Watkins is one of today’s leading composer-pianists and this album (his second for NMC Recordings) showcases his vibrant, lyrical and impeccably crafted orchestral writing. Both the Flute and Violin Concertos were composed for soloists with whom he already had a close working relationship. Adam Walker is the principal fl autist for the London Symphony Orchestra, who Watkins' describes as having an 'amazing sound and control of his instrument'. The delicate orchestration in the Flute Concerto allows the solo fl ute to take fl ight as it weaves in and out with skittish motifs. Alina Ibragimova is the soloist in the Violin Concerto, premiered at the BBC Proms in 2010. The piece harnesses Ibragimova’s dynamic and intense, fi ercely intelligent playing, switching from attacking virtuosity and molten lyricism, often in an instant. The result is dramatic and utterly compelling.In this album's liner notes, Steph Power writes that Watkins has 'long seemed a symphonist in waiting, with a natural affi nity for big-boned yet fi nely-wrought drama'.

The composers presented on the CD – Jan Ekier and Karol Szymanowski - were united by fascination with Chopin’s music, as well as inspiration from folk music, particularly the highlander folklore. Szymanowski’s influence on the entirety of the Polish music was not to be overestimated and it also left its mark on the artistic sensitivity of young Ekier. He also occupies a particular place on the artistic path of a young pianist, Wojciech Pyrć, a graduate of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music, laureate of numerous Polish and international competitions. He interprets piano miniatures by Ekier, as well as Szymanowski’s works, including the daunting and rarely performed Fantasy in C major.

Collins Classics is proud to present The Finest Russian Classical - 12 tracks including London Philharmonic Orchestra, Maxim Shostakovich, Cristina Ortiz, Artur Pizarro and more.

After Liya Petrova won joint first prize at the 2016 Carl Nielsen International Violin Competition, jury President Nikolaj Znaider declared he had been 'absolutely blown away by how she had absorbed the Nielsen violin concerto - how it had become hers'. From her debut album on Orchid Classics you can hear just why she made such an impression on those who heard her performance. The Strad praised the 'iron will' Petrova brought to Nielsen's concerto; a fortitude which is matched on this recording by the sensitivity in her approach to the first violin concerto of Sergei Prokofiev.

In 2018, Low will turn twenty-five. Since 1993, Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker—the married couple whose heaven-and-earth harmonies have always held the band’s center—have pioneered a subgenre, shrugged off its strictures, recorded a Christmas classic, become a magnetic onstage force, and emerged as one of music’s most steadfast and vital vehicles for pulling light from our darkest emotional recesses. But Low will not commemorate its first quarter-century with mawkish nostalgia or safe runs through songbook favorites. Instead, in faithfully defiant fashion, Low will release its most brazen, abrasive (and, paradoxically, most empowering) album ever: Double Negative, an unflinching eleven-song quest through snarling static and shattering beats that somehow culminates in the brightest pop song of Low’s career.

For his new Deutsche Grammophon album, Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson explores the wellspring of Johann Sebastian Bach’s keyboard music, delivering experimental, innovative and timeless performances.

After the critical and commercial success of the top 10 album - Night Thoughts (2016) Suede return with their stunning new album The Blue Hour.

This blessed collection of unreleased demos, recorded by Prince to cassette in a single take, is enthralling. It plays like both omen and artifact of his hit-making power.

The Russian violinist Evgeny Sviridov, winner of the MA Festival Bruges Competition in 2017, has chosen to devote his first recording to the sonatas of Giuseppe Tartini. As heir to the Baroque tradition of the early eighteenth century, Tartini developed technical concepts much bolder than those of his predecessors, thus preparing the violin for the language of the Classical period. His treatise served as a model for Leopold Mozart and his reputation was still very much alive in the Romantic era, which continued to propagate the famous anecdote of his dream during which the Devil suggested to him how to perform reputedly impossible trills…

3CD set. To finish the year with style, Buddha-Bar launches a collection full of promises. The deep house and downtempo music has evolved a lot these last months and years and it makes our ears feels better. Intense basses, hypnotizing and shamanic beats dotted with traditional Armenian, Russian or Moroccan instruments… this new deep scene seduces the new generations of clubbers and takes over EDM. A booming phenomenon, a desire to live free, far from the tumult and stress imposed by the present society… an ideocracy that grows and takes all it's meaning during one of the most incredible festival: Burning Man. Who better than Buddha-Bar, the precursor of this musical philosophy to embrace this new culture and help it grow…