Clarity, colour and oodles of flair

Marc-André Hamelin (piano) City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/ Mark Elder Hyperion CDA67143 The practical requirements of Busoni’s Piano Concerto – a chorus and enormous orchestra – on top of the f

Complete Suites and Other Music for Keyboard Cristian Sandrin (piano) SOMM Recordings SOMMCD0702 61:09 mins In the first complete recording of Purcell’s eight keyboard suites on the modern piano, Roma

Symphony No. 5; Swanwhite Suite etc Christian Tetzlaff (violin); Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra/Nicholas Collon Ondine ODE 1468-2 77:16 mins One of the features of Finland’s impressive music educati

Järnefelt: Berceuse; Sibelius: Violin Concerto in D minor; Szymanowski: Violin Concerto No. 2 Lea Birringer (violin); Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie/Benjamin Shwartz Rubicon RCD1193 56:40 min

Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1; Erkki-Sven Tüür: Violin Concerto No. 2 Hans Christian Aavik (violin); Odense Symphony Orchestra/Gemma New Orchid Classics ORC100380 51:39 mins It was an audacious move to

Paavo Järvi (conductor) Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich Alpha 1004 With literally hundreds of recordings of the ‘Italian’ Symphony available, it might seem an impossible task to select a credible shortlist