This fabulous five disc set is replete with some of those old Stokowski warhorses all recorded in absolutely mind boggling Phase 4 sound, overblown perhaps but astounding for its time. Decca's remastering is absolutely magnificent and the discs are jam packed with almost six hours of music. This is another fine memorial to a great conductor who remained astonishingly vital until the very end of his life.

Over the course of her career, spanning three-plus decades, Laetitia Sadier has never shied away from the hard topics, or stopped advocating for the possibility of self determination and emancipation in the face of the powers that be, conscious or unconscious. This is an essential part of the foundation she co-built with Stereolab, showcasing her spiritual, scientific and sociopolitical inquiries. She’s continued this process with Monade and under her own name and as a writer/singer/and musician whose every album acts as a report on her journey of the self through time, space and the collective.

The desire of Maria Ferré was to combine two of the most important instruments for her – the Renaissance lute and Baroque guitar – led her on her path towards the Renaissance guitar. The “master instrument” lute thereby profited from the sincere energy of the guitar. Ferré’s aim to exploit the potential of this instrument to its full range and her interest in unknown music played a significant role in the selection of the pieces for this recording and she decided to arrange works specifically for the Renaissance guitar.

Since its formation in 1987 the Dufay Collective has specialised in colourful, themed recordings – often with a touch of the nudge-nudge, wink-wink about them (Johnny, Cock Thy Beaver; Miri It Is, etc). So 13th-century Paris, with its bawdy mix of persons of all kinds, is natural ground for this group. But not everything is treated as slapstick: the songs by Adam de la Halle and some other pieces are touchingly rendered by a delightful trio of male voices in the latest scholarly fashion (without instruments), and this seems right even in the famous ‘On parole’, a motet with street cries woven in: this work is really an academic parody of the popular style. With the ‘minstrel’ dances and song arrangements we are led into a kind of musical toyshop where bagpipes and many other instruments abound.

On her second solo album Lisette Oropesa has combined two of her greatest loves, the French language and Italian bel canto. This recording with the Dresdner Philharmonie under the baton of Corrado Rovaris showcases the variety of lesser-known and more popular works by Rossini and Donizetti, featuring arias that contain coloratura, lyricism, drama, heightened emotion, and even comedy.

An obscure jazz-rock band that existed from the mid-'70s through the early '80s, Cos was led by singer/oboe player Pascale Son, and also featured members Daniel Schell (flute, guitar), Bob Darsch (drums), Alain Goutier (bass), and Charles Loos (keyboards). Self described as a "mixture of jazz and Canterbury," the quintet released such albums as Postaeolian Train Robbery, Viva Bomma, Babel, Swiss Chalet, and Passions, before fading away.

With "Seigneur", Roberto Alagna delivers an album imbued with spirituality. Between faith, love and hope, the tenor pays a highly personal tribute to the immense cathedral of lyric art to which he regularly adds his stone.

The most amazing thing about Stereolab's Margerine Eclipse is how much of a surprise it is. It's not just that it's a fantastic record–Stereolab have made plenty of those. But since 1996's classic Emperor Tomato Ketchup, they've been deconstructing and breaking down their mix of exotic lounge pop and progressive Krautrock, throwing up cyclones of electronic mist. It's yielded some beautiful, but cold and distancing work. Eclipse shocks you with the contrast. Filled with the warmest possible intentions, it invites you to fall in love with its kind thumps and aural flotsam. Anchored by a test pattern baseline and a sly beat machine, the title track wanders around the edges, breaking into the main groove only to smoothly dissolve in a bittersweet end. Sounds like any other Stereolab song, right? But here–stripped down, dynamic, and alive–it's simply charming.

Michèle Torr is celebrating her 60 years of her career, the opportunity to rediscover the 50 most beautiful songs of this popular artist who knew how to conquer the hearts of the French.

Without question these Frenchmen were one of the very first RIO bands to burst upon the scene. Their Communist message was as important and probably more so than the music they created.
How would like an hour to fool around, forget yourself and be guided by a myriad of humoristic sounds? You are bound to get entertained with this release. Its eclectic nature and funny parts, sounds and some noises will guarantee ~33 minutes of comic relief from your everyday life troubles. All in all, this is a wacky release which explores the amusing side of music and is also an experimental composition that goes for a stroll all around the block for musical ideas and structures while bringing in their own luggage.

Johannes Ockeghem (c. 1420-1497) was one of the most celebrated musicians of the fifteenth century and one of the greatest composers of all time. He was every bit the equal of J.S. Bach in contrapuntal technique and profound expressivity, and like Bach able to combine the most rigorous intellectual structure with a beguiling sensuality. His two dozen songs set French lyric poetry in the courtly forms of his era—rondeau, virelai, and ballade—to exquisitely crafted polyphony in which all voices are granted equally beautiful and compelling melodies.