Fogli d'album: Anna Bonitatibus & Adele d'Aronzo explore the barely tapped wealth of Rossini's occasional pieces

Rossini - Fogli d'album; Anna Bonitatibus, Adele d'Aronzo; Prospero  
Reviewed 22 September 2026

Rossini's occasional pieces, each dedicated to a friend and patron, brought together in a wonderfully fulfilling recital that wears its learning lightly

Rossini's Guillaume Tell premiered at the Paris Opera in 1829. The effort of composing it left him exhausted but within a year he was planning an operatic treatment of the Faust story. However, the revolution of July 1830 ushered in a new regime under Louis Philippe I and Rossini's lifetime annuity was cut. Any thought of new opera was on hold. This combined with persistent ill-health meant he never returned to large-scale operatic composition.

His years of retirement in Paris with his new mistress,  Olympe Pélissier, left Rossini's wife, Isabella Colbran in Italy where she ended up living with Rossini's father and dying in 1845.

Rossini's didn't give up large compositions altogether and we have the Stabat Mater (begun in 1831 and completed in 1841), and the Petite Messe Solennelle (from 1864), plus his cantata Giovanna d'Arco (written in 1832 for Olympe and revised in 1859). But his main compositional activity was smaller pieces, collected together in Les soirées musicales (1830-1835) and Péchés de vieillesse, an astonishing collection of some 150 vocal, chamber and solo piano pieces.

Though the late 1830s and 1840s were something of a fallow period, compositionally, it seems that he never really lost the habit of composition. In addition to the above there are a myriad of other pieces, largely songs and piano works, often quite short.

This new album from mezzo-soprano Anna Bonitatibus and pianist Adele d'Aronzo on Prospero, Rossini - Fogli d'album explores the barely tapped wealth of Rossini's occasional pieces. The disc draws together some 34 pieces, largely vocal and some very short, which Rossini dedicated to musicians, friends, politicians, artists, noblemen and noblewomen. Some 26 of the pieces are first recordings, and the performers aimed to be faithful to the autograph source or earliest printed source available.

Be still, and know that I am God: Choral Contemplations - Sacred Introits & Motets from Phoenix Consort & Adam Whitmore on Convivium Records

Choral Contemplations - Sacred Introits & Motets: Peter Blumson, John-Paul Bowman, Rosemary Broadbent, David Fletcher, David Goymour, Adrian Green, Bruce Ramell, Derek Saunders, Noel Skinner; Phoenix Consort, Adam Whitmore; Convivium Records
Reviewed 14 September 2026

Music that arises from Christian contemplation on a disc bringing together music written by musicians who would never have considered themselves professional or 'trained' composers to create a disc that by turns encourages contemplation and exploration

Choral Contemplations: Sacred Introits & Motets from the Phoenix Consort, conductor Adam Whitmore, on Convivium Records. The nineteen pieces on the disc, written by nine contemporary composers, have a distinct musical aim. Adrian Green, managing director of Convivium Records and one of the composers featured on the disc, explains, first quoting the Benedictine monk, Cyprian Smith:

"'Everything which lies between' poses a philosophical question and is the subject of being present in life and being ourselves. In some ways it is the most natural thing in the world to be present, but to do this as a creative artist means letting go of all the thoughts and ideas and feelings which take up our mental mindscape, so that there can be space for music to arise from within us which isn’t about our ego."

Superbly realised: Elements from saxophonist Huw Wiggin & harpist Oliver Wass

Elements - Charlotte Harding, Yshani Perinpanayagam, David Wallace, Simon Rowland-Jones, Laura Bowler, Andy Scott, Couperin, Purcell, Vivaldi, Bach, Corelli; Huw Wiggin, Oliver Wass, Leander Kippenberg; Orchid Classics
Reviewed 4 September 2026

Using the four classical elements - Earth, Air, Fire, and Water - as inspiration, this vivid and varied recital pairs new works with transcriptions of Baroque works to showcase the unusual but superbly realised duo of saxophone and harp

This recent(ish) disc on Orchid Classics, Elements combines the talents of harpist Oliver Wass and saxophonist Huw Wiggin. Saxophone and harp are not an obvious combination but here the two make it work wonderfully. The disc is themed around the elements, with new pieces by Charlotte Harding, Yshani Perinpanayagam, David Wallace, Simon Rowland-Jones, Laura Bowler, and Andy Scott, paired with adaptations of Couperin, Purcell, Vivaldi, Bach, and Corelli.

