The second installment of the Batiste Piano Series sees multi-Grammy and Oscar winner Jon Batiste reinterpret Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's most beloved melodies as Black American classical music, infused with influences from jazz, rags, stride, blues and stomps. The result is a vibrant conversation without words - not about genre, but pure expression.

Sir Anthony's first album released on Decca Classics, Life Is A Dream, brings his passion for classical music to the forefront, presenting a deeply personal collection of original compositions that reflect a lifetime of creativity, imagination, and storytelling. Recorded with the internationally renowned Philharmonia Orchestra, under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel, and featuring world-class musicians from Argentinian pianist Sergio Tiempo and Venezuelan cellist Gregorio Nieto to the Bach Choir and the Choristers of Winchester Cathedral. The album showcases Sir Anthony's unique musical voice through a series of cinematic, emotional, and richly orchestrated works, offering audiences an intimate window into a creative life that spans decades and disciplines. Life Is A Dream is the culmination of a lifelong artistic journey and a landmark project for Decca Classics, introducing Sir Anthony's music to audiences worldwide and celebrating an extraordinary new chapter in his creative legacy.

Lise Davidsen Edward Gardner London Philharmonic Lise Davidsen performs the arias from five of Verdi's greatest operas: MacBeth, Un ballo in Maschera, La forza del destino, Don Carlo, and Aida. Through the chronological sequencing of compositions, Davidsen explores the pinnacle of 19th-century Italian opera, leading us through the journey of Verdi's emotional and dramatic development. From the psychological intensity of MacBeth to the grandeur and tragedy of Aida, Davidsen brings her vocal power and remarkable nuance to five of Verdi's greatest masterpieces, illuminating the composer's unmatched gift for drama, passion, and human conflict. "Her dark soprano is simply outstanding, the attack on the notes so clean, rock solid, seemingly effortless," Mark Pullinger on her role as Elisabetta in Verdi's Don Carlos, 2023. This album will be released a week ahead of her opening of the Met season as Lady MacBeth in Verdi's MacBeth in 2026.

Fourth release in the Warner Classics series of Herbert von Karajan Hybrid SACDs with a new HD 192/24 remastering from the original tapes. "Karajan is a great master," wrote Jean Sibelius in 1955, while the conductor said that Sibelius "is a composer who cannot really be compared to anyone else". Gramophone added in 1981: "No living conductor has done more for the music of Sibelius than Herbert von Karajan." In the tone poems and the two symphonies in this collection, Karajan explores with the magnificent Berlin Philharmonic the music's mysteries, unfolds it's structures and releases it's exhilarating power.

SYMPHONY NO.3, METAPHYSICA HARP CONCERTO Internationally acclaimed Japanese composer and conductor Joe Hisaishi leads the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, with celebrated harpist Emmanuel Ceysson, in a major world premiere recording that pairs his Symphony No. 3 'Metaphysica' with his new harp concerto - a virtuosic, genre-defying work.

55 years after the release of their first recording, Katia & Marielle Labeque celebrate an extraordinary artistic journey with "55," a landmark set that brings together new recordings and curated archive treasures spanning more than half a century. Released in 1970, the Labeque sisters' debut album marked the beginning of one of the most singular careers in contemporary music. The collection offers an intimate portrait of two artists who have consistently crossed boundaries between classical, contemporary, jazz, minimalism and popular traditions. "55" has a particular focus on women composers, to which Katia & Marielle say, "Their apparent silence was only a veil imposed by history. Their stories, extraordinary journeys and courageous destinies, resonate today with striking force." Featuring 22 tracks on 2LPs. Limited Edition.

'hush' is Chad Lawson's most intimate and understated work to date - a deeply restorative collection of music born from a singular moment of silence at London's legendary Angel Studios. After the final note of the orchestral recording faded, no one in the room moved or spoke, and in that shared stillness Chad discovered both the spirit of the album and it's name. Rather than offering another solution, ritual, or self-improvement tool, hush creates a place to simply be. A refuge at the end of a day that has taken more than it has given. Embracing restraint and honesty, Chad pares each composition down to only what it needs, allowing space, breath, and silence to become part of the music itself. The result is Chad's quietest recording yet. A beautifully immersive listening experience that leaves listeners feeling lighter, renewed, and gently reminded that even the longest nights eventually give way to morning.

