Digitally remastered edition of this album from the French electronic music pioneer. Geometry of Love is the fifteenth studio album by Jean-Michel Jarre, originally released in October 2003. This album has more in common with the preceding Sessions 2000 album than releases prior, but the style here is still more electronica than jazz. The music was to be lounge music, played in the background or in the chill-out area of a club. The album was commissioned by Jean-Roch, as a soundtrack for his VIP Room nightclub in France.

Anna Lucia Richter returns to PENTATONE after her acclaimed Schubert album Heimweh with Il delirio della passione; a recording full of Monteverdi treasures, from heart-wrenching opera scenes (Lamento d Arianna,Pur ti miro from Poppea and the Prologue of L'orfeo) and religious music (Confitebor) to bucolic songs (Si dolce è il tormento). Richter works together with Ensemble Claudiana and Luca Pianca, one of the most eminent Monteverdi interpreters of our age. They offer a fresh perspective on Monteverdi's music by penetrating deeply into the original sources.

Jean-Marie Leclair's violin sonatas were published in four volumes between 1723 and 1743. David Plantier here presents a selection of sonatas from the final three opus numbers of the collection. The consistent quality of Leclair’s forty-eight sonatas, collected in four volumes, is admirable, whilst the collection as a whole is a monumental contribution to the repertoire and to posterity; few of Leclair’s followers were able to combine innovation in violin technique and wealth of inspiration with so much talent. Leclair’s taste, refinement, skill and refusal of all artifice enabled him to make his mark not merely on his own time but on the history of music as a whole.

Jordan: The Comeback is Prefab Sprout's largely successful attempt to embrace the breadth of popular music; wisely reuniting with producer Thomas Dolby, Paddy McAloon freely indulges his myriad ambitions and obsessions to weave a dense, finely textured tapestry closer in spirit and construction to a lavish Broadway musical than to the conventional rock concept LP. Over the course of no less than 19 tracks, McAloon chases his twin preoccupations of religion and celebrity, creating a loose thematic canvas perfect for his expanding musical palette; quickly dispensing with common pop idioms, the album moves from tracks like the samba-styled "Carnival 2000" to the self-explanatory "Jesse James Symphony" and its companion piece "Jesse James Bolero" with remarkable dexterity.

This is a 'concept-album' around Maurice Ravel and his special relation with Helene Jourdan Mourhange, a dear friend and violinist. The programme is set-up in order to take the listener by the hand into Ravel's musical world through a series of pieces which are gradually more deep and complex. The music is played on a 1935 Hautrive piano, while violin and cello are played on gut strings. The Tzigane is in the rarest version for Lutheal (Pleyel, 1910), a period prepared piano with a gipsy character.

Polyphemus, a cyclops of ancient Greek legend with one eye and three fingers on each hand, became a central figure in many myths and in their musical settings by Baroque composers. This son of Poseidon, a giant of insurmountable strength, appears in many fables, the best known of which are his encounters Odysseus during the hero's homeward journey and with Theseus, who kills Polyphemus.

North, Elvis Costello's 20th album of new material, follows the deliberately classicist When I Was Cruel by a mere year, but it feels more the sequel to 1998's Burt Bacharach collaboration, Painted From Memory, or even 1993's roundly ignored classical pop experiment, The Juliet Letters. Costello has abandoned clanging guitars and drums of Cruel – abandoned rock & roll, really – to return to a set of classically influenced songs, all "composed, arranged and conducted" by the man himself (on The Juliet Letters, he was merely the composer and voice).

17th May will see the release of Lucassen & Soeterboek's Plan Nine album 'The Long-Lost Songs' via Music Theories Recordings / Mascot Label Group. It was the early nineties, and musical polymath Arjen Lucassen had begun working on several projects: a solo album, a progressive-rock opera and a rock album. Around this time, he watched singer Robert Soeterboek perform live with Bodine, his former early-eighties heavy metal band. "His vocals truly impressed me, a rarity!" Lucassen recalls. "He had the charisma and power of singers like David Coverdale and Robert Plant. Discovering that we really got along personally, we decided to collaborate on some songs, just for fun."

