The Italian pianist - and former Gramophone Young Artist of the Year – Beatrice Rana, appears on our November issue's front cover to coincide with her new Warner Classics release. And from it I’ve chosen Guido Agosti’s transcription of Stravinsky’s The Firebird, not as often heard as the composer’s own Petrushka movements (which also feature on the recording), and Rana plays them with characteristic precision and buckets of imagination. A terrific album.

Other fine pianists this week include Jonathan Biss, who concludes his Beethoven piano sonata cycle with a fabulous album - I’ve opted for the D major Sonata, Op 10 No 3 - and Arcadi Volodos who plays Schubert with a breathtaking technique, flair and poetry. I’ve also plucked the gorgeous Méditation from a Tchaikovsky programme played by former Tchaikovsky Competition victor Barry Douglas.

Larger fare this week embraces the Flute Concerto in D by Reinecke, played stylishly by the BPO’s Emmanuel Pahud, Debussy’s La Damoiselle élue with Sir Mark Elder and his Hallé forces on top form, and - a complete discovery for me – Sir Arthur Bliss’s Meditations on a Theme by John Blow - typical Chandos material, done fantastically well by Sir Andrew Davis and another Manchester-based ensemble, the BBC Philharmonic.

Modern(-ish) music: Messiaen’s ravishing Un sourire with a fired-up Tonhalle Orchestra and Paavo Järvi (a first from this new partnership), John Corigliano’s Soliloquy, and Gavin Bryars’s In Nomine played by Fretwork.

Lithuanian music comes courtesy of Mirga Gražinyté-Tyla, Sheku Kanneh-Mason previews his Elgar Cello Concerto album with an arrangement of ‘Nimrod’ and Lea Desandre sings Vivaldi’s heavenly aria ‘Vedrò con mio diletto’ (a party-piece of our brand-new Gramophone Young Artist, Jakub Józef Orlinski) at about half the speed of every other version - and gets away with it, and Tassis Christoyannis gives us some super-stylish songs by Reynaldo Hahn. And tucked away on his celebratory collection ‘Passion’ Philippe Jaroussky has recorded a few pieces that haven’t been heard before - including a Schubert song …

Vivaldi Griselda – 'Agitata da due venti'

Lea Desandre; Jupiter Ensemble / Thomas Dunford (Alpha)

Beethoven Piano Sonata No 7 in D, Op 10 No 3

Jonathan Biss (Orchid Classics)

Bryars In Nomine

Fretwork (Signum)

Schubert Minuet in C sharp minor, D600; Trio in E, D610

Arcadi Volodos (Sony Classical)

Schubert Du bist die Ruh

Philippe Jaroussky; Jérôme Ducros (Erato)

Reinecke Flute Concerto in D, Op 283

Emmanuel Pahud; Munich Radio Orchestra / Ivan Repusic (Warner Classics)

Stravinsky (trans Agosti) The Firebird

Beatrice Rana (Warner Classics)

Messiaen Un sourire 

Tonhalle Orchestra, Zurich / Paavo Järvi (Alpha)

Tchaikovsky Méditation, Op 72, No 5

Barry Douglas (Chandos)

Bliss Meditations on a Theme by John Blow

BBC Philharmonic Orchestra / Sir Andrew Davis (Chandos)

Casals Song of the Birds

Daniel Müller-Schott (Orfeo)

Debussy La Damoiselle élue

Sophie Bevan; Hallé Youth Choir; Hallé Choir; Hallé Orchestra / Sir Mark Elder (Hallé)

Hahn La Dame aux camélias

Tassis Christoyannis; Jeff Cohen (Opera Rara)

JS Bach Harpsichord Concerto No 2 in E, BWV1053 (arr vn)

Kati Debretzeni; English Baroque Soloists / Sir John Eliot Gardiner (SDG) PRE-RELEASE TRACK

Šerkšnyté Songs of Sunset and Dawn – 2. Night

Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra / Mirga Gražinyté-Tyla (DG)  PRE-RELEASE TRACK

Elgar (arr Parkin) Enigma Variations – Nimrod 

Sheku Kanneh-Mason et al (Decca) PRE-RELEASE TRACK

Corigliano Soliloquy

Alexander Fiterstein; Tesla Quartet (Orchid Classics)

Vivaldi Il Giustino – 'Vedrò con mio diletto'

Lea Desandre; Jupiter Ensemble / Thomas Dunford (Alpha)