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This collection of vocal and orchestral works by Benjamin Britten span his career, from Two Portraits for string orchestra, written when he was 16, to the solo cantata, Phaedra, one of his last completed works. The music varies in style but even the earliest pieces sound mature and demonstrate the composer's early mastery of his craft. Phaedra, from 1975, sets a selection of monologues from Racine's play that outline the dilemma of the queen who falls in love with her husband's son from an earlier marriage.

The Armenian monk Soghomon Soghomonian, better known by his priest’s name of Komitas, collected hundreds of folksongs around 1900 during the course of his travels through the Armenian highlands between Van Lake, the Black Sea and the southern Caucasus. These songs, handed down orally over the centuries, express all the archaism of this ancient people’s unmistakeable culture – a culture than was nearly extinguished in the genocide of the Armenians during the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1917…

Since From Nashville to Memphis: The Essential 60's Masters gave up the ghost of being a complete overview of Elvis Presley's '60s recordings, the compilers of the companion five-disc box set Walk a Mile in My Shoes: The Essential 70's Masters - the third and final installment in RCA's justifiably acclaimed Elvis box set reissue series - decided to throw even the illusion of comprehensiveness out the window and just serve up five discs and 120 tracks of highlights. Instead of adhering to a strict chronological sequencing, which the two previous boxes did, this is divided into two discs of singles, two discs of studio highlights, then one disc that attempts to present the ultimate Elvis Presley live show by culling peaks from several gigs throughout of the decade…

Erwin Stein, a disciple of Arnold Schoenberg, arranged Gustav Mahler’s Fourth Symphony for a chamber ensemble. The premiere was given in 1921 with Schoenberg conducting at one of his famous Society for Private Musical Performances in Vienna. Stein had known Mahler and gained a deep understanding of his compositional processes. in this arrangement he sought to highlight the symphony’s chamber texture and restore its tone colours.

Chart-topping but challenging alt-metal band that incorporates programmed beats and subtle Eastern European influences.
Like many late-'90s metal bands, System of a Down struck a balance between '80s underground thrash metal and metallic early-'90s alternative rockers like Jane's Addiction. Their dark, neo-gothic alternative metal earned a cult following in the wake of the popularity of such like-minded bands as Korn and the Deftones. Vocalist Serj Tankian, guitarist Daron Malakian, bassist Shavo Odadjian, and drummer John Dolmayan formed System of a Down in Southern California in the mid-'90s. They quickly earned a strong following in Los Angeles, largely based on strong word of mouth…

This 2 DVD set features complete shows from the last night of their Deja Voodoo tour on Oct. 15, 2004 at the Orpheum Theatre in Boston and their first night of the High & mighty tour at the Riviera Theatre in Chicago on December 9, 2006. These 2 shows bridge the rebirth of the band and represent the new era of the band as a quartet. They perform classic tracks and soon-to-be-classics from their acclaimed 2006 release High & Mighty. The DVDs include over 6 hours of performance, interviews, and backstage footage and special lyrics features…

Celine Dion's A l'Olympia was recorded live at the legendary Parisian venue shortly after she scored her first U.S. chart-topper with "The Power of Love," which is included here. Therefore, the material on this disc consists mostly of early English-language hits ("Where Does My Heart Beat Now" and "Love Can Move Mountains"), and selections from her first U.S. French-language release, Dion Chante Plamondon, including the rousing "Des Mots qui Sonnent," "Le Blues du Businessman," and "Ziggy." There are two tracks on this collection which are unique to this album, those being the beautiful "Elle" and her version of the Bagdad Café theme, "Calling You."

The now-retired Régine Crespin is easily the greatest soprano voice to come out of France since World War II, notable not just for its body and luster but for such an effortless sense of line that you're never aware of the individual notes, only the overall musical idea they're meant to create. This was recorded a bit late in her career and some wobble is apparent. But her characterization of the words–so important in Ravel's precise animal portraits in Histoires Naturelles–is peerless. Too bad that the Satie songs–in terms of quality–veer between serious endeavors and cabaret toss-offs. The disc is filled out by Crespin's performance of Beethoven's concert aria Ah! Perfido, which illustrates why she was a formidable Tosca in her day.