Psycho IV The Beginning 1990

This is the Galliard Ensemble's 5th recording for Deux- Elles. To celebrate their 30th anniversary, they are joined by pianist Sam Haywood in an epic programme bookended by two pillars of the repertoire, Mozart's Quintet for Piano and Winds and Poulenc's Trio for Oboe, Bassoon and Piano. Featured prominently in the middle is the marvellously expansive and much less recorded Sextet for Piano and Winds by Ludwig Thuille, a close colleague of Richard Strauss. This album is a melting pot of colours, textures and timbres, beautifully captured and balanced by sound engineer Matthew Wadsworth.

Reinhold Glière (1875-1956) retains a toehold in the repertoire through his remarkable third symphony (and perhaps the effective and tuneful ballet the Red Poppy). His music is generally colorful, evocative, well-written and not without depth. Stylistically, the Russian Silver Age looms large - this is music in the tradition of Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov with few elements of anything more modern - but for the most part the most interesting music stems from rather early in the career, with his later more socialist-realist works being undeniable often rather bland.

Still Got the Blues is the eighth solo studio album by Northern Irish guitarist Gary Moore, released in 1990. It marked a substantial change in style for Moore, who, prior to this album, was predominantly known for rock and hard rock music with Skid Row, Thin Lizzy, G-Force, Greg Lake and during his own extensive solo career, as well as his jazz-fusion work with Colosseum II. As evidenced by its title, Still Got the Blues saw him delve into an electric blues style. The album features guest contributions from Albert King, Albert Collins and George Harrison. The title track was released as a single and reached No. 97 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album reached No. 83 on the Billboard 200 on 16 February 1991, then was certified gold on November 1995. This was the most successful album both in sales and chart positions from Gary Moore in the US.

Trumpeter Kenny Wheeler and his sidemen on this quintet CD (guitarist John Abercrombie, pianist John Taylor, bassist Dave Holland and drummer Peter Erskine) had all worked together previously in different settings. Their familiarity with each other's playing came in handy for the frequently intuitive session which consists of explorations of six of Wheeler's complex but often-melodic originals (including "The Widow in the Window," "Hotel Le Hot" and the lengthy "Ana"). Kenny Wheeler's music occupies its own unique area between post bop and free jazz and virtually all of his recordings are recommended to adventurous listeners, including this one.