This is volume four in Joseph Nolan’s widely acclaimed journey through the complete organ works of Charles-Marie Widor. The Perth organist’s high standards show no signs of slipping, with magnificent accounts of Symphonies Nos 7 and 8. Widor wrote these two symphonies between 1886 and 1887. These and the previous two (published 1879) comprise the composer’s Opus 42, which after its initial publication in 1887 was to go through a further five editions. Massive in their structure and conception, 7 and 8 are more consciously symphonic in a late-Romantic sense and less suite-like than some of the earlier symphonies. Nolan, formerly of Her Majesty’s Chapels Royal, St. James’ Palace and, Master of Music at St. George’s Cathedral Perth, was recently made Associate Conductor and Head of Chorus at WA Opera. It’s an appointment that will not only further his development, but allow him to exercise an aural imagination which thrives on maximising colour and texture in order to elucidate line and form – as he does here. Again playing the superb organ of La Madeleine in Paris, which has no less than 60 stops and 4426 pipes, Nolan bathes the dramatic opening Moderato of the A Minor Symphony No 7 in a stained…

Making a debut playing the music of a relatively obscure composer is a brave move. That said, who could resist the music of Anton Arensky?

The English label Somm has done sterling service exploring the lesser-known side of many British composers, not the least of which has been Edward Elgar – in particular early works and overlooked wartime compositions. This CD is about as early as it gets – music composed when he was bandmaster at Worcester’s County Pauper Lunatic Asylum in Powick – appointed at the tender age of 21. The majority of the disc is made up of Polkas, Lancers and Quadrilles, many of which are enigmatically named for ladies of Elgar’s acquaintance (obvious ones like Nelly (the composer’s fiancé and Maud, the local music-seller’s daughter, more mysterious ones like La Brunette and Die Junge Kokette). It’s charming stuff, not exactly a demanding listen, but atmospheric late-Victorian dance music in the Sullivan vein. The majority of the compositions were written for the inmates’ regular Friday night dances – a surprisingly enlightened form of music therapy for the time. In addition to the Powick music there are a few extra gems thrown in, chief of which is a delightful Andante and Allegro for Oboe and String Trio predating Elgar’s asylum years and written for the Worcester glee club and his brother Frank. Not essential listening, then, but…

A mere five years younger than Richard Strauss, Hans Pfitzner has had a problematic history as Michael Kater has amply suggested in his books on music under the Third Reich. A Romantic conservative, Pfitzner remained firmly associated with the musical trends of his youth (Brahms and Schumann) and given his vacillating anti-Semitism, has remained persona non grata. His only regularly performed work has remained the opera Palestrina, its three Preludes with their scintillating use of age-old modes keeping his name alive within the orchestral repertoire. The three cello concertos are very attractive in their way but conservative in composition, and in all of them the soloist Alban Gerhardt, Sebastian Weigle and the ever reliable Berlin Radio Symphony are equally responsible for maintaining a perfect balance between the cello and its accompanying orchestral forces.  The opening concerto in A Minor is a student work criticised by his teachers and lost during his lifetime, only receiving its premiere in 1977. Perhaps the best of the works is the often delicate G Major concerto Op. 42 which was written for the virtuoso Cassado with assured writing that never drowns the soloist. There is an earlier CPO recording of these concerti with David Geringas…

Across the whole collection we hear Te Kanawa’s sweet and creamy tone and her famed ability to bring her characters to life

Quite why the two works on this disc get fewer outings than some of the better-known passions and cantatas is a bit of a mystery. The Actus Tragicus is an early work, admittedly, but its craftsmanship and profound sense of musical communion (in this case an outpouring of grief, possibly connected to the death of a family member or friend) singles it out as one of Bach’s most touching essays in choral music. Scored for two recorders, a pair of violas da gamba and chamber organ, it has a gentle air of consolation captured perfectly in John Eliot Gardiner’s sympathetic reading and replicated in a near-ideal recording that brings out every detail of Bach’s youthful orchestration. Listen to the rapturous Es Ist Der Alte Bund where a solo soprano pleads over the chorus, Ja komm, Herr Jesu, komm, before breaking off heart-stoppingly, mid sentence – just one example of how Gardiner makes Bach strike home again and again. The so-called Easter Oratorio is the other work here and for interpretation and soloists goes to the top of my list – even beating Brüggen’s very fine recent version. Gardiner excels in the celebratory opening overture and chorus (stunning trumpets and drums) but…

What is there to say about Ashkenazy’s Rachmaninov that has not already been said? As pianist and conductor he has been associated with this composer throughout his career, and on disc from his earliest recital. As a young award-winning pianist and well into middle age, Ashkenazy maintained the big technique necessary to play Rachmaninov (whose large hands could easily stretch a 15th at the piano), coupled with a thoughtful temperament that produced searching and highly musical performances with a lack of over-the-top flamboyance. It is this quality that has made Ashkenazy’s recordings ones to live with. This 11 CD set contains all the composer’s music for piano, two pianos, and piano and orchestra. He recorded some works more than once, so we find the Études Tableaux and the Corelli Variations from both 1974 and 1985/86 (for the former) and 2011 (for the latter). There is also a doubling up of the Suite No 1 for Two Pianos: we get the 1974 recording with Previn, and a later version with the pianist’s son Vovka. Yet strangely enough, Ashkenazy’s celebrated accounts of the piano concertos with Previn and the LSO are not included; instead, recordings with Haitink conducting the Concertgebouw take their…

This recording combines brio with an irresistible musical partnership.

