the original masters and preserved in CD form by the esoteric German label Garden of Delights.

The fourth in Ryuichi Sakamoto's Year Book series. This volume of 5 CDs is of unreleased and rare tracks from 1985-1989. This was a particularly fruitful period for Sakamoto, gaining worldwide acclaim receiving an Academy Award for The Last Emperor soundtrack, several original albums, commercial music and live tours. He was using keyboards such as Fairlight CMI, Emulator II, Yamaha DX7. Tracks include performances with Yuji Takahashi, Kisaragi Koharu, Haruna Miyake, Kazumi Watanabe, a live session at Roppongi Inkstick, the 1989 NHK FM special song, Kaze no Michi, tracks such as his song Rachael performed by Sandii & The Sunsetz song, and unreleased The Garden for designer Tokio Kumagai.