Notte Bianche

One of those composers whose name you might not be instantly familiar with, but whose music you certainly will be, Italian pianist Ludovico Einaudi has been captivating audiences for the best part of two decades with his beautifully delicate and minimal arrangements, many of which have gone on to become soundtrack staples for everything from costume dramas to TV adverts to Hollywood films. Celebrating his increasingly popular output, Islands: Essential Einaudi compiles the Milan Conservatory graduate's most recognizable pieces, with material from his first solo piano record, Le Onde ("Questa Notte"), right up to 2009's synth-based Nightbook (the gothic cello-led title track), alongside a brand new composition, "The Earth Prelude."

The Pavarotti and Friends Collection celebrates the internationally renowned charity concert series that brought together the world's greatest pop performers with the greatest international classical star, Luciano Pavarotti.

Mesmerising sound: “I search for purity. For relationships in perfect equilibrium. As in a Japanese garden. Stones lie there, but they have not simply been laid there by someone; they each have a meaning. A story.” At the start of his career, the Italian pianist and composer Ludovico Einaudi was a loyal member of the avant-garde – but his yearning for Romanticism led him to a completely new style: minimalist, pure, hypnotically beautiful. With grace and wonderfully meditative clarity, pianist Dalal plays the maestro’s best-loved pieces on this album.