Toccata Press

Here, on this richly filled CD, is a positive cornucopia of musical genius. Martha Argerich's 1961 disc remains among the most spectacular of all recorded debuts, an impression reinforced by an outsize addition and encore: her 1972 Liszt Sonata. True, there are occasional reminders of her pianism at its most fraught and capricious (Chopin's Barcarolle) as well as tiny scatterings or inaccuracies, yet her playing always blazes with a unique incandescence and character.

Mozart wrote only one sonata for two pianos – here’s the first instalment of six sparkling new Mozart two-piano sonatas! The idea came from a remark by the violinist and conductor Andrew Manze in the notes to his recording of some of the six violin sonatas published as Mozart’s Op.2 in 1781 - he observed that the frequent concerto-like writing in these works might make them effective as sonatas for piano duet. The Australian composer Stephen Yates has taken him up on the idea, adding these delightful new works to the two-piano repertoire. The scores will be published by Toccata Press in due course.

9012 Live: The Solos is the third live album by English rock band Yes, released as a mini-LP on 7 November 1985 by Atco Records. Recorded during their 1984 world tour in support of their eleventh studio album, 90125 (1983), the album features a selection of solo tracks performed by each of the five band members, plus live versions of two songs from 90125. The album was an accompany release to the band's 1985 concert film, 9012 Live. "Si", "Solly's Beard", and "Soon" were recorded on 24 June 1984 at Westfalenhalle in Dortmund, Germany. All other tracks were recorded on 28 September 1984 at Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton, Alberta. "Hold On", "Changes", "City of Love", and "It Can Happen" are part of the soundtrack to the movie 9012 Live.

Originally released between 1975 to 1991 on the now-defunct Calliope label, Andre Isoir's recordings of the complete organ works of Bach have been unanimously acclaimed by both the press and the public. La Dolce Volta now offers these landmark recordings (unavailable since 2008), completely remastered, in a deluxe, specially priced boxed set. The set includes a 152 page, full color booklet rich with photos and information about the music and the recordings.

Born in New York in 1946, Swiss-American lutenist Hopkinson Smith graduated from Harvard with Honors in Music in 1972. His instrumental studies took him to Europe where he worked with Emilio Pujol, a great pedagogue in the highest Catalan artistic tradition, and with the Swiss lutenist, Eugen Dombois, whose sense of organic unity between performer, instrument, and historical period has had lasting effects on him. He has been involved in numerous chamber music projects and was one of the founding members of the ensemble Hespèrion XX. Since the mid-80’s, he has focused almost exclusively on the solo repertoires for early plucked instrument, producing a series of prize-winning recordings for Astrée and Naïve, which feature Spanish music for vihuela and baroque guitar, French lute music of the Renaissance and baroque, English and Italian music of the 16th early 17th century and music from the German high baroque.

Jaga Jazzist, the multi-genre, multi-instrumental Norwegian collective, celebrate their 20th anniversary with this limited-edition vinyl box set. The box includes 2001’s sparingly jazzy Livingroom Hush album, out-takes from it, and a collection of producers’ remixes from 2012’s Live With Britten Sinfonia.

The only complete survey available of the keyboard music written by a forward-looking contemporary of Monteverdi.