This full-throttle mahler 5 sets a fine new benchmark

Piano Trios; Piano Quintet, Op. 57* *Julia Fischer (violin),*Nils Mönkemeyer (viola); Oliver Schnyder Trio Prospero PROSP0035 76:52 mins Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet explores a bewildering variety of

Sonatas Nos 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6; Sonata violino solo representativa in A major Rachel Podger (violin); Brecon Baroque Channel Classics CCS48525 70:08 mins No Arts Council funding was available to rescue

Ravel: Ma mère l’Oye; Stravinsky: Le Sacre du printemps Pavel Kolesnikov and Samson Tsoy (piano) Harmonia Mundi HMM902752 49:20 mins Those of us lucky, as I was at both their Ragged Music Festival and

Truls Mørk (cello) Oslo Philharmonic/Mariss Jansons Erato 735 2972 (1992) Since Emanuel Feuermann made the first commercial recording of Dvořák’s Cello Concerto in 1928, around 230 have followed. Amon

Arias by Caldara, Handel, Monteverdi, Steffani and Vivaldi Hugh Cutting, Carlo Vistoli (countertenor); Les Arts Florissants/William Christie Harmonia Mundi HAF8905347 68:31 mins Les Arts Florissants’s

Chandos Anthems Arcangelo/Jonathan Cohen Alpha Classics ALPHA1153 75:08 mins Today’s historians could have a field day besmirching this music as being the product of a morally corrupt society. After c