Chopin’s compositions are generally considered innovative in form, style and harmony. To a modern-listener however, they can sometimes lack originality and excitement. There’s nothing overly special about his piano concerti: they are pretty, nice, polite. The works are advanced considering Chopin’s 20 years of age, but there’s an evident reliance on the models of Mozart and Hummel. The liner notes are correct in describing a “youthful charm”, but the music doesn’t yearn for individualism and sophistication. Nikolai Lugansky has previously filed recordings of both works, and this new CD only serves to reiterate the pianist’s musicianship. Lugansky and the Sinfonia Varsovia certainly fulfill Chopin’s expressive aesthetic and dramatic intention: at times delicate and then unexpectedly and boldly virtuosic. While the focus is clearly upon the solo piano, it’s equally enjoyable to hear other instruments so clearly. The horns are triumphant in the background, the oboe calls across the strings, and the flute sings from the highest musical summit. Rather than approaching technical passages with the rigidity of an étude, Lugansky gives them the ebb and flow of a musical poem. The orchestra is also sympathetic to the mediation between Classical and Romantic periods – neither brash nor timid. In the…

British composers have had a rough time outside of the Anglosphere. The Europeans disdain them, even though the Germans grudgingly allow Delius and Elgar in the door, and our own musical intelligentsia often seem embarrassed by them. Frederick Austin was a top opera singer in his day, and a composer. His splendid overture, The Sea Venturers yields place to no one. Stanford and Sullivan are credited with setting a solid platform for the resurgence of English music at the turn of the 19th century. Stanford’s Prelude to Oedipus Tyrannus is impressive and well crafted. Sullivan is represented by his Macbeth Overture, a solid piece of work with strong themes. With Coleridge-Taylor’s overture to The Song of Hiawatha, I expected music more in keeping with the colourful Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast. The overture is a mildly attractive piece, though not reflecting the colourful music of the oratorio. Many of these charming pieces were written for the theatre, like MacKenzie’s Overture to The Little Minister, Gardiner’s Overture to a Comedy and Bantok’s The Frogs. All this music is robust and sparkling with inventive orchestration, far from the self-effacing image we often have of this repertoire. The playing and recording throughout are first class….

Until the 1980s Johann Adolf Hasse remained a historical footnote – a famous and prolific opera composer in his day of whom one had hardly heard a note. Then in 1986, William Christie made a landmark recording of Cleofide with an exotic line up of four counter-tenors and he was gradually rediscovered. Fast-forward to today and counter-tenors are superstars and major labels release whole recitals of Hasse – who’d have thought?  Max Emanuel Cencic was first heard as first boy on Solti’s 1991 Die Zauberflöte and has since developed into one of those aforesaid superstars. This superb recital includes seven world premiere recordings plus a mandolin concerto for instrumental interlude. Cencic’s voice is one of the richest around today with a gleaming top, a fulsome but firm bottom register and his technical facility is spectacular yet always beautifully expressive. His fiorature runs are cleanly articulated but always maintain a legato line with no nasty aspirates.  The accompaniments are bold, energetic yet elegant and technically immaculate; intonation is spot on. Theodoros Kitsos plays the mandolin concerto with limpid tone. The recording is close but not annoyingly so and wonderfully firm and weighty. Hasse’s arias rival Handel for invention but the whole…

Haydn entered the lucrative market for British national song arrangements during his last years in London, churning out 400 or so to satisfy the craze of the day, but as a man of integrity he refused to skimp on craftsmanship and care – these are natural beauties and though dressed for an outing in society they do give an inkling of their humble origins.  The modest selection offered here is culled from his more elaborate piano trio arrangements. The program is arranged as if for a domestic evening’s entertainment with the movements of Haydn’s Piano Trio No 43 interspersed to show off the talents of the fine instrumentalists; the artistry here is no doubt way beyond the capabilities of the intended performers of the day.  The German tenor Werner Güra is one the finest lieder singers of our time (his Die Schöne Mullerin is an overlooked gem, and a bargain) and brings his elegant musicianship and customary diction and care for word painting to bear (however the dialect requires one to keep the texts handy for reference). His period accompanists are first class with lovely sounding instruments including a superbly restored Collard & Collard fortepiano. A scholarly essay graces an…