Nereikalingi Zmones Loss (2008)

After album (or "observation," as the band likes to call them) number eight - Ghost Reveries - Opeth could have very easily coasted, merely rehashing their sound. Instead, they opted to challenge themselves and their listeners, creating an album that can - at times - expose its true nature and scope slowly and - at other times - be jarring, as if it were turning itself inside out. Opeth take chances that many bands in the same situation would be too scared to have a go at. It's hard to say if the recent membership changes affected bandleader Mikael Åkerfeldt's writing and production, or if he was enjoying his trip down classic rock (see: Deep Purple) lane. For whatever reason, Watershed is a new benchmark for Opeth…

Her first album in eight years and her Warp debut, Leila's Blood, Looms and Blooms almost didn't happen: after the release of 2000's moody, murky The Courtesy of Choice, she lost both of her parents and, for a long time, her interest in making music. With the encouragement of her friends and family, Leila returned to the studio and recorded these songs, often with her family and friends - who include Terry Hall and Martina Topley-Bird - in there with her. While Blood, Looms and Blooms' very existence is somewhat surprising, it's even more remarkable that this is Leila's most uplifting work, given the loss that preceded it. Far from wallowing in grief (though that would certainly be understandable), Leila crafts vivid tracks that cast as much light as they do shadow…

This recording of La Sonnambula is notable on a number of fronts. It's the first recording of the opera based on a 2004 critical edition of the score that confirms the leading role was indeed written for a mezzo-soprano, although it has been performed by sopranos for much of its history. (Among the first Aminas were the celebrated mezzos Giuditta Pasta and Maria Malibran.) It's also the first recording using period instruments, in this case Orchestra La Scintilla, based at the Basel Opera and conducted by Alessandro de Marchi in an idiomatic and lively reading. And, as the promotional materials trumpet, it's the first recorded collaboration between superstars Cecilia Bartoli and Juan Diego Flórez. Although less hoopla is made of him, the recording also features a superbly lyrical performance by baritone Ildebrando D'Arcangelo.

The culmination of seven years' work, Kenny Chesney's Greatest Hits CD is a good overview of his career and also throws in four unreleased tracks and a live version of "Back Where I Come From." His unique blend of traditional country vocal stylings and contemporary, slick pop orchestration is showcased on songs like "She's Got It All" and "All I Need to Know." Among these songs of heartache and loss, there hides a little sunny gem of a song in "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy," in which Chesney reveals that his girl is kinda crazy about his farmer's tan and how she brings him a "basket 'a chicken and a big cold jug 'a sweet tea." Greatest Hits stands as a good introduction to one of the most popular country artists of the '90s or a worthwhile addition to the die-hard fan's collection.

It's been so long since B.B. King stepped outside of his comfort zone that One Kind Favor comes as a bit of a shock. Unlike so many albums he's cut in the wake of the crossover success of The Thrill Is Gone way back in 1970, the sound is stripped-back, not splashy, there is not a reliance on guest stars, and the repertoire is pure blues - and these are all songs that he's never recorded before, including three tunes by his longtime idol Lonnie Johnson. Credit for the concept must be given to producer T Bone Burnett, who applies a similar neo-rootsy aesthetic to One Kind Favor that he did to his production of Robert Plant and Alison Krauss' Raising Sand - an approach that's grounded in tradition but has a smoky, smeary veneer that's thoroughly modern…

To say the least, Kalevi Aho's Twelfth Symphony is unique in musical history. Like Wagner's Parsifal, it was written to be performed in a specific acoustic environment. But while Parsifal was composed for Wagner's six-year-old Festspielhaus in Bayreuth, Aho's Twelfth was composed for Finland's million-year-old Luosto Mountain in Lapland, hence the sobriquet Luosto Symphony. Commissioned by Soldankylä, the city at the base of the mountain, Aho wrote his Twelfth after carefully exploring the mountain slopes' acoustical properties and many of his artistic decisions were dictated by his findings. Given that vast stage, for example, the work would contain no fast sections requiring precision ensemble playing. And because it would be played outside, the possibility of an audible wind had to be taken into account.

Jim Capaldi, Gordon Jackson, Dave Meredith, Luther Grosvenor, and John 'Poli' Palmer - collectively known as the Deep Feeling - came close in 1966 to being the "next big thing" to come out of the West Midlands. As events would have it, the group folded when on the verge of success, leaving behind precious few recordings previously unavailable until now. Sunbeam Records has finally done the group justice by issuing this CD that will help ensure their place in the region's rich rock music history. Deep Feeling evolved from the Worcester group The Hellions whose origins can be traced back to that town's early 1960s beat scene.

John Tavener’s piano works are less well known than his large orchestral, vocal and choral works, yet at times seem to mark his stylistic and spiritual development on a more personal level. Tavener’s first piano work, Palin, foreshadows his search for a spirituality beyond the sophisticated, technical manipulation of musical material. The loss of his cats inspired Tavener to write Mandoodles, depicting short scenes from the life of his cat Mandu, and the bell-like In Memory of Two Cats. Ypakoë, with passages in Greek or Middle Eastern style, is a contemplative meditation on the passion and resurrection of Christ. Pratiru¯pa, Sanskrit for “reflection”, is the composer’s largest work so far for piano solo. In the words of the composer, in this work “a series of self-reflecting harmonies, melodies and rhythms attempt to reflect the most beautiful, the Divine Presence which resides in every human being”.