Lohengrin, WWV 75, is a Romantic opera in three acts composed and written by Richard Wagner, first performed in 1850. The story of the eponymous character is taken from medieval German romance, notably the Parzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach, and its sequel Lohengrin, itself inspired by the epic of Garin le Loherain. It is part of the Knight of the Swan legend.

Health are not only making the heaviest, most genre-obliterating music of their career, they’re documenting just how insane it feels to be alive right now. It’s ‘The Downward Spiral’ for people with at least two monitors and a vitamin D deficiency. RAT WARS is a definitive statement on the insanity and the insipidness of contemporary life.

Quadraphonic sound, or 4.0 surround sound, utilizes four audio channels connected to four speakers positioned at the corners of a listening space. The multi-tracked audio is mixed dimensional, immersing the listener in an expansive soundscape. BILLION DOLLAR BABIES saw Alice Cooper at the height of their power, mixing theatrical stage shows with hard-hitting rock anthems like "No More Mr. Nice Guy" and "Elected." The album went #1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and the U.K. Album Chart and later earned a platinum certification.

Rosalía has shared ‘Motomami +’, a deluxe edition of her latest album ‘Motomami’ that features four previously-unreleased songs. The updated tracklist for the expanded version of ‘Motomami’ includes ‘Despechá’ – which was released as a single in July – plus new additions ‘Aislamiento’, ‘La Kilié’, ‘LAX’ and ‘Chiri’. It also includes a remix of album cut ‘Candy’ that features Chencho Corleone of defunct Puerto Rican reggaeton duo Plan B, and a live version of ‘La Fama’ recorded at Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona.

Contrary to what the title of his previous recordings on Effendi (Michel Donato et ses amis européens, vol. Effendi (Michel Donato and his European friends, vol. 1 and 2, FND050 and FND072, released in 2004 and 2014), the inescapable Montreal double bassist does not only have friends across the Atlantic.

For the premiere of his Cavalleria rusticana in 1889, Pietro Mascagni had to make a whole series of cuts and transpositions: The chorus at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome was not up to the demanding choral parts, and the soloists of Santuzza and Turiddu sometimes complained that their parts were uncomfortably high – and so the composer not only deleted large parts of the choral passages, but also changed his carefully thought-out key concept. Nonetheless, the piece was such a resounding success at its premiere that it continued to be performed in modified form – even after the piece had long since begun its triumphal march around the world.

The recording of this composer’s extraordinary vocal music was made at Kirby Hall in Northamptonshire, where this one-time organist to Charles I lived and worked for the Hatton family. Thanks to the kind permission of English Heritage, and the generous donations of so many of our supporters, we have the pleasure of bringing the forgotten composer of the English 17th century back into the light. The double album features all of Jeffreys’ works for 4 and 5 voices with continuo, including many world-premiere recordings. It is released on the Prospero Classical label: streaming services on 8 December 2023 & in physical form in February 2024 worldwide.

Twice Grammy-nominated, Mercury Prize and Brit Award-winning artist Arlo Parks is returning with her second album, My Soft Machine on Transgressive Records. My Soft Machine is a deeply personal body of work; a narration of Parks’ experiences as she navigates her 20’s and the growth intertwined. Explained ever-articulately in her own words below…

Early opera underwent a strange development in the 17th century: under pressure from the paying public, comic elements increasingly overshadowed the fates of the great heroic figures it was supposed to be about. At some point, the brakes were applied and opera seria emerged, in which only noble characters acted.

The music of Michael Jarrell has been said to ‘examine states of dream and unreality, searching for a moment of truth’ – a truth which is often found in the lowest sonorities and slowest tempi, a place where time stands still. His works are often interrelated, not only by a certain sensitivity or a distinctive tone, but also by the recurrence of particular features that he reworks in different contexts.

In her own words, Grazyna Bacewicz (1909-1969) had been gifted by nature with a "small, invisible engine" that allowed her to do in ten minutes what others needed an hour for. This inner drive can be demonstrated in all areas of this Polish artist's life. She was an excellent violinist from an early age, had success as a writer and already wrote her first compositions as a teenager – all at a dizzying pace.

Manuel M. Ponce is the precursor of Mexican nationalism, but his music is not based on the fictional recreation a Pre-Hispanic narrative, nor the dazzling modernity of the post-Revolutionary Mexico. A piano student of Martin Krause, who, in turn, was a pupil of Liszt, Ponce’s piano lineage comes directly from Beethoven but his musical soul is deeply rooted in the nostalgia of rural Mexico, the love stories and nostalgic longings of the inhabitants of Zacatecas and Aguascalientes. Like Bartok he collected folk songs, but he also composed songs that reflect so expressively the music of the late 19th century rural Mexico that the lines become blurred. When we examine what he created and what he collected is hard to tell them apart.

Kjell Bækkelund (6 May 1930 – 13 May 2004) was a Norwegian classical pianist.

Ribbon Around the Bomb received positive reviews upon its release. Stephen Ackroyd of Dork praised Blossoms as a "band that don't just connect in the here and now, but who are now making records to last for the long haul.

A year full of T. Rextasy. formed in London in 1967 under the name Tyrannosaurus Rex by Marc Bolan (vocals, guitar) and Steve Peregrin Took (percussion, backing vocals), the band renamed itself T. Rex in 1970.