Backed by the Sun King despite a lukewarm audience reception at first, Lully's Atys (1676) went on to become one of the composer's most successful operas, with revivals at French court theaters as late as 1753. In modern times, however, it is a considerably rarer item due to the massive forces and time required. Christophe Rousset was in the pit as harpsichordist when conductor William Christie gave the first modern revival of the work in the late '80s. That experience marks this 2024 release, which made classical best-seller lists at the beginning of that year. That is not common for a hefty five-act Baroque opera, but even a bit of sampling will confirm why it happened: Rousset, from the keyboard, brings tremendous energy to the opera. He pushes the tempo in the numerous dances and entrance numbers, and the musicians of Les Talens Lyriques and the singers of the Choeur du Chambre de Namur, all of whom have worked closely with Rousset in the past, keep right up. The singers in the solo roles are all fine; haut-contre Reinoud Van Mechelen in the title role and Ambroisine Bré as the goddess Cybèle, who sets the tragic plot in motion, are standouts. The sound from the increasingly engineering-expert Château de Versailles label is exceptionally clear in complex textures, and the sensuous cover art (representing, it is true, not the Roman mythological figure of Atys but Hippomène and Atalante) is a bonus. In the end, this is Rousset's Atys, and that is a very good thing.© James Manheim /TiVo

Tosca's second album Suzuki takes a lighter, airier approach to the trip-hop terrain that Opera explored. The spare, shimmering title track's delicate synth textures, minimal beats, mellow rhythms, and breathy vocal samples set the tone for the rest of the album's laid-back tracks. Though "Orozco," "Bass on the Boat," and "Ocean Beat" are more immediate variations on Tosca's relaxed sound, for the most part, Suzuki offers a locked groove of hypnotic, deeply chilled-out epics.© Heather Phares /TiVo

Probably nobody knew when Columbia Records released Doris Day's Sentimental Journey in 1965 that it would be her last album of new material (not counting The Love Album, which she recorded in 1967 but which went unreleased until 1995). The singer was only in her early forties, after all, and if she hadn't sold many records lately, she remained a big movie star and her record contract had a while to run. Nevertheless, if she had to have a swan song, this was the right one. Day began her career as a big band singer with Les Brown in the 1940s, and this collection brought her full circle, presenting 11 songs copyrighted between 1940 and 1945 that were hits either for Brown or his competitors. Day, of course, knew the material backwards and forwards, and she sang it with complete assurance, as well as with a mature sensibility that savored the dreamy sentiments and the long-lined melodies. She seemed to take particular pleasure in claiming songs associated with other female singers of the era, making her own such standards as "I Had the Craziest Dream," "I Don't Want to Walk Without You," and "I Remember You" (all of which were hits for Harry James as sung by Helen Forrest), as well as "I'm Beginning to See the Light" and "It's Been a Long, Long Time" (James hits sung by Kitty Kallen) and "It Could Happen to You" (a hit for Jo Stafford). No doubt she had occasion to perform many of these songs on the Brown bandstand. The proceedings ended appropriately with her big Brown hit, "Sentimental Journey," the song that really launched her career and that, here, essentially closed out one aspect of it.© William Ruhlmann /TiVo

