Just in time for the coronation of King Charles III comes this release, featuring music written for the coronations of George II in 1727 and of George I before him. The Handel works, written for the 1727 event, are the pure public Handel, with imposing choral-orchestral chords interspersed with straightforward but not simple episodes of counterpoint. They are meant to be crowd-pleasers, and indeed, they are; they're hard to ruin. What is on offer here from the RIAS-Kammerchor Berlin and the Akademie für alte Musik Berlin under conductor Justin Doyle are elegant but undersized performances characteristic of the Continental historical performance movement. Reports from Handel's time indicated an orchestra of 160; here are but 20 players. The choir, at 36 singers, is closer to Handel's 40, and this veteran group delivers a rich, satisfying sound with a rounded tone from the smaller solo group (not indicated in the score but often performed as it is here). The anthem The Lord Is a Sun and Shield is not by Handel but by William Croft, and one will be struck by how close it is to Handel stylistically. The overture to Handel's Occasional Oratorio, HWV 62, serves as an overture to the whole program, and there is a typically odd Chaconne by John Blow as an interlude. These are less-splendid but highly enjoyable performances for reliving the coronation atmosphere.© James Manheim /TiVo

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A contemporary of Vivaldi, Brescianello is a composer whose music languishes in relative obscurity. Whilst the mists of time have claimed some composers’ music for justifiable reasons, Brescianello’s music presents many compelling arguments for its restoration. Having first included Brescianello in La Serenissima’s 2014 season, they have since staged his opera Tisbe, recorded a violin concerto (included in the "Extra Time" programme), a trio sonata (Settecento) and other works. It is surprising that the Opus 1 was the only set of works that Brescianello chose to publish and La Serenissima have now been given the opportunity to start their exploration of this wonderful publication. © Signum Records

In this third and final volume of his complete recording of the Prokofiev Sonatas, Alexander Melnikov explores two highly contrasted facets of the young prodigy. The dazzling Sonatas No. 1 and No. 3 sweep aside the codes of the period, unlike the more enigmatic and eminently subtle Sonata No. 5, heard here in the revised version Prokofiev made in the last years of his life. In the coupling, the Visions fugitives, the Russian pianist realises to perfection the mixture of brilliance and poetry that gives this cycle its peculiar charm. © harmonia mundi

Georgia rock quintet Blackberry Smoke could write the book on how to "slow build" a career. Since 2000, singer/guitarist Charlie Starr, guitarist Paul Jackson, keyboard player Brandon Still, and brothers Brit and Richard Turner on drums and bass, respectively, have played in excess of 250 dates a year in funky honky tonks, rock clubs, and on festival stages on both sides of the Atlantic, learning how to write songs in the process. Holding All the Roses is their Rounder debut, the follow-up to 2012's killer The Whippoorwill. It was recorded in less than two weeks, during a brief touring respite, with producer -- and Georgia native -- Brendan O'Brien (AC/DC, Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam). While it might startle longtime fans, there are no sprawling jams on this set -- all 12 tunes are under five minutes. Instead, Holding All the Roses showcases the band's tightness and their considerable development as rock & roll songwriters. While the first single, "Rock & Roll Again," is down in the vein of their earlier work, it's a bridge to the present: Starr's voice struts and guitars boil. It feels like a young Dave Edmunds backed by the Outlaws. On "Let Me Help You (Find the Door)," Starr's grainy, soulful voice moves heaven and earth, carried by twin guitars crashing into the rhythm section's wall. The title track is a screaming stomp with blazing Southern guitar rock threaded with hot bluegrass flatpicking in late-'70s hard-jamming fashion. "Woman in the Moon" joins Southern psych with country rock. Still's B-3 and electric piano, guest Ann Marie Simpson's layered violins, and Blackjack Billy on backing vocals add spacy textures to solid grooves. "Wish in One Hand" is a floor-stomping, hard rock boogie with a singalong refrain colored by smoking twin guitar leads. The swaggering "Payback's a Bitch" uses the riff "Dear Prudence" in heavy fashion, marrying it to blues rock crunch. "Lay It All on Me," with acoustic guitar, pedal steel, and slide guitars alongside the rhythm section and B-3, weaves honky tonk to backporch swing to Texas R&B. "No Way Back to Eden" is exceptionally crafted. It uses country, folk-blues, and roots rock. One can hear trace influences from many sources, but the song's character and imagination are all Blackberry Smoke's. The band's writing prowess has evolved almost beyond measure here. Anthemic closer "Fire in the Hole" recalls the band's live sound wrapped inside a fat, slippery hook with a riff that is equal parts Lynyrd Skynyrd, early Aerosmith, and the James Gang. When an indie band gets a decent recording budget and teams with a big-name producer, often as not they blow it. Not these guys: their confidence matches their ability and it shows. Holding All the Roses delivers on every promise Blackberry Smoke have made to themselves and their fans. This is the record that could -- and should -- expand their base exponentially.© Thom Jurek /TiVo

