Back catalogue: Classical

Review: After a six-year hiatus, acclaimed pianist Zhu Xiao-Mei returns with a personal and truly masterful recording of J.S. Bach's English Suites which completes her journey through Bach's piano works. This release marks a milestone in her extraordinary career and reflects years of preparation and a deep, daily relationship with Bach's music. Zhu Xiao-Mei's interpretation reveals the suites' rich subtleties and timeless essence, all of which are shaped by her dedication to living closely with each piece. Despite pandemic challenges and a meticulous search for the perfect piano, this recording captures her authenticity and the wonderfully contemplative nature of Bach's music.

Review: Hans Zimmer is out in a class of one when it comes to the most accomplished soundtrack designers of his era. He is behind plenty of the biggest Hollywood hits from Dune to Gladiator and now he releases part two of his acclaimed 2019 album. It blends the grandeur of symphonic music with the intensity of cinematic composition across 17 reimaginings of his most iconic soundtracks into epic orchestral suites. Highlights include a stirring cello-led 'Final Ascent' from No Time to Die, a serene 'A Time of Quiet Between the Storms' from Dune II, and a lush romantic suite from The Prince of Egypt and much more all performed by the Odessa Orchestra & Friends and the Nairobi Chamber Choir.

Review: In many ways its weird that Hans Zimmer has only won two Oscars - Best Original Score for The Lion King and 2021's Dune remake, alongside four Grammys. Before we reel off a fraction of the movies he's soundtracked, allow us to clear our throat. OK, let's do it - Gladiator, Inception, Blade Runner 2049, Interstellar, The Dark Knight, The Last Samurai, The Rock, we could go on and on. But while Zimmer is often associated with big budget, big screen spectaculars, he's also scored a slew of more intimate films. Like the Jessica Tandy, Morgan Freeman and Dan Aykroyd comedy drama classic, Driving Miss Daisy. Showcasing a more human side to his oeuvre, the five original tracks here are beautiful, sweet, tender, and truly moving. Meanwhile, the addition of Eartha Kitt's seminal Christmas anthem, 'Santa Baby', and Louis Armstrong's timeless 'Kiss of Fire', elevate the package.

Review: With its vast emotional and sonic 'scapes, this special soundtrack spans an epic 100 minutes over just nine tracks all of which offer a perfect snapshot of Hans Zimmer's signature bombast and thunderous drums. These extended pieces feature sweeping arpeggiated synths, vocal chants and rumbling bagpipes and the moods range from ethereal to ominous, wistful to sorrowful, often building into massive, dramatic crescendos, sometimes even within a single cue. Zimmer's masterful compositions create a truly epic listen and reaffirm his status as one of today's greatest living composers.

Review: Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk reimagines the war film as a tense, near-wordless "single-take" experience. Set during the 1940 evacuation from the beaches of Dunkirk, the film captures the claustrophobic chaos faced by Allied forces encircled by German troops. German composer Hans Zimmer's score centrally shapes the film's pressure-cooker atmosphere, as a ticking motif sampled from Nolan's own pocket watch circumvolves a Shepard tone, never ceasing to up the audiovisual tension. This limited edition release of 500 hand-numbered copies on dark green vinyl includes liner notes from Nolan himself, offering insight into the film's sonic and structural design. More than just a soundtrack, Dunkirk was marked out as a landmark in psychological intensity through sound, precision-engineered for immersive listening.

Review: Let's face it, Hollywood director Christopher Nolan broke the mould with his re-envisioning of Batman. Taking things closer to the original comic books, themselves forced to 'go soft' by censors in the early-1950s, his films payed direct tribute to the saga's direction from the mid-1970s onwards. A trilogy of movies that were visually arresting, tonally dystopian, and viciously unhinged. It's not clear if we'll ever get a superhero (or anti-hero) film series of that class and calibre again, the world on screen so immersive you quickly feel like a Gotham native. A big part of that universe-building comes through the music, which enlists two of the greatest names in the history of soundtracks to help weave the tales. Hans Zimmer has composed for more than 150 films, James Newton Howard in excess of 100. This compilation of their shared caped crusader efforts proves why they're so well respected.

Review: Twilight of the Gods features one of many evocative soundtracks from Hans Zimmer, Omer Benyamin and Steven Doar. Between them, they bring a sweeping cinematic scope to an epic narrative with their usual sense of masterful scoring. Zimmer and his collaborators blend orchestral intensity with atmospheric depth here to enhance the mythic tone of the story. From haunting melodies to powerful crescendos, this soundtrack captures the emotional gravity and grandeur of the gods' twilight moments and each track layers intricate instrumentation that pulls listeners into a vivid, immersive world that echoes the film's themes of fate, power and destiny.

Review: Bethesda Game Studios and Laced Records have teamed up to release the Starfield soundtrack on deluxe vinyl. Music is central to Bethesda's games and composer Inon Zur has worked with the studio since Fallout 3 in 2008. For Starfield, Zur crafted a blend of orchestral and electronic sounds to capture the vastness of space and human curiosity. Influences range from John Williams and Vangelis to Debussy and John Cage, and it was all recorded by the Budapest Film Orchestra. The score features sweeping melodies, cosmic textures and Aeralie Brighton's vocals which help bring it to life in HD sound.