Sir Stephen Hough's new solo piano album, Stephen Hough's Piano Postcards, explores the world from the perspective of the itinerant pianist sending home musical messages from his voyages. Music from Asia includes "Spring breeze prelude" by Taiwanese composer Deng Yu-Hsien and a piano version of "Aka tombo," a children's song so beloved in Japan that it features in citywide "5-o'clock chimes" across the country. Folk and popular traditions appear in "Cielito lindo" and "Nature boy," while the final group of pieces turns to nature, with works by MacDowell, Schumann and Sinding. Alongside these musical travel diaries, he intersperses new transcriptions of songs from popular films, including arrangements he created for Lang Lang's 'Disney Book' album. This is the first chance Sir Stephen has had to include piano arrangements of songs from Frozen, Coco and Mary Poppins.

Hailed for their "beautifully nuanced performances" (Gramophone Magazine), Camerata Tchaikovsky was founded in 2004 by Yuri Zhislin to bring together soloists and leading chamber musicians, touring worldwide and recording to great critical acclaim. Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante and Strauss's Metamorphosen are both works of remarkable emotional depth, heard here in chamber form revealing an entirely different perspective. The Camerata Tchaikovsky continue their long-term recording partnership with Orchid by exploring these masterpieces through the intimate sound of the string septet. At the center of the album is Yuri Zhislin's new transcription of Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante, created from a desire to preserve the grandeur and expressive richness of the original while allowing for the immediacy of chamber music. Alongside it sits Rudolf Leopold's striking septet realisation of Strauss's Metamorphosen, based on the composer's earliest conception of the work and illuminating it's haunting counterpoint and emotional intensity.

Third release in the series of Herbert von Karajan Hybrid SACD releases with a new HD 192/24 remastering from the original tapes. The cycle of Franz Schubert's symphonies recorded by Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic in the late 1970s remains an essential staple of the catalogue. The recordings capture the Berlin "signature sound" of that era: a silky legato and incomparable orchestral fluidity, impressive power in the brass and percussion, and a spacious recording quality achieved within the generous acoustics of the Berlin Philharmonie. It is in the final two symphonies that Karajan's conducting fully flourishes. In the "Unfinished" Symphony, he excels at establishing a mysterious and tragic atmosphere. The "Great" Symphony is undoubtedly the jewel of the cycle, where Karajan maintains a constant rhythmic pulse without ever sacrificing the plastic beauty of the sound, with the finale being a true demonstration of controlled power.

Vinyl LP pressing. The second installment of the Batiste Piano Series sees multi-Grammy and Oscar winner Jon Batiste reinterpret Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's most beloved melodies as Black American classical music, infused with influences from jazz, rags, stride, blues and stomps. The result is a vibrant conversation without words - not about genre, but pure expression.

John Williams Legacy is a landmark collection featuring the maestro conducting his most iconic film scores, including beloved classics from Star Wars, Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, E.T., and more. Performed by world-renowned orchestras, including Berliner Philharmoniker, Wiener Philharmoniker, and the Recording Arts Orchestra of Los Angeles, these definitive high-fidelity recordings capture the composer's vision with unparalleled authenticity. Featuring liner notes by acclaimed journalist and author John Burlingame, this collection is a powerful celebration of one of film music's greatest careers and an essential addition for fans old and new. CD Digipak.

THE DEFINITIVE EDITION OF A 20th-CENTURY ICON Alexis Weissenberg (1929-2012) was one of the most polarizing and fascinating virtuosos of his era. Born in Sofia, Weissenberg made his mark as an exceptional young virtuoso, touring at the age of fifteen and performing with Leonard Bernstein before moving to New York in 1946. He trained at Juilliard and won the 1947 Leventritt Competition. After a decade-long sabbatical in the 1950s to "reconstruct" his technique, he returned to the stage with a style defined by "steel and soul" - a combination of chiselled sonorities, rhythmic precision, structural unity, and a total lack of superficiality. This comprehensive boxset captures his tireless pursuit of musical truth (a vision that continues to provoke and fascinate today), an essential acquisition for collectors of great 20th-century pianism.

With the attention given to Rameau's harpsichord pieces and operas, we often forget that he was also an accomplished violinist: William Christie and Theotime Langlois de Swarte have therefore devised this imaginary concert in which the violin and harpsichord vie with each other in creative inventiveness. The program naturally draws on the best-known opera scenes and arias by Rameau, but also includes some of his contemporaries, in a poetic journey between the theatre, dance and song.