You only have to listen to the first track, the duo's transcription of Francois Couperin's Le Rossignol en Amour to get a feel for the rather seductive soundworld of the disc. The two bring enormous clarity and a sense of style to the music, along with a rather spare feel. Wass does not overfill the harp accompaniment and the contrast between the two soundworlds - saxophone and harp - works well.

Familiar yet unfamiliar: with Summa, Cello Octet Amsterdam present Arvo Pärt's music in performances that are simply mesmeric

Summa - Arvo Pärt: Solfeggio, Silouan’s Song, Da Pacem Domine, Psalom, Missa Brevis, Summa, O-Antiphonen, Pari Intervallo; Cello Octet Amsterdam; 7K Records
Reviewed 26 May 2026

Arvo Pärt's music reinvented in his own versions for eight cellos superbly rendered by Cello Octet Amsterdam

The Cello Octet Amsterdam began life in 1989 when there were only two pieces for eight cellos. By 2009 they are eight cellists based in Amsterdam looking to create new music for the ensemble. They have now been performing with the same eight cellists for five years, responsible for more than 90 world premieres. Composers they have worked with include Philip Glass, Sofia Gubaidulina, Theo Loevendie, Nyokabi Kariũki, Sarah Davachi, Michael Gordon, and Kate Moore. After the premiere of his first piece for the Octet, Arvo Pärt said: “The Octet is worth its weight in gold. I discovered this ensemble 10 years too late.”

To celebrate Arvo Pärt's 90th birthday the Octet (Rares Mihailescu, Claire Bleumer, Geneviève Verhage, Esther Torrenga, René van Munster, Sanne van der Horst, Sanne Bijker, Alistair Sung) have released Summa, a disc of Pärt's music on 7K records. The album is the first-ever recording of selected works by Pärt reimagined for eight cellos, specially rearranged by the composer himself over the course of 10 years in close collaboration with the Octet. 

Unashamedly romantic with an expressive use of dissonance & sophisticated atmosphere: the music of the remarkably youthful Christopher Churcher on Resonus Classics

Moonrise: music by Christopher Churcher; Somerville College Choir, Oxford, Will Dawes; Resonus Classics
Reviewed 12 May 2026

Music by the 22-year-old Christopher Churcher revealing a sophisticated handling of his choral forces allied to a distinctive romantic impulse that gives the music a particular quality with his Pride Motets at the centre of the recital

Moonrise on Resonus Classics features the music of 22-year-old composer Christopher Churcher recorded by the choir of Somerville College conducted by Will Dawes. The music brings together his earliest composition at age 17 to recent works written for the choir during his undergraduate studies at Oxford with his Pride Motets, commissioned for Somerville College’s LGBTQ+ Pride services at the centre of the disc. He is the recipient of the NCEM Young Composers Award (2023) and the winner of the Bach Choir Carol Competition (2022).

Wonder, setting Emily Dickinson, is one of his earliest pieces on the disc and was originally written for the Sir David Willcocks Carol Competition. Gentle at first, what is most notable is Churcher's expressive use of lush harmonies.

Beautifully wrought & intensely serious: Kitty Whately & Julius Drake explore the songs of Madeleine Dring

Through the Centuries: Songs by Madeleine Dring; Kitty Whately, Julius Drake; Chandos
Reviewed 15 April 2026

If you thought Madeleine Dring's songs were confined to camp nightclubs then think again. Here Kitty Whately and Julius Drake mine the composer's intensely serious side, revealing a woefully neglected and wilfully misunderstood composer.

Despite training at the Royal College of Music in the years before the Second World War alongside women such as Elizabeth Lutyens, Elizabeth Maconchy, Grace Williams, and Ruth Gipps, Madeleine Dring's reputation is much more that of an accidental composer: her songs simply happenings around her career in the theatre. And her reputation not helped that perhaps her best known song is her setting of Betjeman's Song of the Nightclub Proprietress where the rather camp, musical hall atmosphere is to the fore.

On this new disc on Chandos from mezzo-soprano Kitty Whately and pianist Julius Drake, Through the centuries: songs of Madeleine Dring, they take an entirely serious and focused view of Dring the songwriter. We are treated to 20 songs from across Dring's career, though many are in fact of uncertain date. Apart from the last song, an arrangement of Cole Porter's In the still of the night, Dring the music theatre composer is entirely absent. Her 'day job' was as an actress and entertainer, writing some two dozen scores for the BBC and music for West End shows and reviews. As Lewis Foreman's excellent booklet note points out, because she often wrote songs at short notice, she did not deal with them systematically. As a result, we have to take each song on its merits rather than assigning early, middle or late.

