A selection of some of the best recordings of music by the Anglo-Irish composer - known particularly for his sacred choral music but also a prodigious composer of chamber and orchestral works, songs, part-songs and more.
Guitarist / composer Michiel Stekelenburg takes us on a moving journey through his deepest inner emotions, looking for resolution and closure for himself, and offering up a compelling long player for us all to enjoy.
Chris introduces this month's selection, headed by a 'deeply impressive' account of Mahler's Symphony No. 6 from Sir Simon Rattle and the Symphonie-Orchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks on the orchestra's own label.
The Hungarian composer and conductor, who adapted compositional approaches pioneered by Ligeti, Stockhausen and Boulez and drew on an eclectic range of global music traditions, has died at the age of 80.
The Estonian conductor and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich present stylish, propulsive accounts of Mendelssohn's five symphonies, plus the incidental music to *A Midsummer Night's Dream*.
A recital of Romantic orchestral songs from Véronique Gens, the Münchner Rundfunkorchester & Hervé Niquet, Bach's *Kunst der Fuge* from Masaaki Suzuki, orchestral works by Dani Howard from the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra & Michael Seal, and Brahms song transcriptions for solo piano from Rudolf Buchbinder.
Recorded live at Wigmore Hall in 2021, this collaboration between saxophonist and pianist is a charmingly sophisticated affair containing as many pleasingly interwoven musical references as you care to mention.
This week's round-up includes a double instalment of double bass wizardry, a previously unreleased Alice Coltrane live recording, Kjetil Mulelid's music for ensemble, some rather out-there improvisations from Shiver & Matthew Bourne, and a collection of songs from vocalist Lauren Kinsella...
Piano music by Prokofiev, Grieg, and Bach; James Macmillan's *Mass of St Edward the Confessor*; Tarrega's transciption of Albeniz's *Cadiz*; early music gems for fingerstyle guitar; and pieces for flute by Ibert and Bonis.
The Italian pianist presents an unusual pairing of sonatas - a sensitive, light performance of Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 2 complemented by a masterful and fearless *Hammerklavier*.
Tchaikovsky from Alpesh Chauhan & the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven from Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax & Leonidas Kavakos, Strauss & Mahler from Rafael Payare in Montreal, and a nocturnal recital from Elīna Garanča & friends.
In the fifth instalment of our *Recollections* series, Richard Inverne recounts how impersonating the masked hero to the strains of Rossini’s *William Tell* Overture as a toddler paved the way to falling in love with bel canto, Verdi, Puccini and more...
Chris introduces this month's Choices, headed by a live recording of Janáček's *Katya Kabanova* from Simon Rattle, the London Symphony Orchestra and a cast headed by American soprano Amanda Majeski as a Katya of 'harrowing immediacy'.