Once established in London, Handel devised a new kind of music drama that won over the English audience and modernized the operatic stage: the oratorio. Revolutionizing English traditions, he imported the drama and color of Italy, and the voices of it's greatest operatic castrati. Carlo Vistoli now presents this heritage, reviving some of the greatest Handel arias first sung in London by his illustrious compatriots.

Saehyun Kim's recording debut will pay homage to the first European city where he ever performed, also the home city of his new label: Paris. "It was where my life changed," he says. The program is dedicated to solo piano works by Gabriel Faure and Frederic Chopin, two iconic figures in the history of the City of Light who helped shape the innovative musical landscape of the 19th and early 20th centuries. While Chopin has long been a part of the young pianist's repertoire, his interest was piqued in Faure more recently, while preparing to perform in Paris; he admires the music's mesmeric "charm and delicacy", contrasted with the riveting "poetry and drama" of his Romanticist predecessor. The program features Chopin's set of 12 Etudes, Op. 25, alongside one of his most beloved nocturnes (No. 8). From Faure's early repertoire, he has included the Barcarolle No. 1, Valse-Caprice No. 1, Impromptu No. 2, as well as his very own arrangement of "Apres un reve", part of the Trois Melodies set written for voice and piano. In a final nod, the album closes with French singer-songwriter Charles Trenet's dreamy "En Avril a Paris" (1953).

Anton Bruckner's Eighth Symphony stands among the largest and most ambitious works in the orchestral repertoire. Completed after the success of his Seventh Symphony and extensively revised before it's eventual premiere in 1892, it unfolds on an epic scale, combining monumental architecture with moments of profound introspection. Recorded by the Norrkoping Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Karl-Heinz Steffens, this new album presents the 1890 Nowak edition of the symphony, and continues Steffens' exploration of the Austro-German symphonic tradition with one of Bruckner's most expansive and richly scored works.

Combining the vigorous forces of the Insula Orchestra and Insula camerata, Laurence Equilbey revives a historic tradition: that of the double orchestra. Beethoven, who was familiar with this principle, composed with the great festivals in mind at which orchestras could muster large numbers, often exceeding a hundred players. A unique musical experience.

Emilie Mayer's works bear witness to an indomitable personality, despite having languished for so long in the shadow of her male peers. The musicians of the Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin have resolved to do her justice with this revelatory symphonic triptych of recordings. They begin with two of her most remarkable works played on period instruments, including a wondrous Bluthner piano handpicked by the soloist here, Alexander Melnikov.

A pianist whose exceptional intelligence and sensitivity draws on her effervescent spirit, Anne Queffelec learned her craft in both Paris and Vienna. She had a close relationship with Erato and Virgin Classics, which produced a rich discography. This recording is an absolute best seller, and probably the most famous version of Erik Satie's masterpieces, the Gymnopedies and Gnossiennes. "No pianist understands the atmosphere of Satie's music or can sharpen it's wit more tellingly than Anne Queffelec." Gramophone Magazine

Kristian Bezuidenhout and the Freiburger Barockorchester pursue their lively exploration of Mozart's concertos. From the early impulses of the Concerto No.5 K.175 to the incandescent drama of the Concerto No.20 K.466, via the daring formal novelties of the Concerto No.14 K.449, these works reveal a myriad facets of Mozart's genius, always wondrously inventive, theatrical and profoundly modern.

The Seasons unites two visionary responses to nature across three centuries, pairing Antonio Vivaldi's iconic Le quattro stagioni with Astor Piazzolla's sultry Las cuatro estaciones portenas in Leonid Desyatnikov's electrifying arrangement for violin and strings. Violinist and director Soojin Han leads the English Chamber Orchestra in a vibrant dialogue between Venetian countryside and Buenos Aires nightlife, where birdsong and storms meet smoky tango rhythms and shifting emotional weather. Playful musical quotations blur the boundaries between the two works, with winter appearing in summer and summer in winter, suggesting that the seasons are shaped as much by memory and imagination as by the natural world. Recorded in Studio Two at Abbey Road Studios, this recording reflects the wide-ranging musical perspective Soojin Han has developed through a career spanning solo performance, chamber music and orchestral leadership. It is an approach that allows these familiar masterpieces to unfold with both the freedom of chamber music and the brilliance of a virtuoso performance.