A sonic extravaganza: Alex Paxton's Candyfolk Spacedrum demonstrates his gift for carefully crafted music that has the energy & engagement of a communal jam session.

Alex Paxton: Candyfolk Spacedrum: Alex Paxton, Jennifer Walshe, Riot Ensemble, Dreammusics Ensemble, London Sinfonietta, Belham Primary School, David Ingamells, Jennifer Walshe; Jonah Records
Reviewed 25 March 2026

A sonic extravaganza where Paxton demonstrates not only his remarkable ear for creating richly layered textures where sophisticated hyperactivity dominates, but also a gift for carefully crafted music that has all the energy and engagement of a communal jam session.

Candyfolk Spacedrum is the latest aural extravaganza from composer Alex Paxton. The album, on Jonah Records, features performances from Riot Ensemble, Dreammusics Ensemble, and London Sinfonietta with pieces originally commissioned by the London Sinfonietta, WDR Symphony Orchestra, Riot Ensemble and Zubin Kanga.

First comes Blue Chew Cheerio Earpiece, eight hyperactive movements performed by Riot Ensemble. Things begin in bright, light, 1950s, hyperactive fashion. Paxton continues this vein, varying the material but always multi-layering wildly different lines, including lurching changes of direction. Inspired by sample culture, cartoons and the fragmented listening experience of the internet and 90’s pirate radio adverts, the music channels dance music energy. Something that Paxton does brilliantly well. Despite sounding sampled, the music is fully written out as Paxton likes to keep the decision-making to himself. But there are pause points in the hyperactivity, so that YOUR MOM Still Laughing features moments that are slowed down, dreamy and almost spaced out.

Pullback Hat Biome Dunk features vocalist Jennifer Walshe and Paxton's trombone improvising with Dreammusics Orchestra. Here, the orchestral part is entirely notated and just the solo parts are improvised. There is something orgasmic about the textures that Paxton conjures with his vibrant trombone over an already rich mix of layers, and only gradually does Walshe appear and begin to dominate in a disturbing fashion.

Alex Paxton: Candyfolk Space Drum - children of Belham Primary School (Photo: Orlando Gili)

Warm hearted & with a twinkle in his eye: The Brook Street Band bring out the sense of enjoyment in the violin sonatas of Ipswich-based Joseph Gibbs

Joseph Gibbs: 8 Sonatas for Violin and Basso Continuo, Op. 1; The Brook Street Band; First Hand Records

Warm and characterful music that deserves to be better known. Provincial in fact but not in reputation, the music of Joseph Gibbs endears itself in these lovely performances. 

Until the mid-20th century, Ipswich-based composer Joseph Gibbs's biggest claim to fame was probably that in 1755 Thomas Gainsborough painted his portrait. And arguably, it is the existence of this portrait which raised interest in Gibbs's music. The Brook Street Band has been playing, enjoying and loving Joseph Gibbs's violin sonatas for almost as long as the ensemble has been in existence, approaching 30 years now.  They have finally brought them to the recording studio in what is clearly a passion project.

The Brook Street Band (Rachel Harris, Tatty Theo, Carolyn Gibley) perform Joseph Gibbs's 8 Sonatas for Violin and Basso Continuo, Op. 1 on First Hand Records. The first complete recording of the works.

So, who was Joseph Gibbs? Well, simply, not a lot is known about him. Aside from a few organ pieces, we know of only two sets of music, the c. 1746 Eight Solos for a Violin with a Thorough Bass, Op. 1 and a set of Six Quartettos for Two Violins, Tenor and Violoncello or Harpsichord, Op. 2 from 1777. Both were published by subscription, and included notable musical names of the times indicating Gibbs’s recognition and popularity extended far beyond East Anglia, even though we have no evidence for Gibbs leaving the area once established in his adult life.

Mozart the Travelling Whirlwind: the fourth of pianist Michael Wessel's exploration of Mozart's piano sonatas

Mozart the Travelling Whirlwind - Mozart: Sonatas Nos. 7, 8, 9;  Michael Wessel; ARS Produktion
Reviewed by Rey Andreas 27 March 2026

German pianist Michael Wessel recorded a new album of Mozart’s piano sonatas for the ARS label in 2025. Titled Mozart The Travelling Whirlwind, the album features Sonatas Nos. 7, 8, and 9 (K 309, 311, and 310, respectively), as well as a Siciliana and sonata movements (Sonatensätze in German). 

