Famous for singing Gollum’s Song on the soundtrack of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), the Italian-born Icelandic singer Emiliana Torrini has since pursued a high-profile solo career. In 2016, she began a collaboration with Aarich Jespers and Kobe Proesmans, two Belgians better known as The Colorist Orchestra. Having enjoyed considerable success together, they’re doing it again six years later, with Racing The Storm. With Jesper and Proesmans multi-instrumentalism on display, it is the orchestral quality of the album that appeals above all. This is characterised by an abundance of original sound combinations which are ideally suited to Torrini's pure and youthful tone. Hilton’s tribal electro, You Left Me in Bloom’s varied bell sounds and Right Here’s minimalist marimba are all appropriately subtle backdrops for the singer’s voice. The Wedding Song is an impressionistic music box full of touches of sound as delicate as they are meticulously placed. In other tracks like “A Scene From a Movie”, the cinematic aspect of Torrini's style comes to the forefront, where she leaves her voice behind to concentrate solely on her compositional skills. With Racing The Storm, Emiliana Torrini has created an experience as soothing and mysterious as an Icelandic sunrise. ©Nicolas Magenham/Qobuz

Written and recorded in the first half of 2023 and delving into painful moments from her past, Snow Angel is the full-length recording debut of TV actress, Broadway alum, and burgeoning pop singer Reneé Rapp. Highlighted by nuanced ballads, a certain amount of sass, and a dramatic title track with arena rock-ready climaxes, it features production by Alexander 23. His approach also includes touches of alt-R&B stylings on songs like "Poison Poison" that help distinguish Rapp's Beyoncé-informed mix of vulnerable and confident contemporary pop. Following some minor chart success with her single "Too Well" from the Everything to Everyone EP in 2022, Snow Angel marked her Billboard 200 debut when it reached the Top 50, faring even better in the U.K., where it landed in the Top Ten.© Marcy Donelson /TiVo

Reteaming with the Band, Bob Dylan winds up with an album that recalls New Morning more than The Basement Tapes, since Planet Waves is given to a relaxed intimate tone -- all the more appropriate for a collection of modest songs about domestic life. As such, it may seem a little anticlimactic since it has none of the wildness of the best Dylan and Band music of the '60s -- just an approximation of the homespun rusticness. Considering that the record was knocked out in the course of three days, its unassuming nature shouldn't be a surprise, and sometimes it's as much a flaw as a virtue, since there are several cuts that float into the ether. Still, it is a virtue in places, as there are moments -- "On a Night Like This," "Something There Is About You," the lovely "Forever Young" -- where it just gels, almost making the diffuse nature of the rest of the record acceptable.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Alternative folk singer/songwriter Anaïs Mitchell originally presented her epic musical version of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice as a recording in 2010. The album featured Mitchell herself as Eurydice, Bon Iver's Justin Vernon as Orpheus, and Ani DiFranco as Persephone, among other role players and a band of over a dozen musicians. After being reworked by Mitchell with Broadway in mind, Hadestown ran off-Broadway in 2016, then in Edmonton and London before receiving its Broadway premiere in March of 2019. Marked by alternatively soulful and playful acoustic arrangements and rich harmony vocals, the over-two-hour cast album features performances by an ensemble led by singer/songwriter and actor Reeve Carney as Orpheus, Eva Noblezada (Miss Saigon) as Eurydice, Patrick Page (Beauty and the Beast, Spring Awakening) as Hades, and Amber Gray (Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812) as Persephone. Septuagenarian André De Shields won a Tony Award for his turn as Hermes in the production, which won eight Tonys in total, including Best Musical and Best Original Score of 2019.© Marcy Donelson /TiVo

With a huge variety of sources and influences, Bobo Stenson’s music is never limited to a single territory. He’s not really the kind of Swedish pianist who throws himself into the wide range of improvised music, be it jazz or other genres. He is very much in line with the ECM aesthetic, the label on which he has been one of the most prominent musicians for over four decades… His Swedish trio (Anders Jormin on the double bass and Jon Fält on the drums) makes a stand in the ever so indecisive world of 2017 with this Contra La Indecisión, an album as magnificent as it is decisive. Staying true to themselves, the group supports the originality of their approach here. In addition to collective improvisations and original compositions signed by Stenson and Jormin, we find on the menu the piece which gives the album its name, composed by the Cuban Silvio Rodríguez as well as the adaption of a Slovak folk song signed by Béla Bartók, an extract from Cançons I Danses by Federico Mompou and even the famous Elégie by Erik Satie! The physical and mental force of the trio and the individuality of each of its members is such that all these influences come to blend coherently into an organic whole of profound originality. With Stenson’s lyrical touch as well as Jordan’s folk tinged phrasing make Contra La Indecisión as exquisite as possible… © MZ/Qobuz

