A reminder of music’s life-affirming power

shouting forever into the receiver Anne Denholm (harp), Louise McMonagle (cello), Jonathan Morton (violin) et al NMC NMC D285 61:56 mins Tackling social themes and reckoning with history is part of wh

Works by Prokofiev, Rachmaninov, Schnittke, Shostakovich, Stravinsky and Weinberg Marie-Elisabeth Hecker (cello), Martin Helmchen (piano) Alpha Classics ALPHA827 147:28 mins (2CD) The only thing ‘amis

Lea Kampmann, Teitur Lassen et al Stunt Records STUCD24092 It seems fitting that the small archipelago of the Faroe Islands, set in the chilly North Atlantic between Iceland and Scotland and now notor

Works by Dobrinka Tabakova, Shirley J Thompson et al Black Oak Ensemble Cédille CDR90000237 69:59 mins Black Oak Ensemble is a string trio on a mission. The ensemble is hungry to expand the repertoire

Works by RR Bennett, Holst, Tavener, Cecilia McDowall, Francis Pott, Caroline Shaw et al Tenebrae/Nigel Short Signum Classics SIGCD880 80:45 mins Nigel Short’s experience as a King’s Singer has rubbed

Kafka Fragments Susan Narucki (soprano), Curtis Macomber (violin) Avie AV2760 54:30 mins In the July issue we praised pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard’s inspired performance of György Kurtág’s Játékok mi