While his first sonata is marked as much by pianistic virtuosity as by an almost exuberant joy, some of its eighth notes—particularly in its final movement, Rondeau, Allegretto grazioso—suggest a more anxious and desperate mood. Could this exaggerated joy, intense in its expression, be nothing more than a headlong rush?

This gap between the greatest joy and the deepest sorrow, this tension between these two opposing emotions—which constantly narrows without ever closing—reaches its peak in Sonata No. 9, composed in Paris. It would undoubtedly be too easy to attribute this sonata to the death of his mother, which occurred shortly before its composition. Perhaps this death merely provided an opportunity for this anxiety within Mozart to reveal itself more openly….

In any case, the pianist succeeds here in interpreting these works as the little sisters of Mozart’s most tragic operas—obviously the three operas with Da Ponte, but also, earlier, Mitridate and Lucio Silla.
The quality of this recording lies in the interplay—one might even say the interplay—between lightness and gravity, which prevents the former from becoming frivolous and the latter from becoming too sombre.

All of Mozart is right there…

Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
Piano Sonata number 7 in C major KV 309 (Mannheim 1777) 
Piano Sonata number 8 in D major KV 311 (Mannheim 1777/78) 
Piano Sonata number 9 in A minor KV 310 (Paris 1778) 
Taken from the notebook of the 8 years old Mozart:
     Sonata movement in G major, KV 15p 
    Siciliana in D major KV 15u
Sonata movement in B-flat major KV 400 / 372a (1781)
Michael Wessel (piano)

ARS Produktion ARS 38 378 1CD [74:53]

Michael Wessel is professor of piano, song interpretation and methodology at the University of Church Music in Bayreuth. He studied piano, composition, music theory and school music at the music universities of Detmold and Stuttgart, and his teachers included Elisabeth Leonskaja and the composer Helmut Lachenmann. In the years leading up to his death, Wessel often sought artistic advice from the Paul Badura-Skoda, who wrote: "Michael Wessel is not only an excellent, sensitive pianist, but also one of the most intelligent musicians I have ever met."

This disc is the fourth of Michael Wessel's Mozart discs for ARS, each with a particular theme. Previous discs being Mozart The Poet, Mozart the Double-Faced and Mozart the Progressive

Letter from Florida: Robert J Carreras experiences Peter Lieberson's 'vehicle through which to reflect a different face in love’s mirror'

Peter Lieberson: Neruda Songs - Kelley O'Connor, New World Symphony, Stephane Deneve (Photo: Alex Markow, courtesy of New World Symphony)

Ravel: Daphnis & Chloe, Lieberson: Neruda Songs; Kelley O'Connor, New World Symphony, Stephane Deneve; Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts Miami, Florida
Reviewed by Robert J Carreras, 7 March 2026

Robert J Carreras has thoughts about the meaning of home after experiencing Peter Lieberson's Neruda Songs and Ravel's complete Daphnis & Chloe from Stephane Deneve and the New World Symphony in Miami 

It is just as well that Peter Lieberson’s Neruda Songs is almost single-handedly kept playing by Kelley O’Connor. It is just as well that her portraits of this work have remained steady across time. In 2028, it will be twenty years since the composer trained O’Conner in this music at his home in Hawaii.

O’Connor’s performance of Neruda Songs may be more informed by the years that have passed and life experience, but still comes across as quite fresh. By and large, her work in these songs has stayed near to the composer’s home, and he would have it no other way.

Kelley O’Connor’s gently assumed, creamy mezzo and proficiency in Peter Lieberson’s musical idiom – a smoldering mix of melodic mazes and rhythmic lazes – translates into observing the most intimate scenes of a relationship. Lieberson wants to keep every moment alive and vital with his darling Lorraine – every note, every measure, every word is precious.

O’Conner makes native Spanish speakers reevaluate their use of common words (sueno, porque, ojos, lejos), making subliminally seductive even those perfunctory in daily speech. Stephane Deneve aides in accenting words at crucial points by stretching out rhythmic values – knowing O’Connor would not object, and that New World Symphony (NWS) was well-prepared to execute; they doubled these efforts later for Ravel.

