Emile Waldteufel Waltzes And Polkas (1994)

Al Di Meola is back with a vengeance on this 1994 studio release featuring his best world-music fusion since 1990’s ‘World Sinfonia’. Guest musicians include the multi- talented Greek George Dalaras, Peter Erskine, bassist Pino Palladino, and Israelis Achinoam Nin (Noa) with her luscious vocals and string player Simon Shaheen among others. And a first with Hernan Romero sporting a double-neck charango.

Dawkins is back on the right track now, making solid, if less than earthshaking recordings, that at least hint at why he once was billed "Fast Fingers."
Chicago guitarist Jimmy Dawkins would have preferred to leave his longtime nickname "Fast Fingers" behind. It was always something of a stylistic misnomer anyway; Dawkins' West Side-styled guitar slashed and surged, but seldom burned with incendiary speed. Dawkins' blues were generally of the brooding, introspective variety - he didn't engage in flashy pyrotechnics or outrageous showmanship.

Press play and enter the world of Loreena McKennitt, where walls dissolve into thick, billowing mists as the ground beneath your feet turns to compacted earth and the sky above opens up to reveal a black cloak dotted with shimmering stars draped beneath silk-like clouds. Were McKennitt's composing and songwriting abilities lacking of any luster (as they most certainly are not), her voice would still possess the strength to hold her fifth album, The Mask and Mirror, up on its own. But the combination of this talented woman's vocal prowess and songwriting ability makes her all the more similar to her work – ethereal and almost unbelievable in its level of quality.

The great Australian countertenor, Graham Pushee with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra directed by Paul Dyer, stuns us all in this program of favorite arias by Handel.

This collection of the late Italian composer Giacinto Scelsi marks the recorded debut of many of his smaller works. Ranging from 1954-1966, Scelsi's elongated tonal studies are given a rapt performance here by a nameless Dutch ensemble that carries off the task without flaw or unnecessary adornment (a constant temptation, it seems, with Scelsi's work). Included here are three fragments of I Riti, the ritual march from the composer's Funeral for Achilles.

Christopher Hogwood has found himself a dream cast here, with even the smallest roles taken by big names. There are a couple of surprises along the way, such as the underage First Sailor (sung by a slightly quavery treble) and the cross-dressing Sorceress, here taken by a bass. Still David Thomas cackles and machinates with the best of them, so don't let that put you off.

The Unauthorised Live Recordings … The Beatles - Twist And Shout - Live In Indianapolis, 3/9/64 & Philadelphia, 2/9/64.