I suspect it’s going to be Beethoven all the way right up until the end of next year, and things are certainly starting off in style. Igor Levit has just released a set of the complete Beethoven piano sonatas and not surprisingly they’re very fine indeed. I’ve opted for the Tempest, but do please go and explore for yourself - you won’t be disappointed.

Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s Schumann symphony series with the LSO has just launched and, given his form with this composer, it’s fascinating to hear him with working with a modern orchestra and drawing undoubtedly on his expereience with his own period-instrument band.

Marie-Nicole Lemieux might have been born to sing Chausson’s gloriously Wagner-drenched Poème de l’amour et de la mer. Her wondrously rich true contralto fills this work right up to the edges and in the fine Bordeaux orchestra she has first-rate partners.

A nice discovery is Gabriela Montero’s First Piano Concerto, a fun piece with echoes of Ravel and Gershwin but with plenty of personality of its own. 

More pianism courtesy of Andrew Tyson in Mompou’s magical Paisajes, the Jussen brothers in four-hand Bach and (as a taster) Seong-Jin Cho in Mozart. 

A magical album from Ed Lyon turns the spotlight on the 17th century in a very appealing programme in the company of Theatre of the Ayre, and, from about the same time, a quite wonderful collection from composers like Allegri, Rossi, Monteverdi and others performed by Le Poème Harmonique and Vincent Dumestre. Sample Monteverdi’s ‘Chi fà’ and be prepared to surrender totally to this music and music-making.

A few taster pre-release tracks this week - Porpora from Cecilia Bartoli masquerading as Conchita Wurst on her new album and a surefire hit from Jonas Kaufmann’s new Viennese flavoured album. James Jolly

Montero Piano Concerto No 1, 'Latin'

Gabriela Montero; The Orchestra of the Americas / Carlos Miguel Prieto (Orchid Classics)

Chausson Poème de l'amour et de la mer

Marie-Nicole Lemieux; Orchestra national Bordeaux Aquitaine / Paul Daniel (Erato)

Mompou Paisajes

Andrew Tyson (Alpha)

Schumann Symphony No 4

London Symphony Orchestra / Sit John Eliot Gardiner (LSO Live)

Bach (arr Kurtág) Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir, BWV687

Lucas Jussen; Arthur Jussen (DG)

Vivaldi Nisi dominus, RV608 – Cum dederit dilectus suis

Harriet Krijgh; Amsterdam Sinfonietta / Candida Thompson (DG)

Boësset Je voudrais bien, ô Cloris

Ed Lyon; Theatre of the Ayre (Delphian)

Bach (arr Hess) Cantata No 147, Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben - 'Jesus bleibet meine Freude'

Lucas Jussen; Arthur Jussen (DG)

Monteverdi Chi fà

Nicholas Scott; Deborah Cachet; Le Poème Harmonique / Vincent Dumestre (Alpha)

Beethoven Piano Sonata No 17 in D minor, Op 31 No 2, 'Tempest'

Igor Levit (Sony Classical)

Landi Canta la cicaletta

Ed Lyon; Theatre of the Ayre (Delphian)

Mozart Rondo in A minor, K511

Seong-Jin Cho (DG) PRE-RELEASE TRACK

Porpora Polifemo - 'Nell’ attendere mio bene'

Cecilia Bartoli; Il Giardino Armonico / Giovanni Antonini (Decca) PRE-RELEASE TRACK

Stolz Im Prater blühn wieder die Bäume

Jonas Kaufmann; Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra / Adám Fischer (Sony Classical) PRE-RELEASE TRACK