Seductive & expressive: for their disc on SOMM, Time Stands Still, tenor Kieran White & lutenist Cédric Meyer refocus the soundworld of Dowland & Danyel

Time stands still: Dowland & Danyel; Kieran White, Cédric Meyer; SOMM
Reviewed 24 March 2026

Two great lute-song contemporaries given a striking new focus by haute-contre Kieran White and lutenist Cédric Meyer, rethinking instruments and keys to create a seductive and expressive new sound-world

A new disc from tenor Kieran White and lutenist Cédric Meyer on SOMM records, Time Stands Still, pairs the songs of John Dowland (1563 - 1626) with those of his almost exact contemporary, John Danyel with selections from Dowlands three books of airs, and A Musicall Banquet, alongside songs from Danyel's Songs for the Lute, Viol and Voice and Mrs M.E. her funeral tears for the death of her husband.

When it comes to the songs for voice and lute by Dowland and others, our contemporary performance style is very informed by the rediscovery of this music in the 20th century. Countertenor Alfred Deller's performances of Dowland were seen to distil the very essence of the melancholy of the 17th century English song. Performances like Deller's became the epitome of how these songs sounded. The reality is of course that we have no real idea what Dowland's songs sounded like to the composer himself and each modern performer has, to a certain extent, to find their own way.

In A history of singing by John Potter and Neil Sorrell, they go as far as to suggest that if Dowland was performing his songs to his own accompaniment he would probably have sounded far more like Sting than a contemporary classical singer, thanks to the changes in vocal production. A sobering thought!

Kieran White is a British tenor whose voice leads him into the French haut-contre repertoire, and he has performed leading roles in a number of Rameau's operas including Castor in Castor et Pollux, Hippolyte in Hippolyte et Aricie, Valère and Tacmas in Les Indes Galantes. We caught him in Hippolyte et Aricie at Grimeborn back in 2019 [see my review] and more recently he was singing Céphale in Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre's Céphale et Procris also at Grimeborn [see our review]. Of course his repertoire is wider than this. Last year he recorded a disc of 17th century Italian music, Cupid's Ground Bass with soprano Lucine Musaelian and the Bellot Ensemble [see my review].

For this disc of Dowland and Danyel, White and Meyer have chosen to take a distinctive approach to the music. They perform the music a whole tone higher than the original keys, suiting White's specific voice type. Meyer's lute is therefore tuned up from standard pitch so that it transposes from the original tablatures. The instrument is based on an extant Italian lute from 1592. The vibrating string length is slightly shortened in order to function at the new pitch, and the woods were chosen to match White’s voice quality. The intention was to lend a new, personal touch to the sonic relationship between voice and lute.

Divine Impresario - Nicolini on Stage: countertenor Randall Scotting explores the musical world of the first major castrato to sing in London

Divine Impresario: Nicolini on Stage: Broschi, Gasparini, Handel, Porpora, Mancini, Ariosto, Giaj; Randall Scotting, Mary Bevan, Academy of Ancient Music, Laurence Cummings; Signum Classics
Reviewed 3 March 2026

The first major castrato to sing in London who wowed audiences with his performances, Nicolini is an intriguing figure and on this disc Randall Scotting weaves a fascinating selection of arias written for Nicolini into an engaging recital

If you refer to an 18th century castrato then the likelihood is the first name to come time mind will be Farinelli who caused a sensation during his lifetime and whose reputation remains. But there were others, and the first to cause a stir in London, singing in the first complete Italian opera there, was Nicolò Grimaldi known as Nicolini. In London, Nicolini is associated with his roles for Handel: the title roles in Rinaldo (in 1711) and Amadigi di Gaula (in 1715). But he was more than simply a singer, being involved in the operas themselves.

It is these aspects of Nicolini's career that countertenor Randall Scotting's new disc on Signum Classics, Divine Impresario: Nicolini on Stage seeks to illuminate. Joined by soprano Mary Bevan, the Academy of Ancient Music and Laurence Cummings, Scotting performs music from Broschi's Idaspe (Venice, 1730), Gasparini's Ambleto (London, 1712), Handel's Rinaldo (London, 1711), Porpora's Siface (Venice, 1726), Handel's Amadigi (London, 1715), Gasparini's Antioco (London, 1711), Mancini's Idaspe Fedele (London 1710), Ariosto's Tito Manlio (London, 1717), Gasparini's Tomiri (London, 1709), and Giaj's Mitridate (Venice, 1729).

