Beautiful Dreams holds interest mainly because Chris de Burgh is backed by a full orchestra, which adds brilliant depth to his material, presenting his romantically based ballads in an entirely new fashion. While the strings and woodwinds that accompany de Burgh showcase their splendor on "Say Goodbye to It All" and "Snows of New York" better than any other of the album's 13 tracks, there is still a certain posh grandeur that is carried on all of them, which is bolstered by the band's luxurious sound. "Missing You" and "In Love Forever" gain illustriousness through the lavish backdrop of violins, which ease in to de Burgh's graceful lyrics, and the familiar "Lady in Red" sounds full-bodied and even more enchanting with a thicker curtain of instruments behind it.

Walter, at the end of his career, set out to record his signature pieces for posterity in what was then the new technology of stereo. And unlike von Karajan, who rushed to record his repertoire at the dawn of the video and digital era to often-mixed results, every Walter performance is absolutely brilliant. This recording of Beethoven's 5th and 7th Symphonies, made over 4 days during the week of January 27 - February 3, 1958, is no exception.

Whether it was singing with Big Brother And The Holding Company or with her Full Tilt Boogie Band, Janis Joplin had one of the most identifiable, most emotional and most soulful voices ever recorded. Coming to San Francisco from Texas in 1966, Janis soon had the music world’s total attention, simply blowing the audience away at Monterey in 1967 while fronting Big Brother and gaining a record deal with Columbia Records in the process. After that, it was hit after hit with songs like her signature Piece Of My Heart, Cry Baby, and her Number One take of Kris Kristofferson’s present day standard Me And Bobby McGee, all included here. Through it all, Janis Joplin established herself as one of the very best and one of the most important singers and song interpreters ever to hit the music scene.

A 32-track retrospective that'll make fans of this band's unique pop/jazz/rock sound so very happy! Every hit single is here- You've Made Me So Very Happy; And When I Die; Spinning Wheel; Hi-De-Ho; Lucretia MacEvil; Go Down Gamblin'; Lisa, Listen to Me; So Long Dixie; Got to Get You into My Life , etc.-plus key album tracks and two unreleased cuts that trace this band's career from the early Al Kooper days on. Notes, rare photos, complete discography and personnel info rounds out this long-overdue collection.

Not many versions of the Symphonie fantastique rival Myung-Whun Chung’s in conveying the nervously impulsive inspiration of a young composer, the hints of hysteria, the overtones of nightmare in Berlioz’s programme. He makes one register it afresh as genuinely fantastic. Some may well prefer the more direct, more solid qualities that you find in the new Mehta version, also well played, and recorded with satisfying weight, but the volatile element in this perennially modern piece is something which Chung brings out to a degree I have rarely known before, and that establishes his as a very individual, sharply characterized version with unusually strong claims.

The second Naxos collection from Spectre de la Rose is even more attractive than the first, and it is even better recorded. It even includes a rare work in which the violin takes the lead (the Sonate à la Marésienne), although the embroidering gamba partner takes the lion’s share of bravura. It is a most attractive work and is played here with real sparkle, while the following Suite in D also shows Marais at this most attractively inventive. Les Voix humaines is deeply pitched, and even the Couplets de folies is far from light-hearted. Spectre de la Rose are experts in this filed and play most persuasively throughout.

A celebration of the Royal Philharmonic Society's 175th Season as 'An Evening with the Philharmonic' with music from concerts recreating original programmes between 1813 and 1837.

Although the works of Josquin DesPrez (cl440-1521) are better known today than those of any other fifteenth-century composer, his biography remains shrouded in uncertainties. The general outlines –- his birth in the area of northern France that produced so many composers of the day, his travel to Milan, Rome and Ferrara, and then his return to the north at the end of his life - are clear. But, his connections to the Court of France, to the Provençal court of King René, to the court in Hungary, and many other details about his life remain contested or simply unknowable.

Bonnie Tyler returned in the mid-1990s after a long hiatus with Free Spirit, her first U.S. release in years, although foreign releases have kept her somewhat in the European spotlight. Her throaty voice sounded as raspy and smoky as ever, (reminiscent of Kim Carnes or a female Rod Stewart), which is what made Bonnie Tyler so unique. Several songs on this album rate about average, but there are several shining moments which should have brought this set, from such an engaging singer, much more attention than the minimal it received. To begin with, her rendition of "Making Love out of Nothing at All," the early-1980s Air Supply hit, is fantastic, clocking in at nearly eight minutes, and seems perfectly suited for her voice. Their version was already great, but hers is awesome.

Rarities is a compilation album by Swedish pop duo Roxette, released on 17 February 1995 in Asia and South America. The album composed of songs previously released only as singles. The album was only supposed to be sold in South East Asia for three months as an extra promotion for the Crash! Boom! Bang! tour which took place in this part of the world at the time when the album was released.