From the notes: 'In his later years Monteux came to resent being labeled "a French conductor" and being asked to program mostly French music. (His favorite composer was Brahms, followed by Wagner.) As he told Ross Parmenter of The New York Times, "… Debussy didn't exist when I was educated. Neither did Ravel. I was brought up on Haydn, Mozart, and a little Brahms. I have learned the French since. But I am not a French conductor. I'm just a conductor". Yet his rapport with Debussy was very great. He said that Debussy had little patience for those who performed his music in an overly delicate and perfumed manner Debussy rehected the term "impressionism" as applied to his music, and said, according to Monteux, "When I write forte, I mean forte". In the three Images and Jeux Monteux takes the composer at his word, and achieves great transparency of textures without undue delicacy…'

The phenomenal Bob Dylan season continues with the first ever career-spanning single disc greatest hits collection from one of the most fascinating and influential artists to emerge form the 20th century. Highlights include 'Blowin In The Wind', 'Mr. Tambourine Man', 'Like A Rolling Stone' and more.

Anne Bisson is a many-sided artist. She first became known as a captivating and charismatic television personality, but in recent years she has been concentrating on music, her first love. A pianist since childhood, she won the prestigious Étoiles Du Maurier competition in 1984 thanks to two of her original compositions…

Debut album from ex Fugees star Lauryn Hill featuring the excellent track Ex-Factor

German beer lovers and cult thrashers TANKARD will release their new album, "R.I.B." (Rest In Beer), on June 20 via Nuclear Blast. The follow-up to 2012's "A Girl Called Cerveza" was recorded at Studio 23 in Frankfurt, Germany.Taking inspiration from the motto "never change a winning team," TANKARD is working with producer Michael Mainx (BÖHSE ONKELZ, DER W, D-A-D, DISBELIEF), who helmed the band's last effort. TANKARD has also chosen to use Patrick Strogulski, who created the artwork for "A Girl Called Cerveza" and is also a student of Sebastian Krüger, the artist that was responsible for TANKARD's previous album artwork up to the 2012 release.

One of the most influential of the early British progressive rock bands, Colosseum fused an adventurous approach to rock with strong jazz and blues influences and classical keyboard accents…

Claudio Monteverdi and Girolamo Frescobaldi were two of the most influential musical figures in 17th-century Italy; while the former's boundary-pushing madrigals, operas and sacred works changed the course of Baroque vocal music irrevocably, the latter was one of the first – and most prominent – composers to devote serious attention to composing for the keyboard.

This new release completes Ondine’s two-disc survey of Madetoja’s symphonies. Considered one of Sibelius’ finest contemporaries in Finnish orchestral music, Madetoja merges the landscape and folk songs of his native province of Ostrobothnia with a French elegance (Symphony No. 3) to create a unique voice.