Nicolini made his debut in London with Scarlatti's Pirro e Demetrio which had nearly 60 performances between 1708 and 1717. Another early success was Mancini's Idaspe fedele, where Nicolini wowed audiences with a scene where, wearing a flesh-coloured bodysuit, he wrestled with a lion. A scene so popular it had to be encored. Nicolini had brought the score of Idaspe with him to London, but it was adapted for London according to his wishes with the music arranged by Johann Christoph Pepusch (of Threepenny Opera fame). 

Nicolini had created the role of Idaspe in Mancini's Idaspe fedele in 1705, so when he came to London the opera was clearly a favourite he wanted to revive. And still, in 1730 in Venice he would return to the role of Idaspe for the fourth time, this time in Ricardo Broschi's Idaspe (originally written for Broschi's brother, Farinelli).

Painting of a rehearsal for Scarlatti’s Pirro e Demetrio by the Venetian master Marco Ricci from around 1709; Nicolini stands poised at the center of the scene.

Opera historian Angus Heriot claims that with his arrival in London, Nicolini was "perhaps more than any other single person responsible for the popularity of Italian opera in England". Nicolini was based in London from 1708 to 1712, then for the next four years he iterated between Italy and London, returning for Handel's Amadigi and Ariosti's Tito manlio. By the 1720s he is a somewhat mature, more elder-statesman performing in Europe but seems to have had something of a golden season in Venice in 1729 and 1730. The disc reflects these two, the London operas and the late Venetian ones.

Double, Double Toil & Trouble: the recorder quartet Palisander explore 900 years of music inspired by the mystical and magical

Double, Double Toil & Trouble : Palisander 
Reviewed 24 February 2025

An engaging look at music for recorder inspired by the mystical and magical spanning 900 years from Hildegard of Bingen through to the winner of the BBC Radio 3/National Centre for Early Music for the 2021 Young Composers’ Award

Having given us a debut disc broadly inspired by the idea of tarantism, the latest disc from recorder quartet, Palisander (Tabea Debus, Lydia Gosnell, Miriam Monaghan & Caoimhe de Paor), Double, Double Toil & Trouble is equally imaginative. With repertoire spanning some 600 years, the disc is inspired by the mystical and magical. 

There are modern versions of traditional pieces alongside music by Hildegard of Bingen, Diego Ortiz, Cipriano de Rore, Maddelena Casulana, Anthony Holborne Sweelinck, Bach, Tartini, and a suite from Purcell's The Fairy Queen, plus Kepler's Planets by Miriam Monaghan who plays with the group, and the winner of the BBC Radio 3/National Centre for Early Music for the 2021 Young Composers’ Award (18-25 Category), Kagura Suite by Delyth Field.

Ethel Smyth's String Trio on Solaire records: Trio d'Iroise draw our focus onto this neglected piece

Ethel Smyth: String Trio in D Major, Op. 6; Trio d'Iroise; Solaire Records
Reviewed 2 February 2026

Smyth's early and relatively unknown string trio is the focus for the engaging yet sophisticated EP where the players' style and sophistication draw you in

For the second of Solaire records new series of EPs they turn to relatively unusual 19th century repertoire as Trio d'Iroise (Sophie Pantzier, Violin, François Lefèvre, Viola, Johann Caspar Wedell, Cello) perform Ethel Smyth's String Trio.

The German-French Trio d'Iroise was founded by Sophie Pantzier, Francois Lefèvre and Johann Caspar Wedell in the summer of 2017 at the Rencontres musicales d'Iroise chamber music festival in Brittany. Sophie Pantzier and François Lefèvre are members of the NDR Radiophilharmonie, Caspar Wedell is solo cellist of the ensemble reflektor. Previously on Solaire, the trio joined forces with the Syriab Trio for a fascinating synthesis of Bach and Arab music in Goldberg [see my review].

The trio was composed in 1884 when Smyth was 26, but not performed until 2008! Smyth would not write her first opera, Fantasio, until 1892-94 (premiered 1898) and a lot of her early music focuses on chamber music and song. Whilst her period studying at the Leipzig Conservatoire left her disillusioned she remained attached to Leipzig and her private studies with Heinrich von Herzogenberg would bring her contact with Clara Schumann and Brahms. Von Herzogenberg's wife Elizabeth von Stockhausen, who would become a friend of Smyth's, was a pupil of Brahms and the composer corresponded extensively with the couple. Elizabeth von Stockhausen introduced Smyth to her sister, Julia and Julia's husband, Henry Bennet Brewster (HB). He was the philosopher and poet who became a friend, mentor and perhaps lover to Smyth and would be involved in creating her operas. 