As Esbjörn Svensson's trio has developed into a first-rate contemporary jazz entity, the combined acoustic-electric sound he employs is more alluring and arresting with each recording. The subtle nuances of amplified keyboard shades that embellish his piano playing is a unique quality of E.S.T.'s music that sets them apart from the vast majority of combos who place a larger value on louder complements. Another aspect of this group is that they are truly a working ensemble with stable personnel, as bassist Dan Berglund and drummer Magnus Öström have joined Svensson in this trio for years. The meditative and surrealistic quality of this music is hard to deny or dismiss, as it is so refined and defined within a spiritual parameter -- unique unto itself, and beyond most modern categories. While the titles are elusively cryptic, they can shed some light on the musical content. "Tide of Trepidation" aligns itself to the ECM/Bobo Stenson school of piano thought, a mysterious type of composition with underlying, echoed electronic washes lapping up the melody. "In the Tail of Her Eye" is undoubtedly a slow, 4/4 song of brokenhearted regret, "What Though the Way May Be Long" is a poetic discourse on unseen destiny lying ahead, and "The Unstable Table & the Infamous Fable" intimates a film noir spy scene in its cinematic anticipation of held tension. Less inanimate, "Eighty Eight Days in My Veins" is cast via a shuffle mode in 6/8 time, more driven and chiming with a two-note contrapuntal buzzing insert. The slightly bouncing or bumpy modified tango line of "The Well Wisher" is very light on its feet, in a style that could be a cousin of Keith Jarrett. The most compelling track is "A Picture of Doris Travelling with Boris," as the trio conjures up an aural visage of sleepwalking movement or late-night paranormal mean streets with a sheen of electric light guiding the way. E.S.T.'s music is for specific tastes, but seems to have found common ground with fantasy imagineers, the baby boomer ECM crowd, and youth searching for parallels to the Bad Plus or Brad Mehldau. Viaticum is a successful effort, a progression from their previous efforts, and in many ways a new pathway to the future without relying on black holes.© Michael G. Nastos /TiVo

Considering Doris Day spent most of her best years with Columbia (late '40s to the mid-'60s), this hits roundup from the label makes for a perfect introductory disc. Although a bit slim, the 12-track set includes most of the key songs ("Secret Love," "Que Sera, Sera," "Teacher's Pet") and spotlights Day at her vivacious best. Featuring fine takes on "Lullaby of Broadway" and Rodgers & Hart's classic "Bewitched," too, Greatest Hits bubbles over with high-end pop, sturdy arrangements, and, of course, Day's sunshine-in-January pipes. Commence smiling now.© Stephen Cook /TiVo

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A vintage pop oddity of sorts, but one that's worthwhile for its musical content at least as much as its curiosity value, the lone LP by Swedish chanteuse Doris (née Svensson) is an accomplished and somewhat offbeat collection of lush pop, soul, and light funk. Cut in 1970 with a handful of veteran Swedish jazz and rock musicians who sound completely at home playing in a variety of primarily American idioms, Did You Give the World Some Love Today Baby reveals Doris to be a singer of considerable range with plenty of personality. She's a throaty belter on the funky, country-inflected "Waiting at the Station," the Northern soul-styled groovers "Don't" and "Beatmaker," and the brassy pop-soul title tune (even coming off a bit worryingly unhinged as she exhorts "you've got to love the one you love/and the whole darn world as well") -- but she scales back the fireworks for sweet, if somewhat fey, ballads like "Grey Rain of Sweden" and "Daisies," which call to mind the sophisticated songwriter pop of fellow lost gem Margo Guryan. There's also a heartfelt, tastefully orchestrated rendition of the Band's "Whispering Pines," and -- easily the album's most unusual moment -- the bizarre, unsettling jazz-psychedelia of "You Never Come Close," which sounds like nothing you'd expect to hear on an ostensibly pop record from any era (it evokes something similar to Portishead's enigmatic melancholy, or Candie Payne's tormented retro-pop noir, several decades down the line.) Add in a smattering of upbeat big-band swing tunes -- "I'm Pushing You Out" and the organ-led shuffle "I Wish I Knew" -- the goofy, vaudeville-ish "Won't You Take Me to the Theatre," and a jaunty cover of Harry Nilsson's "Bath," and you've got a true smorgasbord -- a little something for everybody, although it's all still quite listenable as a single entity. The world may not have given Doris much love in her day, but she's certainly comparable in terms of raw vocal ability to would-be peers like Lulu and Petula Clark -- or, as the liner notes suggest, Melanie -- arguably outstripping them in the adventurousness of her musical range (in a single album, no less), and is outfitted here with perfectly decent if not necessarily exceptional material. Worth rediscovering, particularly since several CD reissues have made it readily available.© K. Ross Hoffman /TiVo