Poco

The song "Keep on Tryin'" from Head Over Heels kicks off this two-fer of Poco albums (released in 1975 and 1976) and is a reasonable metaphor for the band's continued desire to break into the mainstream and enlarge what had been an appreciative but somewhat minor cult following. The quartet also relocated from the Epic label which had been home since their 1970 debut, to ABC (later MCA). With the business change came a burst of creativity, as the strong voices and songwriting skills of the Tim Schmit-Rusty Young-Paul Cotton creative nucleus dovetailed for a terrific set, shifting to a slightly more pop vein, while remaining firmly ensconced in the country, folk, and even bluegrass roots of their previous output. A cover of the rare Becker/Fagen composition "Dallas" (available only as a single before Steely Dan's full-length debut but not included on it) is an inspired choice. Paul Cotton blossomed as a songwriter with "Let Me Turn Back to You," a warm-up of sorts for "Heart of the Night," the track that three years later would ultimately provide the crossover hit they were searching for.

Of all the pioneering country-rock bands of the late '60s, Poco may well have been the one that got the hybrid the most right, at least initially. The group's high-energy, joyous, and infectious songs had none of the artfulness of the Byrds' attempt at fusing rock and country, and none of the cache of hipness that weighed down both the Eagles and the Flying Burrito Brothers. Poco just played and had fun in an unassuming way, at least at the outset, because latter-era Poco is every bit as laden with California cool as the above named bands. This release from England's Beat Goes On Records combines Poco's first two albums in a two-disc set, and it is an inspired (and obvious) pairing, catching the band at its freshest peak in the studio.

Released in 2000 as part of EMI Classics' revered "Les Introuvables" series, this comprehensive 5-CD box set gathers rare, hard-to-find chamber music recordings by violin icon Yehudi Menuhin. Spanning Baroque masterpieces by Purcell, Handel, and Bach (including the famed Double Violin Concerto) to Romantic chamber milestones by Franck, Mozart, Beethoven, Grieg, and Chausson, this collection highlights Menuhin's artistic versatility and expressive depth. Featuring collaborations with his sister, pianist Hephzibah Menuhin, alongside violinists David Oistrakh and George Enescu, cellist Maurice Gendron, and conductor Frank Martin, this set stands as an essential document for violin aficionados and classical archive collectors.

Taking its title from a legendary 1728 encounter between violinists Pietro Locatelli and Jean-Marie Leclair, whose contrasting styles were memorably described as angelic and diabolical, Hell’s Angels traces the cross-pollination of French and Italian baroque technique through sonatas by Vivaldi, Leclair, Guillemain, Marcello and Mascitti. At the heart of the programme is Vivaldi’s rarely heard early Sonata RV 820, its final movement completed by Adrian Chandler following the loss of the original manuscript. Two-time Gramophone Award winners La Serenissima bring their characteristic authority to over 80 minutes of music spanning some of the most demanding chamber writing of the period.

"This Lahti Sibelius cycle is healthy and extremely well recorded. The sense of front to back perspective and of quiet details in the foreground registering despite fff activity above is remarkable and a tribute to Ingo Petry, Robert Suff, Jeffrey Ginn and Jens Braun.
The set is sui generis in that it gives both versions of the Fifth Symphony… It is fascinating to hear the Fifth in its four movement 1915 issue playing 35:16 against the 3 movement 31:20 final version of 1919. After so many years of hearing the Fifth in the tighter 3 movement structure it is impossible to make a reliable snap appraisal. All I can do is to celebrate the chance to hear what amounts to a new Sibelius work… Vänskä knows his way to the elusive realm between gestural defiance and grateful descant." — Rob Barnett