The Wonderland in the title of this release by the young pianist Alice Sara Ott is merely the music of Grieg, well-worn favorites of which are sampled here. To add to the sum total of interpretive knowledge for the Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16, is a tall order, but Ott delivers here in a live performance with the Bavarian Radio Symphony under the baton of Esa-Pekka Salonen. From her brilliant first note, her reading is a series of sharp markers filled in with liquid, lyrical episodes. The whole thing is carefully shaped, yet has the essential energy of live performance. In the short selections from the various books of Lyric Pieces and from the Peer Gynt Suite Ott is a little more conservative, but her gossamer, web-like technique in lyrical passages is never less than enjoyable to hear. There are reasons for the buzz surrounding this young artist, and this well-recorded program is an excellent place to start exploring what those reasons are.© TiVo

In the autumn of 2021, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra together with its new chief conductor, Nicholas Collon, arranged a Thomas Adès festival in Helsinki devoted to the world famous composer’s music in addition to works by other composers chosen and conducted by Thomas Adès (born 1971). One of the highlights of the festival’s program was the world première of Märchentänze in its version for violin and orchestra performed by violinist Pekka Kuusisto, Adès’ long-time artistic partner. This new album by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra includes four recent and exciting orchestral works written by the composer between 2016 and 2021 in world première recordings. In addition to the Märchentänze, this album includes Adès’ orchestral Hotel Suite from Powder Her Face, an adaptation based on the music from the opera through which Adès first made a widespread name for himself in the mid-1990s. The orchestral version of Lieux retrouvés, originally written for Steven Isserlis, could be described as a cello concerto in the spirit of Marcel Proust. Orchestral work Dawn was written for the 2020 London Proms for "orchestra at any distance", due to the coronavirus pandemic. Adès’ Dawn comes across as timeless music floating in a serene universe of beauty all its own. © Ondine

Elvis movies never came bigger than Blue Hawaii, the 1961 romantic musical comedy whose success helped push Presley into near full-time filmmaking for the bulk of the '60s. Not only was the flick a hit but so was the soundtrack, going Gold by the end of 1961, a success partially fueled by the ballad "Can't Help Falling in Love," a song so good it suggests the rest of the record might contain other gems. That's not the case. The record has its moments, including the dreamy title track, but as an album, Blue Hawaii is undone by a film that demands a good chunk of its tunes carry a Hawaiian flavor. Often, this mid-century Polynesian exotica has its charms -- Elvis croons sweetly on the swaying luaus and everybody involved has the good sense to embrace the project's inherent silliness, letting themselves josh around on deliberate fluff like "Rock-A-Hula Baby" and the vaudevillian rhumba that's "Beach Boy Blues." Both of these are ridiculous but on record, they're slightly preferable to the steady march of island tunes ("Aloha Oe," "Ku-U-I-Po," "Island of Love," "Hawaiian Love Song"), all silver screen corn performed with a bit more panache than they deserve.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Emerging from the incipient post-punk London scene with a healthy fascination for late-'70s Bowie (and in turn, for his own attraction to Krautrock), the then-sextet kicked up a slightly monochromatic but still attractive storm on their debut. Richard Butler's Thin-White-Duke-after-smoking vocal rasp has a surprising appeal, serving up a wry, slightly detached series of lyrics on life. The members of the core band, meanwhile, had clearly honed their chops well on-stage; Ashton's lead guitar work avoids both wankery and simplicity in favor of a balanced, artistic power. Production mainly comes from Steve Lillywhite, who smartly steers away from the soon-to-be-clichéd touches he would bring to U2's early work. "India" is a good example; it has a brooding, quiet beginning with strange telegraphic signals and turns into a brawling rocker without sounding like the Edge or Larry Mullins going off. The record comes off as serious without being self-consciously deep, occasional toe-dipping into humorous aside ("We Love You" has Butler idly listing off things he loves, sometimes with appropriate if sarcastically delivered song quotes: "I'm in love with Frank Sinatra...fly me to the moon..."). "Imitation of Christ" is the most frazzled, with lyrics detailing someone else metaphorically nailing himself up over a light but still strange guitar line. "Wedding Song" is amusingly prescient as one of the first "white rockers go hip-hop" numbers of its kind, along with Blondie's "Rapture," though its inspiration could equally be dub. Ely lays down a pounding funk beat while Butler breaks into a midsong rap no better or worse than most such efforts of the time.© Ned Raggett /TiVo

