From Australia & introduced to Europe by blues master Dave Hole in 1994, Rob Tognoni delivers a 100% powerfully charged experience with every performance. There is simply no compromise, which is strongly evident in his music. After 20 years his explosive guitar playing and unique songs are now being compared with the greats of his genre and have firmly established him in the European venues & festivals as well as gaining many fans of hard blues rock worldwide. " Shakin' The Devil's Hand - Live In Europe" captures Tognoni at his emotive best. The title track was originally penned from a hindsight view of the legendary Robert Johnson deal at the Crossroads…but also by shear co-incidence can be attributed to Rob's symbolic roots and by his uncompromising, direct & raw guitar energy…"

Joe Pass recorded so many solo sets for Pablo during the 1970s and '80s that hearing him in a quartet format almost seemed unusual. For this CD reissue, he is joined by his old friend rhythm guitarist John Pisano, bassist Jim Hughart and drummer Shelly Manne for 11 songs by the team of George and Ira Gershwin. The melodies are quite familiar ("Bidin' My Time" is the closest one to an obscurity), and few surprises occur, but the music swings and the results are quite enjoyable. No matter how times one hears "Lady Be Good," "A Foggy Day," "'S Wonderful" and "Embraceable You," there is always room for another superior version.

The young violinist Francesca Dego, of Italian and American background, has made a splash in the mid-2010s not only with virtuoso repertory but with Beethoven's violin sonatas. This recording, her fourth for Deutsche Grammophon, marks her concerto debut. The Paganini Violin Concerto No. 1, Op. 6, is marked by seemingly unthinkable chains of double-stopped thirds for the soloist in the outer movements.

The title of the first volume in Bertrand Cuiller's projected series on Harmonia Mundi, François Couperin L'Alchimiste: Un petit théâtre du monde, hints at the background of these French Baroque pieces for harpsichord, which were often inspired by the colorful society surrounding the composer. Couperin's titles have always intrigued listeners with their mysterious allusions, and the teasing quality of the music often reveals a quirky sense of humor, though the titles and musical images point to a tradition that extended from Renaissance literature and the practices of the French lute school: to make a piece emblematic of some person, object, or quality by giving it a symbolic title.