Biber: Complete Violin Sonatas 1681 (Delphian)
An excellent exploration of music from the ‘Golden Age of violin-playing’ by musicians quite at home in Biber’s idiom [MS]
Brahms/Strauss/Bax: The Beecham Collection (SOMM Recordings)
(Déjà Review) Another hard-to-resist entrant for the Beecham collector [JW]
Busoni: Violin Sonatas (Naxos)
(Déjà Review) A disc full of enjoyable material executed with style [ED]
Eva Zaïcik (mezzo-soprano) Rebelle (Alpha Classics)
Eva Zaïcik gives a fitting tribute to the artistry of Célestine Galli-Marié who created the role of Carmen [MC]
Poulenc: Gloria & Schubert: Mass No 5 (Berlin Classics)
The youth choir Dresdner Kreuzchor struggles to produce a sound strong enough for these works [GPJ]
Beethoven & Mozart: String Quartets (Biddulph)
The short-lived brilliance of the Primrose Quartet heard in 1939 broadcasts [JW]
Alkan: Early piano works (Piano Classics)
A considerable achievement, unlikely to be bettered any time soon – if at all [BSt]
Bacevičius: Orchestral works (Toccata Classics)
(Déjà Review) Anyone remotely interested in 20th century Eastern European Music will make a wonderful discovery [DWa]
Bach: Cantatas (Accent)
(Déjà Review) If you are partial to the ‘one voice to a part’ experience, Kuijken’s approach has much to commend it [TB]
Prokofiev: War and Peace (BSO Recordings)
An interpretation of Prokofiev’s epic for our times [DHa]
Concertos from the Caucasus Vol. 1 (Toccata Classics)
An infusion of folklore enlivens three mid-century violin concertos [JW]
Sir Adrian Boult (conductor): BBC SO Pre-War Recordings Volume 3 (Pristine Audio)
Find out how fine the newish BBC SO was, and what a fine orchestral trainer Boult was [GPJ]
Wilms: Symphony No.6, Overtures (cpo)
Worthy structures, still too decorative for some tastes [SV]
Russian Romantic Songs (Harmonia Mundi)
(Déjà Review) The programme is excellent, singing superb and the guitar playing complementary in accompaniment and entertaining in solo [ZT]
Gillian Weir (organ): On Stage at the Royal Festival Hall (Priory)
(Déjà Review) The sheer brilliance of Gillian Weir, above all, makes this an essential purchase [CB]
Bliss: A 50th Anniversary Tribute (SOMM Ariadne)
An indispensable collection for admirers of the music of Sir Arthur Bliss [JQ]
Kaipainen: South by Northeast (Alba)
A superbly played and well-recorded selection from Kaipanen’s output [HC]
Désiré-Emile Inghelbrecht (conductor): Complete Erato Recordings (Erato)
A 16-CD slab of Inghelbrecht’s 78s, LPs and live recordings impresses through its authoritative, unsentimentalised approach [JW]
Torsten Mossberg (tenor): Once love was a song (Sterling)
A stimulating portrait of the most versatile Swedish poet of the late 20th century in music just as stimulating [GF]
Magdalena Kožená (mezzo-soprano): Enchantment (Deutsche Grammophon)
(Déjà Review) An excellent collection of works that show off the talents of this amazing young singer [KM]
Das Partiturbuch: Instrumental Music of 17th Century Germany (Naxos)
(Déjà Review) Played with flair, imagination and no little virtuosity [JW]
Poulenc: Piano works (Meridian)
A serious view of Poulenc from an unexpected source [RMas]
Osgood: English Folksongs (Convivium Records)
English folksong arrangements, beautifully recorded and performed [EJW]
Britten: Sinfonia da Requiem (LPO)
Another winning anniversary issue of a trio of Britten works from an in-form partnership [PH]