Criminally underrated at the time, but borne into legend by the unspeakable tragedies that awaited its makers, the debut album by Patto can safely be described among the finest jazz-rock fusion albums ever cut by a British band. Mike Patto's vocals certainly match that billing, a throaty, emotive sound that puts one in mind of the effect that Steve Winwood spent much of his career pursuing, while first lieutenant Ollie Halsall's reputation as one of the era's hottest guitarists is revealed as only one of the strings to his bow - early into the opening "The Man," he unleashes a mean vibraphone solo as well. However, "Hold Me Back" quickly restates his lead duty and, though the song itself is little more than a crude rewrite of the Rolling Stones' "Stray Cat Blues," the riffs that scythe through the brew are sparkling enough to camouflage any lyrical redundancies…

12 years after his album entitled ‘Italian Virtuosi of the Chitarrone’ (BIS-1899), Jakob Lindberg returns to his magnificent theorbo, specially built for him by the luthier Michael Lowe, based on an instrument preserved in the Musée de la Musique in Paris. One of the most spectacular instruments of the early baroque owing to its length and great number of strings, the theorbo was originally designed to accompany the voice, but is also ideally suited to solo performance. For this disc, Lindberg has chosen pieces by Robert de Visée, one of the great French masters of the lute, theorbo and guitar repertoire and a favourite of Louis XIV. The recording features dances as well as character pieces, including a moving ‘Plainte’ in memory of his two deceased daughters. It also includes de Visée’s arrangements of compositions by Lully, Couperin and Purcell as well as his own version of Les Folies d’Espagne, a very popular chord progression that inspired so many composers of his time. Jakob Lindberg writes: ‘I can’t help but be seduced by the grace of the instrument’s lines, the resonance of its sonorities, and by the unmistakably French elegance of this remarkable composer.’

REFERENCE RECORDINGS® is very pleased to release this beautiful musical program of three works from the early to mid­-20th century, which we hope will provide some joy, especially to those who love Jewish music, history, and folklore.

Delve into the captivating compositions of Johann Friedrich Fasch with Accentus Music’s latest CD release, “Fasch: Sonatas” interpreted by Austrian baroque ensemble Barucco. Fasch, renowned as a composer even before assuming the prestigious role of court Kapellmeister in Anhalt-Zerbst in 1722, left an indelible mark on the musical landscape of the Baroque era.

For the first time in the nearly 40-year history of the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the saxophone takes center stage this year. This has been made possible by Asya Fateyeva, who over the past decade has brought the instrument from its jazz and pop niche into the classical world, even making it respectable there. She showcases the impressive versatility of her instrument as a portrait artist at the SHMF in 17 concerts in July and August. Her new album "To the Muse" will also be released on May 17, 2024, on Berlin Classics.

Guitar virtuoso Alastair Greene has artfully managed a dynamic solo career while contributing to the music of notable artists such as Grammy-winner Alan Parsons and soul-blues Grammy nominee Sugaray Rayford. Greene's latest release, Standing Out Loud, is a commanding declaration poised to solidify his position as a seasoned veteran in the blues rock world. With a strong batch of original songs rooted in blues and southern rock traditions, it builds upon the momentum created by his critically acclaimed solo releases of recent years. "Teaming up with Ruf Records for this album feels like a natural and perfect fit for the progression of my career," says the California native and multi-charting Billboard artist that Blues Music Magazine called "a major talent in the blues-rock category."

There are many different musical "Seasons" aside from Vivaldi's, and next to Haydn's oratorio of the same name, this is probably the most famous example. The complete ballet is of modest length–only 40 minutes or so–and the autumn "Bacchanal" contains what is probably the catchiest tune that Glazunov ever wrote. You'll probably think that you've heard it before, but can't quite figure out where. Neeme Jarvi is always at his best in big, splashy Romantic pieces, and this performance is no exception. He whips the orchestra up to a fine frenzy where necessary, and given Chandos's fine sound and a sensible coupling, you're in for some good listening.