Less of a hodgepodge than his debut album, In the Midnight Hour, Pickett's second album established -- if there had been any doubt -- his stature as a major '60s soul man. The 12 tracks include his monster hits "634-5789," "Ninety-Nine and a Half (Won't Do)," "In the Midnight Hour," and "Land of 1000 Dances" (the last of which was his first Top Ten pop hit). Collectors will be more interested in the non-hit cuts, which are of nearly an equal level. These include covers of the R&B standards "Something You Got," "Mercy Mercy," and "Barefootin'"; several original tunes written in collaboration with Memphis soul greats Steve Cropper, Eddie Floyd, and David Porter; and Bobby Womack's "She's So Good to Me." It all adds up to one of the most consistent '60s soul albums ever.© Richie Unterberger /TiVo

The atmosphere of a live gig is never as fresh as when you sweat in the pit. But in these times of lockdown, it is through live albums that we have to let off steam, and relive the vibrant ambiance of gigs past. And so it is good news that Alex Turner's gang have chosen this moment to release one. In 2018, the Arctic Monkeys begin a long tour to promote the spring release of Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, a fabulous swerve towards French kinetic sensuality, and away from rock anthems hammered by Matt Helders' drums. This live performance was filmed at the Royal Albert Hall in London, and the profits were donated to War Child UK, as are the proceeds from the release of the album. The concert looks back over the band's entire discography: the classics from their period of greatest success – the first three albums – but also darker sounds with Humbug, pop with Suck It and See and their return to grace, with AM. But Alex Turner is never as good a crooner as he is when it comes to new material. If RU Mine?, which closes these twenty tracks, is worth its weight in gold, Star Treatment and One Point Perspective remain Arctic diamonds in the rough, and have yet to lose their sheen. Salutary. © Charlotte Saintoin/Qobuz

Tenor Piotr Beczala is better known for opera than for art song. He has recorded music from his native Poland, but Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky songs (or Romances, as they were known by the Russians) wouldn't necessarily come to mind for him. However, he is a versatile figure, and here, he succeeds and more. The album came together when Beczala and pianist Helmut Deutsch discovered a mutual enthusiasm for these works. Beczala scales his voice back beautifully to song dimensions, and the album is well recorded at the Markus-Sittiges Hall in Salzburg, but the biggest attraction here is the coordination between singer and accompanist, which is extraordinary. Not only Rachmaninov, who was writing for himself, but also Tchaikovsky puts a lot of the action into the piano and in the songs of the latter, which include the entire Op. 73 set (the last pieces he wrote before the final "Pathétique" symphony), the piano introduces a lot of psychological currents beneath the fairly straightforward texts. The pair's performances of these are haunting; sample the final Again, As Before, Alone, which here seems to speak volumes about Tchaikovsky's state of mind. They're equally good in the Rachmaninov songs, tuneful things mostly written during the composer's youth. A casual listen may find the balance tilted too far in the pianist's favor, but listen again; it is carefully controlled by the performers. A major new entry in the discography for these not-terribly-familiar (except for Tchaikovsky's None But the Lonely Heart) songs. © James Manheim /TiVo