It’s always a pleasure to hear the great Philadelphia Orchestra in the music of Rachmaninov – it’s rather like hearing the LSO in Elgar or the Vienna or New York Phil in Mahler: there’s a direct link and a palpable sense of belonging. Daniil Trifonov launches a survey of the piano concertos, couched in terms of a journey, and finds fine partners in the great Pennsylvania orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. 

Chamber music-making of a highly superior order – Dvořák's Piano Trio No 3 (B130) from siblings Christian and Tanja Tetzlaff and regular pianist partner, Lars Vogt.

Two works that are surely related – Debussy’s glorious Sonata for flute, viola and harp from 1915 (here played exquisitely by Magdali Mosnier, Antoine Tamestit and Xavier de Maistre) must have made an impression on William Alwyn whose gorgeous Naiades for flute and harp dates from 1971 and exerts quite some magic on this listener.

Fine pianism this week, courtesy of Igor Levit (playing Schumann) and, a pre-release track, Till Fellner in Liszt (an album I’m really looking forward to when it emerges complete). 

Shortish pieces, too – a terrific performance of the Overture to Bernstein’s Wonderful Town (Marin Alsop getting her São Paulo orchestra to sound like a Broadway pit band); a high-calorie piece of Franz Schreker (JoAnn Faletta directing the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra) and Daniel-Müller-Schott (with another of Berlin’s orchestras, the DSO) in Glazunov.

A newish work – and a striking one – from 2002, John Harbison’s Requiem, had a rather glitzy premiere (Bernard Haitink directing the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Tanglewood Festival Chorus and  an impressive quartet of soloists). Recorded by the Nashville Symphony under Giancarlo Guerrero and an equally impressive line-up of soloists, I’ve chosen the work’s Sequence – and it has a power that lingers.

Tasters from the violinist Amandine Beyer in Haydn and Erato’s new countertenor signing, Jakub Józef Orliński in sacred music by Francesco Feo …

Listen on:

Spotify, Apple Music

The tracks:

Bernstein Wonderful Town – Overture

Såo Paulo Symphony Orchestra / Marin Alsop (Naxos) 

Alwyn Naiades

Suzanne Shulam; Erica Goodman (Naxos)

Glazunov Chant du ménestrel

Daniel Müller-Schott; Deutsches-Symphonie Orchester / Aziz Shokhakimov (Orfeo)

Dvorák Piano Trio No 3 (B130)

Christian Tetzlaff; Tanja Tetzlaff; Lars Vogt (Ondine)   

Schreker Prelude to a Drama 

Rundfunk-Symphonie Orchester Berlin / JoAnn Faletta (Naxos)

Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 2

Daniil Trifonov; Philadelphia Orchestra / Yannick Nézet-Séguin (DG)

Schumann Variations in E flat on an Original Theme, 'Ghost Variations'

Igor Levit (Sony Classical) 

Harbison Requiem

Soloists; Nashville Symphony Chorus and Orchestra / Giancarlo Guerrero (Naxos)  

Debussy Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp

Magdali Mosnier; Antoine Tamestit; Xavier de Maistre (Harmonia Mundi)

Haydn Violin Concerto in C, HobVIIa/1 - Adagio 

Gli Incogniti / Amandine Beyer (Harmonia Mundi)

Liszt Années de pèlerinage: Première année: Suisse – Les cloches de Genève

Till Fellner (ECM New Series)

Feo Dies irae, 'Juste Judex ultiones' 

Jakub Józef Orliński; Il Pomo d'Oro / Maxim Emelyanychev (Erato)