Sabine Meyer, surrounded for the occasion by the other members of Trio di Clarone (her brother Wolfgang Meyer and her husband Reiner Wehle) and Michael Riessler, explores the enduring fascination that Bach and his infinite mastership of counterpoint have exerted on generations of musicians. They include Mozart, whose Preludes and Fugues for trio are based on compositions by Bach, Carl Philipp Emmanuel in a ravishing duet, a fugue by Clara Schumann… and, of course, works by Bach himself transcribed by leading contemporary composers such as Harrison Birtwistle and Helmut Lachenmann. Michael Riessler, who comes from a jazz background, is also a seasoned composer, and his witty works serve as the common thread running through this bewildering and stimulating album.

Norwegian trumpeter and sonic architect Nils Petter Molvaer presents Khmer Live in Bergen – a charged reinvention of his era-defining 1997 ECM release KHMER – recorded in concert in 2024. Fused with live trip-hop beats, ambient haze and Nordic lyricism, KHMER Live in Bergen amplifies a new energy with deeper grooves, sharper edges and greater dynamic intensity, pushing the music into a rawer, driven by experience, control and creative vision.

Concerto Koln goes on a journey of discovery in their next album and contrasts the famous composer Johann Sebastian Bach with the today unknown Johann Adolph Scheibe\u200B - two rivals featured sharing a first name but apart from that, their life, work and subsequent reception could not be more different, even though their paths crossed when they were alive. The Concerto Koln is accompanied by the excellent soprano Marie Sophie Pollak\u200B on this album, which alternates instrumental and vocal works by the two composers.

The tragedy of du Pré’s brief career is still fresh in the public memory and can be summarised here. She was born in Oxford on 26 January 1945 into a middle-class family in which music was important: her mother was a fine pianist and a gifted teacher. The French-sounding name came from her father’s Channel Islands ancestry. Just before her fifth birthday, when she was already showing musical promise, she heard the sound of a cello on the radio and the course of her life was set.

Spain and the guitar – an inseparable combination. Serenades of Spain goes beyond clichés, unveiling the rich musical heritage of both the country and the guitar, and takes the listener on a journey through three guitars: baroque, romantic, and classical – both solo and in duo with voice or cello. Featuring works by Spanish composers and those inspired by Spain, this album blends Flemish Renaissance court music, Baroque dances, expressive romanticism, neocasticismo, impressionistic colors, and folklore – a vibrant mosaic of Spain’s musical history and the guitar.

2025 release, the fourth solo album from electronic music legend, Claudia Brücken. Written and recorded in London between 2023-2025 with longtime collaborator John Williams, 'Night Mirror' is a stunning collection of 10 brand new songs, suffused with optimism, loosely bound by themes of reflection and rebirth. Having first come to notice as the lead singer of Düsseldorf electronic music pioneers Propaganda, one of the first signings to the celebrated ZTT Records (Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Art Of Noise, 808 State), Claudia's striking image and distinctive vocals made her one the most influential and inspiring female musicians of her generation.

Although the Sensational Alex Harvey Band showed off plenty of sonic firepower on studio outings like Next and Tomorrow Belongs to Me, they were always at their most ferocious in the concert arena. As a result, Live is an especially rousing and engaging addition to the group's catalog. Since the set list is almost entirely composed of time-tested favorites, it also one of their most consistent albums. The album's contents are taken from a single night's performance at the Hammersmith Odeon, and this gives it a sonic coherence that other live albums rarely capture. A totally committed performance from the band seals the album's appeal with its thrilling combination of heavy metal bombast and tight arrangements that carefully deploy keyboard shadings to flesh out the guitar-heavy sound.

The group members may disagree for personal reasons, but Odessa is easily the best and most enduring of the Bee Gees' albums of the 1960s. It was also their most improbable success, owing to the conflicts behind its making. The project started out as a concept album to be called "Masterpeace" and then "The American Opera," but musical differences between Barry and Robin Gibb that would split the trio in two also forced the abandonment of the underlying concept. Instead, it became a double LP – largely at the behest of their manager and the record labels; oddly enough, given that the group didn't plan on doing something that ambitious, Odessa is one of perhaps three double albums of the entire decade (the others being Blonde on Blonde and The Beatles) that don't seem stretched, and it also served as the group's most densely orchestrated album.