The suites from Peer Gynt, through no fault of his own, are Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg's calling card. Certain pieces, such as "Morning Mood" and "In the Hall of the Mountain King" are well known even among those who have never heard of Grieg. However, Grieg's incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt is only seldom recorded as a complete unit. Part of the problem is a textual one, as although Grieg finished the score barely in time for the premiere of Peer Gynt in 1876, he continued to alter it over the course of the next 20 years. A critical edition incorporating Grieg's final thoughts on the matter was not published until 1987 and was concurrently recorded for Deutsche Grammophon by Neeme Järvi and the Gothenburg Symphony. The family tradition is carried on in this Virgin Classics recording, as it is led by his son, Paavo Järvi, with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra. In orchestral terms, the younger Järvi's Grieg: Peer Gynt is a magnificent performance, fully capturing the sweep and grandeur of Grieg and Ibsen's vast conception. While in some instances Järvi cannot resist pointing up some of the music's similarity to the idiom of Mussorgsky, he is likewise careful not to lose sight of the score's Nordic iciness. The little bit of singing that there is in Peer Gynt is essentially where this Virgin Classics release comes down to earth. In "In the Hall of the Mountain King" there is a problem of balance between the Estonian National Male Choir and the orchestra in that the latter is quite clearly drowned out by the former. Baritone Peter Mattei does a fine job singing the one song the title character is given to sing, and Camilla Tilling is good as Solveig, although if one already has Kirsten Flagstad's performance of "Solveig's Song" in his/her head this might be a bit of a letdown. There is no ambiguity, though, about Charlotte Hellekant as Arabian temptress Anitra -- she sings as though she is trying to sell real estate, rather than seduce Peer and relieve him of his fortune. Robert Layton's liner notes are excellent; we are surprised to learn how Grieg felt that "In the Hall of the Mountain King" was something "I literally can't bear listening to because it absolutely reeks of cow-dung" and the extraordinary extent to which Ibsen himself intervened in the creation of this music.© TiVo

Since Fever to Tell, with each album the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have challenged their audience with their changes, and Mosquito is no exception. A 180 from It's Blitz!'s flashy electro sheen, the band's fourth album downplays synths, programmed beats, and other gadgetry in favor of drums, guitars, and a mix of rock and inward-looking ballads that occasionally recalls Show Your Bones. Karen O, Nick Zinner, and Brian Chase reunite with longtime producers David Sitek and Nick Launay -- who were honorary members of the band by this point -- and they take the trio in any direction they want to go. Since "Maps," some of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' most exciting songs show their vulnerability, and to a certain extent, this is true of Mosquito. O sounds full-throated and full-hearted as she sings "your sun is my sun" on "Despair," the kind of unabashed love song the band has excelled at since that breakthrough power ballad. Likewise, "Wedding Song" -- which O actually sang at her nuptials -- is genuine and intimate enough to strike a near-universal chord. At other times, the band's quieter side just doesn't connect: while "Subway" cleverly loops samples of the train into its percussion, it's a little too successful at capturing an introspective mood; the sparkling, vaguely exotica-tinged "Always" is pretty, but doesn't ring as true as the better love songs here. Meanwhile, Mosquito's loudest songs are more playfully nostalgic than ferocious, which in its own way is in keeping with the album's often reflective tone. "Area 52" and the title track spin tales about aliens and bloodsucking bugs that are much sillier than the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' early days; as impressive as O's wail still is, there's a campiness to these songs that almost feels like the band is having a fond laugh about when they used to do this all the time. Indeed, they sound most engaged on Mosquito when they're somewhere between its extremes. The lead track, "Sacrilege," showcases their way with a slow-building epic and plays like a more daring kissing cousin of Madonna's "Like a Prayer" as O sings "Fallin' for a guy/Who fell down from the sky" as a gospel choir rises up to meet her -- a risky move, since adding it to rock songs can be transcendent but more often than not just sounds like corny co-opting. Here, it actually works, and the way that the band incorporates dub elements on "Under the Earth" and the excellent "Slave" -- which sounds like Siouxsie and the Banshees recording at Studio One -- and the cameo from Dr. Octagon on "Buried Alive" are nearly as impressive. Something of a grower, Mosquito has perhaps the widest range of sounds and moods the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have ever presented on one set of songs. It might not be as cohesive as their best albums, but the standout songs rival their finest moments.© Heather Phares /TiVo

The genius of William "Smokey" Robinson is immeasurable. As many of his prior songs had shaped R&B and pop music, this album would have a similar effect. The title track became the namesake for a music format. The album itself had three singles hit the charts. Arranged in an intermittent rhythm, "Baby That's Backatcha" ran up the Billboard R&B charts to number one inside 16 weeks. It was Robinson's first number one single since leaving the Miracles. The lyric of the ballad "The Agony and the Ecstasy" hit the Top Ten at number seven, and it was followed by the masterpiece "A Quiet Storm." Although it only managed to seal the Top 25, it has since made a greater impact on the music charts and music industry. Briefly, radio mogul Cathy Hughes, owner of Radio One, was the general manager at Howard University radio WHUR during the early '70s when she created the format "the quiet storm." She used Smokey Robinson's composition as the theme song. Before long, it caught on around the country and evolved into a new market. This album also features the "Wedding Song" which was written for Hazel and Jermaine Jackson's wedding and the "Happy" theme from the movie Lady Sings the Blues.© Craig Lytle /TiVo