Jordi Savall Granada 1013–1526 (2016) [official Digital Download 16 44.1] {alia Vox}

After years of comparative neglect Giuseppe Martucci is taking his rightful place as one of the most important late romantic Italian composers. His style is a happy and individual mix of Wagner and Verdi, dramatic chromatism softened by lyrical, bel canto style melodies. Martucci was a composer, conductor, teacher and excellent pianist, who made extensive European tours as a soloist. His music from his early period is written in sophisticated salon style, charming and picturesque. Later Martucci wrote more substantial works, like the two Piano Trios and Piano Quintet recorded on this 2CD, full blooded romantic music in which the virtuoso pianism is proof of Martuccis great gift as a performer. Excellent performances by Italian forces: pianist Maria Semeraro and the Quartetto Noferini. Extensive liner notes in both English and Italian are included in the booklet.

A Place for Us to Dream: 20 Years of Placebo celebrates the nihilistic English alt-rock veterans' first two decades via a handsome two-disc set that also boasts a 32-page book of pictures curated by co-founders Brian Molko and Stefan Olsdal. Opening with the band's propulsive 1998 hit "Pure Morning," the perfect distillation of Placebo's seedy Suede-meets-Harvey Danger brand of goth and Brit-pop-tinged glam rock, A Place for Us to Dream drops a little fan bait early on via the soaring new single "Jesus' Son." Less sordid than live staples like "Nancy Boy," "Taste in Men," and "The Bitter End," all three of which are included here, it retains the group's nervy energy, but leans harder on the anthemic side of things. Obviously, the collection's biggest selling point over 2004's Once More with Feeling: Singles 1996-2004, is the inclusion of post-Sleeping with Ghosts gems like "Meds," "Infra Red," "Too Many Friends," and Molko and Olsdal's brooding rendering of Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill."

As one of the pioneers of jazz-rock – perhaps the pioneer in the ears of some – Larry Coryell deserves a special place in the history books. He brought what amounted to a nearly alien sensibility to jazz electric guitar playing in the 1960s, a hard-edged, cutting tone, and phrasing and note-bending that owed as much to blues, rock, and even country as it did to earlier, smoother bop influences.