Anonymous no more: Seven uncredited 16th century works from a choirbook created in Arundel & now residing in Lambeth, here given voice for the first time

The Lambeth Anonymous:  Recordings from the Arundel Choirbook; Iken Scholars, Matthew Dunn; RUBICON
Reviewed 3 February 2026

Seven anonymous, hitherto unrecorded works from the Arundel Choirbook now in Lambeth Palace Library now given voice by this group of young singers in a most engaging and illuminating way

Thanks to the vagaries of history, the sources of the music on this lovely disc bandy around rather a variety of names. A pair of choirbooks were likely produced at Arundel College in Sussex in the early 16th century. The college was dissolved in the reign of Henry VIII, but the site was acquired by the Earl of Arundel and has had a variety of uses since.

One of the Arundel choirbooks is now housed in Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and is hence known as the Caius Choirbook though the contents relate to Arundel. The manuscript is an important source for works by Robert Fayrfax and Nicholas Ludford. The other Arundel choirbook is now housed in Lambeth Palace Library and variously known as the Arundel Choirbook and the Lambeth Choirbook. With me so far?

The Arundel (Lambeth) and the Caius Choirbooks are linked by significantly overlapping repertoire, similar exceptional size and layout, and shared scribe. More recently, a manuscript roll was discovered in Arundel Castle, written by the same scribe and containing music by Ludford. It is believed the Caius Choirbook was a presentation copy from Arundel College to St Stephen’s, Westminster (from whence it ended up at Gonville and Caius), while the Arundel (Lambeth) Choirbook remained at the college and is thought to have been used in services there before making its way to Lambeth Palace in the late 16th or early 17th century.

Robert Fayrfax and Nicholas Ludford contributed at least ten of the nineteen pieces in the Arundel (Lambeth) Choirbook and there are seven anonymous pieces. It is with these seven anonymous works that this disc is concerned.

On the disc, The Lambeth Anonymous, from Rubicon, Matthew Dunn conducts the Iken Scholars in Salve Regina, Ave dei patris filia, Vidi aquam egredientem, Ave mundi spes Maria, Gaude flore virginali and two Magnificats from the Arundel (Lambeth) Choirbook, all anonymous. Recorded in what was likely the 500th anniversary of the creation of the choirbook, the recording took place in the chapel at Lambeth Palace. The works cover four votive antiphons to Mary, and an antiphon for Eastertide as well as the Magnificats. They are nestled in the choirbook between mass settings by Fayrfax and Ludford on either side and followed by three other Marian devotional pieces by Walter Lambe, Fayrfax and Edmund Sturton.

Reviving the Queen of Sheba: American Romantics record a suite from Goldmark's once-popular first opera

Goldmark: The Queen of Sheba Suite; American Romantics, Kevin Sherwin
Reviewed 26 January 2026

Highly popular during his lifetime and up until the 1930s, Goldmark's first opera has languished rather. Here revived in an abbreviated concert suite, American Romantics give us a lovely taste of the opera's melodic charms and ingratiating manner 

Composer Karl Goldmark remains known if at all, for his Rustic Wedding Symphony. Born Károly Goldmark in 1830, his father was a cantor to the Jewish congregation at Keszthely in Hungary. Moving to Vienna in 1844 to study at the Vienna Conservatory, he found himself on his own after 1848 when the Revolution of 1848 forced the Conservatory to close down. Goldmark was largely self-taught as a composer and survived doing menial jobs, eventually becoming a member of Vienna's Carl Theatre in 1850. He also pursued a side career as a music journalist. Johannes Brahms and Goldmark developed a friendship as Goldmark's prominence in Vienna grew.

His output includes symphonies, concertos, and seven operas. His first opera, Die Königin von Saba (The Queen of Sheba) remains his best known and the work was celebrated during his lifetime and for some years thereafter. Though he had begun it in 1860, it was not premiered in Vienna until 1875. The work proved so popular that it remained in the repertoire of the Vienna Staatsoper continuously until 1938, clocking up some 250 stagings in Vienna alone.

