Álex Grijelmo

Only "What Makes a Man Turn His Back on God?," which features Bessie Griffin, has been previously released. But any number of those 23 sides could have been issued with success (only "Dinner, Mr. Rupe?," a half-minute of studio byplay, wouldn't). The earlier, slightly longer take of "Too Close to Heaven" is especially interesting to compare to the hit; too sweet how Bradford whittled almost 30 seconds out of a performance already in fine fighting trim. Superb annotation by gospel historian Anthony Heilbut offers an insightful history of Bradford and his sound and also gets down to cases about various tracks.

Reveal reunites Wiening once again with her longtime working band: tenor saxophonist Rich Perry, pianist Glenn Zaleski, guitarist Alex Goodman, and bassist Johannes Felscher. They are joined on three tracks by esteemed trumpeter and Greenleaf founder Dave Douglas, a fervent supporter throughout Wiening’s career. Multi-faceted and intriguing, moving and exhilarating, the album is ultimately exactly what the title promises: a revelation.

"The greatest song cycle ever written." - Glenn Gould is very unequivocal in his judgement of Paul Hindemith's Das Marienleben, based on a collection of poems by Rainer Maria Rilke. The notorious bourgeois terror, then only 27 years old, shows a very different, internalised side here. "There is something in these songs that forces and fascinates the listener beyond all habits of conventional song manner," wrote a reviewer in 1923, and to this day there is nothing to add. Yvonne Friedli and Constantin Alex make it palpable in their sensitive interpretation.