Works by Bowie, Crumb, Brahms, Mahler, Wolf, Schubert, Clarke et al Olivia Vermeulen (mezzo), Jan Philip Schulze (piano/synthesizer), Bernd Oezsevim (percussion) Challenge Classics CC720038 67 mins Th

In “a junkyard of surrealistic mayhem”: Adele Bertei ...

In 1966, THE VELVET UNDERGROUND AND NICO brought together the worlds of avant-garde art, European cool and downtown rock’n’roll in one explosive package. Sixty years on, the survivors share tales of drugs, breakdowns, burnouts, blocked toilets and hospital beds – and, of course, the creation of some of the most important music ever made. “We only did things our way,” learns Tom Pinnock . “We were arrogant, perhaps, in thinking we knew best. We were also right. We did know best…”

Andrey Gugnin (piano) Hyperion CDA684712 83 mins This album of Russian ballet transcriptions sparkles like a glass bauble hanging amidst the fairy lights. Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky wrote so colourful

Fondly remembered this month...

After Grace , JEFF BUCKLEY retreated from fame into a bare Memphis shack, chasing darker sounds, deeper truths and a new creative path. As a new documentary confronts the realities of his life, family, friends and collaborators reflect on the restless search and the fragile rebirth. “He was trying to figure out where he fit in the universe spiritually,” they tell Nick Hasted. “He was trying to make his A Love Supreme .”