Recording of the month

Handel La Resurrezione 

Sols; The English Concert / Harry Bicket 

Linn 

Handel’s operatic Easter oratorio gets a beautifully elegant reading from Harry Bicket, who leads an excellent English Concert and a superb all-British set of soloists in this truly wonderful recording. 

Read the Gramophone review

Read more: Handel's message for the modern world

Beethoven Piano Concertos Nos 1 & 3 

Kristian Bezuidenhout fp Freiburg Baroque Orchestra / Pablo Heras-Casado 

Harmonia Mundi 

Kristian Bezuidenhout completes his super set of the Beethoven concertos with this joyously spirited pairing of Nos 1 and 3.

Read the Gramophone review

Saint-Saëns Piano Concertos Nos 1 & 2 

Alexandre Kantorow pf Tapiola Sinfonietta / Jean-Jacques Kantorow 

BIS 

Another concerto set completion, and one that reveals exactly why Alexandre Kantorow graces this issue’s cover. 

Read the Gramophone review

Read more: Inside Brahms’s Piano Sonata No 2 with Alexandre Kantorow

Weill Symphony No 2. Shostakovich Symphony No 5 

Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra / Lahav Shani 

Warner Classics 

A fabulous opportunity to hear Kurt Weill’s Second Symphony from young conductor Lahav Shani, partnered with a dramatic reading of Shostakovich Symphony No 5.

Read the Gramophone review

Read more: Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony – a deep dive into the best recordings

Schnittke. Shostakovich. Silvestrov ‘Outcast’ 

Matangi Quartet 

Matangi 

‘A genuinely remarkable disc,’ writes Ivan Moody of the Matangi Quartet’s recording, their playing revealing a powerful and vivid sense of focus in a well-chosen programme. 

Read the Gramophone review

Beethoven. Brahms. Mozart ‘Variations’ 

Simon Trpčeski pf 

Linn 

Three masters of variation form – Beethoven, Brahms and Mozart – are explored, and very clearly enjoyed, by pianist Simon Trpčeski on this delightful album.

Read the Gramophone review

Rachmaninov Piano Sonata No 1. Moments musicaux 

Steven Osborne pf 

Hyperion 

Where today would one turn ‘for more idiomatic, more intelligent, or more beautiful Rachmaninov-playing’ asks Patrick Rucker after hearing Steven Osborne’s new release? 

Read the Gramophone review

Read more: Top 10 Sergei Rachmaninov recordings

‘An Old Belief’ 

The Sixteen / Harry Christophers 

Coro 

A hugely varied programme musically and powerfully united thematically, this album shows the impeccable approach to interpretation Harry Christophers and The Sixteen bring to everything they perform. 

Read the Gramophone review

Read more: The Sixteen at 40 – ‘the basic principle of just loving what we were doing has never left us; it’s been the whole nature of the group’

‘A Room of Mirrors’ 

Emiliano Gonzalez Toro, Zachary Wilder tens Ensemble I Gemelli 

Gemelli Factory 

From the opening number, Emiliano Gonzalez Toro, fellow tenor Zachary Wilder, and Ensemble I Gemelli have us gripped with irresistible music-making.

Read the Gramophone review

‘Rivales’ 

Véronique Gens, Sandrine Piau sops Le Concert de la Loge / Julien Chauvin 

Alpha 

Two of today’s finest sopranos, Véronique Gens and Sandrine Piau, reveal their complete mastery of bringing this sort of repertoire to compelling theatrical life. 

Read the Gramophone review

DVD/blu-ray

Beethoven Fidelio 

Sols incl Lise Davidsen; Orchestra of the Royal Opera House / Antonio Pappano 

Opus Arte 

‘A musically excellent Fidelio married to a thought-provoking, challenging production,’ concludes Hugo Shirley of Beethoven’s opera, the cast here led by Lise Davidsen.

Read the Gramophone review

Read more: Lise Davidsen interview – ‘I really miss people coughing, I really miss people making that sound!’

Reissue/archive

Fauré. d’Indy Piano Works 

Marguerite Long pf 

APR 

In this month’s Replay, Rob Cowan recommends this superbly transferred APR collection of recordings by the legendary pianist and teacher Maguerite Long, an authoritative two-disc set of her complete recordings of Fauré and d’Indy.

Welcome to Gramophone ...

We have been writing about classical music for our dedicated and knowledgeable readers since 1923 and we would love you to join them.

Subscribing to Gramophone is easy, you can choose how you want to enjoy each new issue (our beautifully produced printed magazine or the digital edition, or both) and also whether you would like access to our complete digital archive (stretching back to our very first issue in April 1923) and unparalleled Reviews Database, covering 50,000 albums and written by leading experts in their field.

To find the perfect subscription for you, simply visit: gramophone.co.uk/subscribe