François Ier, prince mécène, avait compris combien la musique pouvait servir sa politique de prestige : - musique officielle pour les grands événements diplomatiques comme l'incroyable match musical entre la Chapelle du roi de France et celle d Henri VIII d'Angleterre, lors de la messe du Camp du Drap d'Or restituée dans cet enregistrement ; - mais aussi musique de l'intime avec le répertoire le plus subtil, raffiné et savant entendu dans les châteaux du souverain Chambord, Fontainebleau… interprété par les meilleurs chanteurs et instrumentistes du royaume réunis au sein de la Chambre du Roy. Un festin de musiques inédites pour un roi François Ier, symbole d une Renaissance heureuse.

Carly Simon’s exceptional debut remains one for the books. Immediately recognizing her potential, Elektra Records founder Jac Holzman signed and paired her with legendary producer Eddie Kramer. The pair’s chemistry resulted in a remarkable record that birthed an instant Top Ten hit, “That’s the Way I’ve Always Heard It Should Be,” a potent statement about marriage that, in the era, doubled as a feminist statement. Simon’s star-making self-titled album went on to garner critical acclaim and two Grammy nominations, including an award for Best New Artist. Now, more than four decades later, the album receives the sonic treatment it’s long deserved. For the first time, Kramer’s production gets the opportunity to truly shine. Boasting stellar sonics and gorgeous subtleties, this SACD is tailor-made for relaxing listening sessions with a glass of wine at arm’s reach.

Does music add substance to words or is music inspired by them? Songs of departure and farewell are deeply rooted in the great tradition of British choral music, nourished by ancient myths of testing journeys, wayside transformations and homecomings. The transcendent nature of music and the power of poetry to challenge and alter perceptions of reality – harnessed by English composers over many centuries – flow through a programme that invites contemplation of life and death, of love and loss, creation and eternity. In a journey covering six centuries of musical history, The Sixteen performs a cappella anthems with powerful texts by writers as varied as Edmund Spenser, Christopher Fry and W.H. Auden.

Perfetto is the thirteenth studio album by Italian singer-songwriter Eros Ramazzotti, released on 12 May 2015 by Universal Music. The album released in 60 countries around the world - contains 14 new songs made between Milan and Los Angeles, with a central vision of the good life; love is in all its forms and manifestations, and elevates the soul to a perfect condition like "save the world". The album is available in three versions: the classic version in Italian, the Spanish version, and a special deluxe edition, which includes both versions of the songs, sung in Italian and then Spanish.

Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov (b.1937) is an important contemporary voice in vocal music. In this new release, Silvestrov’s hauntingly beautiful vocal works are performed by the Latvian Radio Choir under their director Sigvards Kļava. During his artistic career, Silvestrov has explored a number of musical styles and techniques, such as avant-guard, post-modernism, neo-classicism, dodecaphony, aleatoric writing and pointillism. The fall of the Soviet Union, however, allowed Silvestrov to eventually compose spiritual works, inspired and influenced by his love of the Russian Orthodox Church music which Silvestrov imbues with his own unique sound and bursts of surprising harmonic moves. Silvestrov’s compositions are invested with the composer’s own unique personality, musical sensibility and sense of beauty.

Markus Stenz and the Gürzenich Orchestra Köln have demonstrated a special aptitude for performing large scale post-Romantic works, notably the symphonies of Gustav Mahler, which they recorded for Oehms Classics as a series of hybrid SACDs. They have followed that impressive cycle with what is probably the most Mahlerian work Arnold Schoenberg ever composed, the massive Gurrelieder for solo voices, multiple choruses, and large orchestra. This 2015 Hyperion release is impressive in its crisp details, vibrant tone colors, and startling clarity, all of which are evident in the opening instrumental passages in the Prelude, and which continue through the nearly operatic vocal parts, which have remarkable presence in the face of an orchestra that exceeds Wagnerian proportions. The recording is presented on two CDs that offer extraordinary sound for digital stereo, and the only disappointment is that this wasn't released as a multichannel recording. Listeners who find Schoenberg's modernist music difficult may be more receptive to this cantata, which is his most openly Romantic score and strongly reminiscent of Wagner's music dramas. Highly recommended.

