Midi Ostinato

Near the border of Sudan, Eritrea, and Ethiopia, a disputed area called Fashaga is home to one of the most raucous, hypnotic, addictive, and celestial dance musics being made anywhere in Africa, perhaps the least known to the wider world of them all. Far from the townships of South Africa or the cities of Nigeria, this sound belongs to people intimately tied to their land, deep in the rural areas of Sudan.

He was closely associated with EMI for the majority of his recording career (specifically from 1946 to 1960 and then again from 1969 to 1984). At the heart of this 7-CD box are symphonies by Tchaikovsky and Dvořák – essential Karajan repertoire. They are complemented by an array of orchestral works from around Europe, showcasing both the Berlin Philharmonic and the Orchestre de Paris, which Karajan shaped in the first years of its existence.

To celebrate what would have been Herbert von Karajan's 100th birthday on April 5, 2008, EMI has gathered together all of the conductor's recordings for the label in two super-budget boxed sets. Volume 1 weighs in at an imposing 88 discs and focuses on orchestral repertoire (the second volume consists of vocal and operatic works). The first nine discs encompass Karajan's EMI Vienna Philharmonic sessions…

The Italian conductor Claudio Abbado is one of the most outstanding conductors of the 20th century. It was his unique ability to make sound and music shine (Deutschlandfunk Kultur), for which he was celebrated internationally by both the press and the audience. In addition to his long-standing relationship with the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Vienna Philharmonic, he has also been chief conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra for many years (1979 to 1986), with which he has recorded a rich discography over the years.

For many serious jazz fans, no pianist has ever approached the technical mastery of Art Tatum, though his virtuoso skills usually meant he was at his best unaccompanied. Many of his recordings from the 1930s and '40s were limited by the deficiencies of recording methods at the time. Piano Starts Here, long considered one of Tatum's definitive albums, combined four solos from a 1933 studio session (his first as a soloist, aside from a test pressing a year earlier), and a fabulous solo concert at the Shrine Auditorium in 1949 (the latter issued as an Armed Forces Radio Service 16" transcription disc), which has been reissued many times over the decades…