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Looking at the cover of Huey Lewis & the News' Live at 25, it's hard not to think, "Wow! I had no idea that the News had 25 members!" Of course, the middle-aged men crowding the cover of this 2005 release number a mere nine, which means the one-time sextet has been expanded with a full horn section (original guitarist Chris Hayes has been replaced by Stef Burns and bassist Mario Cipollina has been replaced by John Pierce, as well). New members and a horn section don't change the basic nature of the band, which hasn't changed since the beginning of its career -- no matter what they do, Huey Lewis & the News are a good-time, good-natured, unabashedly fun party band. That served them well at the height of their fame in the mid-'80s, and it serves them well 20 years later, as they do those big hits -- "The Heart of Rock & Roll," "I Want a New Drug," "If This Is It," "Do You Believe in Love," "Hip to Be Square" (subtly changed to "(Too) Hip to Be Square," although the lyrics haven't been altered) -- balanced with covers and newer tunes that sound as if they could have been good album tracks on Picture This. Although the liner notes don't mention the date or location of the recording of Live at 25, the specifics don't really matter since the album is designed to be less a historical document than a nostalgic souvenir for longtime fans, capturing the group at a quarter-century mark. In that respect, it works well: the song selection is good, the band sounds tight and professional, the production is clean and punchy, and while it's never especially engaging, it is an enjoyable performance. Not essential, and certainly not nearly as energetic as the original LPs, Live at 25 is warm, friendly, and fun nonetheless, a perfectly respectable way to celebrate the group's anniversary.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

This new recording presents the complete unpublished works for harpsichord and organ, a collection of Toccatas, Canzonas, Correntes, Sonatas and Ricercares. With this release Roberto Loreggian completes his Frescobaldi odyssey. The son of an organist, he was born in the northern city of Ferrara into a wealthy family. His employer, the Duke Alfonso II d’Este was obsessed with music, and spent several hours a day listening, spending considerable financial resources into music making at court. Young Frescobaldi obviously thrived in this environment for he soon took up employment for the Duke of Mantua, and later became organist to the Medici in Florence from 1628-34. He then went even further by moving to Rome to work for the Barberini family of Pope Urban VIII. In this elite society he mingled with such names as Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Pietro da Cortona. Although Frescobaldi was influenced by numerous earlier composers such as the Neapolitans Ascanio Mayone and Giovanni Maria Trabaci and the Venetian Claudio Merulo, his music represents much more than a summary of its influences. Aside from his masterful treatment of traditional forms, Frescobaldi is important for his numerous innovations, particularly in the field of tempo: unlike his predecessors, he would include in his pieces sections in contrasting tempi, and some of his publications include a lengthy preface detailing tempo-related aspects of performance. Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643) remained the organist at St. Pietro's in Rome for a good part of his life. A decade on from the release of this much praised, definitive edition, Loreggian has returned to Frescobaldi and gathered up many much less well-known pieces to be found in manuscript collections across Europe. In some cases these are alternative or earlier versions of published works. One hallmark of the Frescobaldi style is its restlessness, or appetite for change which speaks to our age even more than his own. Even within the established form of a given genre such as a toccata, Frescobaldi bends and stretches the rhetoric, leaps forward in harmony and holds back the phrase with a sophistication worthy of ancient rhetoricians such as Cicero. It follows naturally that these pieces were created in a method of continual transformation. While following the course of his compositional style invites the listener on a journey of more than academic interest, the appeal of this set resides no less in the sheer fertility of invention on offer. Frescobaldi always encouraged his performers to play with spontaneous freedom, a kind of liberated intensity, which requires complete immersion in the style and the world of this music to pull off successfully. Roberto Loreggian has taken a no less imaginative approach to his choice of instruments for this substantial projects, especially in the choice of organs. CDs 1 and 4 are recorded on a 1998 Zanin organ built for the Chiesa di S.Caterina, in Treviso; CDs 3 and 6 on a well preserved but spicily mean-toned instrument from 1565 in the Basilica palatina di Santa Barbara at Mantova. These are both large instruments, affording formidable weight as well as the high, bright stops which predominate in the registration of this music. The set is an essential acquisition for anyone with more than a passing interest in early keyboard music. © Brilliant Classics

There is the surface of the earth. And there is what lies beneath. That is, the underground... For years, Michaël Eveno alias Grems has been busying himself in this no-man's-land that is bubbling with ideas and sounds. His furious, crazy hip-hop projects are unlike any others. The DNA is rap, but strident notes of electro also dot the landscape. Without this style, Hyacinthe, Roméo Elvis or Lomepal would surely never have moved past playing with their Playmobil… With Sans Titre #7, the writer of Algèbre (2004), Airmax (2006), Vampire (2013), Buffy (2014) and Green Pisse (2016) consistently threw out more and more of that madness that only he can produce. The punchlines are impressive, and the minimalism of the production avoids unnecessary ornament. In short, in the year that he turns 40, Grems has imposed his deviant and mordant style even more firmly upon Gallic rap. © MZ/Qobuz

This album sees Denis Raisin-Dadre pay tribute to the sixteenth-century poet Joachim du Bellay and his home province of Anjou, the beauty of which he praises here in this one of the most famous poems ever written in the French language. And featuring French singer Kwal, what a tribute this is. Like Du Bellay, Kwal was also born in this region, which is famous for its poets, wines and peaceful way of life. The singer makes three appearances throughout the album, where poems are read and then followed by a sober accompaniment from the musicians of Doulce Mémoire.Joachim du Bellay’s poetry sings of his longing for his native land during his exile to Rome (much like Julien Gracq, another writer from Anjou, would later do). Denis Raisin-Dadre’s tour de force is to pay homage to a poet who, as he said himself, didn’t need music to accompany his verses.Joachim du Bellay’s poetry serves as a magnificent excuse to celebrate the French Renaissance, with numerous composers laying down music both for his verses and for some written by poets from the Pléiade period. This major era helped unify French poetry and the French nation. © François Hudry/Qobuz

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This new recording of Massenet’s opera was recorded by Chandos during rehearsals and two concerts at Toronto’s Thomson Hall in November 2019, making the work feel like a great oratorio bathed in the sensuality of orchestral music. Known around the world for his Méditation with solo violin, which was used in the heyday of bandstands and orchestras in large hotels and fashionable spas, Thaïs is rarely played today. There are no arias "à l'italienne" in this opera, but instead it’s full of long dramatic passages that would inspire Debussy to compose Pelléas eight years later. The protagonists of this new recording are without a doubt the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, whose conductor Sir Andrew Davis makes use of all their sonic and expressive resources, leaving the soloists somewhat sidelined in terms of sound balance. A special mention goes to the beautiful sound and intense expression that avoids any mawkishness of the concertmaster Jonathan Crow in the famous Méditation, which is in fact a simple interlude at the heart of the Act I.. This orientalising story about the conflict between paganism and Christianity in Alexandria in the fourth century is told by the baritone Joshua Hopkins with his powerful timbre in the role of Athanael, battling with the soprano Erin Wall as an exemplary Thai, and the tenor Andrew Staples, beautifully playing the role of Nicias, Athanael’s rich friend. The rest of the cast is of the same calibre. Sir Andrew Davis knows this work very well having directed it on several occasions, notably at the Edinburgh and Melbourne Festivals with the same Erin Wall in Thaïs, who he calls "the Thaïs of one’s dreams". © François Hudry/Qobuz