A different picture

Sun Triptych Maxim Rysanov, Dasol Kim, Roman Mints et al; BBC Concert Orchestra/ Dobrinka Tabakova ECM 4878558 64:61 mins This is the second ECM disc to feature the extremely accessible music of Bulga

Works by Bach arr. for clarinet Martin Fröst (clarinet); Jonas Nordberg (lute) et al Sony Classical 19802814742 41:45 mins The album B.A.C.H. from Swedish clarinettist and conductor Martin Fröst conti

Glasgow, 1942. The Carl Rosa Opera Company was in town to perform Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. Tickets had been snapped up by local people – including many who didn’t really know what an opera was. The

In 1976, the revolutionary singer-songwriter LAURA NYRO returned from self-imposed exile. But her comeback confounded expectations, shifting away from the impassioned intimacies of her early albums to embrace more radical perspectives. Fifty years on, Nyro’s collaborators revisit her striking second act. “She was a hip American from the Bronx,” one friend and producer tells Rob Hughes. “But her soul was old.”

Works by Offenbach Véronique Gens (soprano); Chœur et Orchestre National des Pays de La Loire/Hervé Niquet Alpha Classics ALPHA1168 55:49 mins This is not for the po-faced. If you enjoy charming and i

Celebrated pianist Arabella Goddard gained international acclaim during the 19th century. Born to an English expatriate family in Brittany in 1836, she had demonstrated an extraordinary talent for mus