Better To Travel Than To Arrive

The Beethoven Journey : Piano Concertos nos 2 and 4.

Performers : Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Leif Ove Andsnes piano and director.

Ignoring the tedious "journey" aspect ( made even more tedious by the increasingly hysterical BBC Radio 3 proms coverage ) this is extremely fine playing of repertoire I am so familiar with but didn't actually have in my collection.

Soulful Wanderings

Janacek Orchestral works Volume 2

Pieces : Jealousy, Violin Concerto The Wandering of a Little Soul", The Ballad of Blanik, The Fiddler's Child, The Danube, Taras Bulba.

Performers : Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Edward Gardner, Susanna Andersson soprano, James Ehnes violin, Melina Mandozzi violin.

Evolution Of A Form

Haydn piano sonatas nos 38, 39, 47, 59

Performer : Denis Kozhukhin piano.

Underrated and underappreciated section of Haydn's output, here put convincingly back into the spotlight. Showing the way onto Mozart and Beethoven and not completely alien from their worlds.

The "Other" Danish Symphonist

Niels Wilhelm Gade Symphonies Volume 3

Echoes of Ossian Op 1,
Andante, discarded first movement from symphony no 3.
Symphony No 3
Symphony No 6

Performers : Danish National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Christopher Hogwood

Heir to Mendelssohn, predecessor of Nielsen, worthy of consideration in his own right.

Czech plays Czech

Smetana  String Quartets nos 1 and 2.

Performers : Pavel Haas Quartet.

About time I had one commercial recording by this prolific and consistently well reviewed quartet.

Mythically Fiery

Prometheus - The Myth In Music

Performers : Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Claudio Abbado. Martha Argerich piano, Ingrid Ade-Jesemann and monika Bair-Ivenz sopranos, Susanne Otto alto, Peter Hall tenor, Ulrike Krumbiegel and Mathias Schadock speakers.

Beethoven, The Creatures of Prometheus. Liszt, Prometheus. Scriabin, The Poem of Fire. Nono, Prometeo.

Sonata For This, Sonata For That

Hindemith sonatas for piano and various instruments.

Performers : Alexander Melnikov piano, Teunis van der Zwart althorn, Alexander Rudin cello, Gerard Costes trombone, Isabelle Faust violin, Jeroen Berwaerts trumpet.

Varied and intriguing.

Not All Lugubrious

Franz Liszt : Works for Violin and Piano ( including Grand Duo Concertant and La Lugubre Gondola )

Performers : Ulf Wallin violin, Roland Pontinen piano.

Lesser known corner of Liszt's oeuvre.

Nothing Arch About It

Beethoven piano trios, op 70 no 2 and op 97 "Archduke"

Performers : Alexander Melnikov piano, Isabelle Faust violin, Jean-Guihen Queyras cello.

Melnikov uses a fortepiano on this recording. Refined and subtle playing.

Generation Next

First worthwhile BBC Music magazine free cover cd for a few months with recitals by Radio 3 current New Generation artists.

Beethoven, piano sonata no 18 : Zhang Zuo piano.

Britten, Lachrymae ( Reflections on a song by John Dowland ) : Lise Berthaud viola, Francois Pinel piano

Shostakovich, cello sonata in d minor : Narek Hakhnazaryan cello, Katya Apekisheva piano