September 15th 2026 will mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of one of the most influential conductors of the 20th century: Bruno Walter (1876-1962). This comprehensive box set brings together his complete HMV and Columbia Graphophone recordings. Spanning the 78-rpm era from 1924 to 1939, this collection also features the landmark 1949 magnetic tape recording of Mahler's Kindertotenlieder featuring Kathleen Ferrier, offering the first release of two previously unpublished takes. To ensure the highest fidelity, the finest available materials have been sourced, including pristine test pressings on vinyl from original metal work and near-mint superior commercial pressings. After undergoing high-definition digitization, the recordings were meticulously restored. This collection finally sheds a truer and more precise light on the artistry and genius of Bruno Walter.

These recordings, originally released in the early 1980s, are foundation stones for the rediscovery of Marc-Antoine Charpentier's sacred works that was set in motion by William Christie et Les Arts Florissants. For the most part devoted to Christmas music, these pieces radiate all Charpentier's fervor, freshness and elegance, showing him to be truly French, yet nurtured by the sunlight of Italy.

Handel's sacred oratorio Messiah is the iconic work the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists have chosen to launch their joint partnership with harmonia mundi. Directed by Christophe Rousset, they have combined forces with a stellar vocal quartet of soloists to present Handel's masterpiece in all it's dramatic power, eloquence and fervent exultation.

Limited five colored (red, yellow, blue, hot pink, and lime green) vinyl LP pressing. In 2023 we began our hugely successful 80s 12" series on CD - a year-by-year journey through the greatest 12" singles from the decade, and in 2024 we presented a selection of tracks from 1980-1982 as the first volume in our collectible vinyl boxset series, followed by Volume Two celebrating 1983-1984 in 2025. This year, Now Music is proud to announce the third instalment in this essential collection, NOW Presents...12" 80s: Volume Three: 1985-1986, as a stunning 5-LP boxset. A limited edition and numbered set with each of the 5-LPs pressed on a different color vinyl - red, yellow, blue, hot pink and lime green - to be released on July 17th, 2026, and for many of these tracks this marks the first time back on vinyl since their original 12" release! Includes tracks by Queen, Dead or Alive, Eurythmics, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Paul Hardcastle, Tears for Fears Harold Faltermeyer, Pat Benatar, The Human League, Duran Duran, Pet Shop Boys, New Order, Red Box, Whitney Houston, Level 42, Big Audio Dynamite, Spandau Ballet, and many others.

Four CDs. NOW Music presents the next instalment in our ongoing series of 12-inch 80s releases: 'NOW 12' 80s: 1987 - Part One'. Across 4 CDs, discover 46 extended, remixed and full-length 12-inch versions from one of the decade's most memorable years. Featuring chart-topping duets, dancefloor anthems, sophisticated pop, cutting-edge club classics and enduring genre-defying favourites, this collection captures the sound of 1987 in all it's diversity.

Amsterdam Piano Trio / Tchaikovsky: Piano Trio; Schoenberg: Verklarte Nacht This album pairs two works separated by only 17 years, but whose composers seem at first glance to be worlds apart. The coupling of Tchaikovsky's monumental Piano Trio in A minor (1882) with Schoenberg's Verklarte Nacht (1899, in it's original scoring for string sextet) reveals a line of musical continuity from the great Russian Romantic to the pioneering Viennese modernist. Verklarte Nacht has itself been transfigured here in a new, never-before-recorded arrangement for piano trio by Henk Guittart, one of the world's leading Schoenberg specialists. This debut recording from the Amsterdam Piano Trio features award-winning Hyperion pianist Andrey Gugnin alongside violinist Anna Lipkind-Mazor and cellist Dmitry Prokofiev.

Rafal Blechacz returns with a compelling new Deutsche Grammophon album centered on the expressive power of C minor. Together with the Dresdner Philharmonie under Kent Nagano, he presents Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24 in C Minor, K. 491 and Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 37 - two landmark works that reveal the dramatic, introspective and visionary possibilities of the piano concerto. The program is completed by Beethoven's 32 Variations in C Minor, WoO 80, placing Blechacz both in dialog with orchestra and alone at the keyboard. The album offers a focused, repertoire-driven narrative that connects Mozart and Beethoven through one of classical music's most charged tonalities, while showcasing Blechacz's artistry in major concerto repertoire and solo Beethoven.