High Moon Records' deluxe reissue of the final studio album from one of rock musics most gifted and enigmatic legends - on CD for the first time in a deluxe Digipak with a full-color, 32-page booklet, and expanded with 12 bonus tracks. Reel To Real captures Arthur Lee and Love at the peak of their rock/funk/soul powers. Originally released in 1974 on RSO Records, this beautifully packaged, deluxe reissue features vibrant, remastered audio from the original tapes, a 28-page, 9x12-inch LP booklet with an illuminating essay by Rolling Stone s David Fricke, and a trove of candid, unpublished photos.

Dave Douglas writes a brand new suite for Monash Art Ensemble, an improvising chamber orchestra including some of Melbourne’s finest players. Scored for four winds, four brass, four strings, and four percussion, including electronics, Fabliaux introduces new language into the vernacular of contemporary improvised music, looking forward while looking back.

A belated sequel to Rhino's 2012 box set The Studio Albums 1969-1978, 2015's The Studio Albums: 1979-2008 rounds up the expanded remasters of Chicago's next ten studio albums, beginning with 1979's Chicago 13 and ending with 2008's Chicago XXXII: Stone of Sisyphus (which was actually recorded in 1994 but shelved for 14 years)…

The stage name of German actress and musician Senta-Sofia Delliponti, Oonagh (the name is derived from a legendary faerie queen of Celtic origins) specializes in evocative, new age, Celtic-infused, fantasy dance-pop…

Totally Driven is a greatest hits album by British hard rock band Uriah Heep, released on 12 November 2015 on their own label, Uriah Heep Records. The album contains re-recorded versions of 27 of their best known songs, recorded with the long-standing 1986-2007 lineup. The album was originally released in 2001 with a different track order as Remasters: The Official Anthology, but it went out of print quite quickly and was forgotten about. It was reissued in 2004 as Uriah Heep's Gold: Looking Back 1970-2001 without the band's knowledge by a European budget label. According to guitarist Mick Box, the songs were recorded in preparation for the Acoustically Driven and Electrically Driven concerts. Totally Driven is housed in a six panel digipak with new custom artwork. This album features the band's longest running line-up of Mick Box, Lee Kerslake, Phil Lanzon, Bernie Shaw and the late Trevor Bolder. Totally Driven is the first on the band's own label Uriah Heep Records.

Act III of François-Frédéric Guy's Beethoven Project. On the programme: Beethoven's complete music for cello and piano with cellist Xavier Phillips, recorded by Nicolas Bartholomée at the Arsenal in Metz. In 2008 Guy embarked on a major Beethoven project that has included recording and performing in concert all 32 Beethoven Sonatas and the 5 Piano Concertos. Guy is a dedicated chamber musician and he regularly performs Beethoven’s chamber music for strings and piano as well, with Tedi Papavrami and Xavier Phillips. As part of the Beethoven project, Guy has performed the complete cycle of 32 Sonatas in Washington, Paris, Monaco and recently at the Festival Berlioz in La Côte-Saint-André (August 2013). Born in Paris, Xavier Phillips started playing the cello at the age of 6. His encounter with Mstislav Rostropovitch proved especially fruitful since it marked the beginning of a long collaboration during which Xavier Phillips received the guidance and encouragement of the master cellist.

2015 two CD collection from the pop princess and lead vocalist of The Go-Go's. Belinda Carlisle is the voice of a generation. From her early days with pioneering power-pop/punk girl band the Go-Go's to nearly three decades' worth of solo hits defying stylistic boundaries, the Los Angeles-born singer/songwriter has provided the soundtrack for a generation. "Heaven Is A Place On Earth," "Leave A Light On," "Live Your Life Be Free," and "Big Scary Animal" are just a few of her international smashes contained within this two-disc package showcasing her inimitable vocal style and unforgettable singles from the 1980s and '90s.

This is the second in line of the series of Jan Vermeulen's twelve CDs of the complete works of Schubert for piano solo was greeted with praise by the Belgian and the international music press. He was named Musician of the Year in Flanders on the occasion of the completion of the cycle in 2010 and also carried off one of the coveted Klara awards; several international music magazines described him at the time as an ideal interpreter of Schubert’s music. It was only to be expected that a recording of Schubert’s works for piano duet would soon follow.

Francesco Piemontesi’s third recording on naïve is dedicated to Debussy’s complex and fascinating 'Prélude's, in which he is recognised as one of the specialists worldwide today. Francesco Pie-montesi has based his work on this essential composition upon a new edition Durand-Salabert-Eschig, co-directed by renowned French piano music scholar Roy Howatt.