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This new Schola Cantorum Basiliensis production offers eight of the Venetian composer Antonio Caldara’s early trio sonatas – four each from his Op. 1 and Op. 2 – together with a final chaconne (probably an homage to Corelli). These works appeared in 1693 and 1699; thereafter Caldara became best known for his vocal compositions.

The third album from 23-year-old British blues guitarist Jones opens with a bang, as the band slams into ‘What’s It Gonna Be’, and from there on in the pace doesn’t let up until the closer ‘Stop Moving The House’, taking in along the way a duet with Sandi Thom on the more reflective ‘Don’t Look Back’, and Jones’ labelmate Dana Fuchs deploying her considerable pipes on a cover of ‘Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love’. As a vocalist Jones is an excellent guitarist, and while this album isn’t the last word in subtlety, being more about slam, drive and soaring guitar solos, while the occasional downbeat track sounds rather too AOR, it does its job effectively enough. The rhythm section has real weight and drive, while Jones’ guitar powers out of the mix just as you might hope it would. But somehow I still can’t help hearing the opening of ‘Evil’ and thinking ‘Devil Gate Drive’… AE Sound Quality: 80% Hi-Fi News Lab Report Keen though I am to promote this album’s charitable association, the content itself is evidently compromised.

96kHz/24-bit FLAC, BIS-2124 (supplied by www. eclassical. com) The Fifth Symphony has fared well on records, right back to the 1946 Koussevitsky/RCA and particularly with American orchestras. Prokofiev’s 1915 Diaghilev ballet commission for Ala et Lolli, a mythological Scythian concoction, met with rejection: the composer ‘did not understand a thing about dance’, said Balanchine.

Cassandra Wilson will need no introduction to most audiophiles as the singer is a demonstration-room favourite, and it’s not hard to hear why in this latest album – Wilson’s homage to Billie Holiday. Wilson’s voice is close-focused and centre-stage, and the instrumentation captured with every detail intact, from the sparse backing to ‘I’ll Be Seeing You’ to the cinematic orchestra on ‘Strange Fruit’. The roster of musicians is also pretty impressive: production is by Nick Launay, T Bone Burnett adds guitar, and Van Dyke Parks wrote the string arrangements. And yet there’s something oddly one-note here as too many of these standards sound slow and mournful, while the Bond-esque orchestra on ‘Strange Fruit’ is at odds with the subject matter.