Goldmark's footprint on disc remains relatively frustrating. You can find his Wedding Symphony, a disc of Symphonic Poems and his Violin Concerto No. 1 (paired with that of Korngold). Die Königin von Saba has been recorded: 

• a live 1970 performance of the work by the American Opera Society Orchestra conducted by Reynald Giovaninetti with Arley Reece as Assad and Alpha Floyd as the Queen of Sheba
• a 1980 studio recording by the Hungarian State Opera, conducted by Ádám Fischer with Siegfried Jerusalem as Assad and Klara Takács at the Queen of Sheba on Hungaraton 
• Oper Freiburg on CPO from 2016

However, it does not seem to be easily available, and the opera has slipped down the cracks. 

A satisfying recital in so many ways: Katie Bray & William Vann explore the whole of Kurt Weill - In Search of Youkali

In search of Youkali: The songs of Kurt Weill; Katie Bray, William Vann, Murray Grainger, Marianne Schofield; CHANDOS
Reviewed 20 January 2026

A profoundly satisfying and intelligently put together recital tracing Weill from Weimar Germany to pre-War Paris to American and Broadway. The songs all beautifully performed, capturing the essence of style and never losing sight of the words or Weill's music 

After Kurt Weill's death in 1950, his widow Lotte Lenya devoted time to resurrecting Weill's music, notably the works written in Germany including scores which had been lost. She was persuaded to sing the songs, including taking the role of Jenny in Mark Blitzstein's English version of The Threepenny Opera. But her voice had deepened considerably and limitations meant that she used a lot more sprechstimme than Weill himself might have imagined. This led to a cabaret-style of performance in Weill's music, notably the works with Brecht, which became almost standard. Weill himself saw no difference between his German and his American works, viewing the whole as a continuum.

The challenge of performing Weill nowadays is exemplified by Nanna's Lied (words by Brecht), written for Lotte Lenya, but she never sang it in public though there are records of private performances. It is a song, it needs to be sung, yet also needs that attention to the words that all of Weill's Brecht settings do.

I first heard mezzo-soprano Katie Bray singing Kurt Weill with pianist William Vann in 2019 at Pizza Express in Chelsea [see my review], and we caught the pair in a similar programme at the Oxford Lieder Festival in 2021 [see my review]. Now this programme, suitably matured has been caught on disc with In search of Youkali: the songs of Kurt Weill on Chandos where Bray and Vann are joined by Murray Grainger (accordion) and Marianne Schofield (double bass). 

The programme uses Youkali, a tango-habanera that began life as an instrumental for the play Marie Galante in 1934 (with Weill then in Paris) before being turned into a song, the music reappearing in the 1935 operetta Der Kuhandel as well as the early American musical Johnny Johnston (1936). The song is about a land of lost content, and Bray and Vann use this as a sort of emblem, the programme being linked by four short improvisations on Youkali before we hear the song at the end. In a way it is emblematic of Weill's own journey towards a musical ideal.

Enjoying it for its own sake: there is much we don't know about 17th-century Exeter organist John Lugge but on this new disc William Whitehead leaves us engaged & intrigued

The Forbidden Fruit: organ music by John Lugge; William Whitehead; Editions Hortus
Reviewed 15 December 2025

Using a French organ that provides a sound world as close as we can get to early 17th century Exeter, William Whitehead explores the organ music of John Lugge, by turns fascinating, dazzling and imaginative. We don't know much about the composer, but his music is well worth investigating.

17th-century composer and organist John Lugge is not a well known name, and his organ music was written for a type of instrument that no longer exists in England. For this new disc from Editions Hortus, Forbidden Fruit, organist William Whitehead travelled to Bolbec in Normandy, France to record a selection of John Lugge's surviving works, ten of his plainchant-based pieces and three of his free voluntaries, early examples of the so-called 'double voluntary'.

We don't actually know that much about John Lugge. Born in Barnstaple in 1580, the son of a shoe-maker, he first shows up in the historical record in 1602 as Organist at Exeter Cathedral where he remains until 1647 after which it is presumed he must have died. There is no record of his early musical training or experience, though stylistically his music can be linked to that of composers from the Chapel Royal including John Bull and Whitehead's article in the CD booklet points out that Arthur Cocke, Exeter Cathedral's Organist from 1689 was appointed to the Chapel Royal in 1601.

Lugge was highly regarded, being described as a 'rare organist' by one Lieutenant Harrison in 1635. As to the instrument Lugge was playing, well Whitehead has needed to look abroad to find something suitable. When it comes to two (or more) manual instruments in the UK, very little remains intact on any scale from before the 18th century, and we know that in the 1630s Exeter had a particularly splendid organ. The organ at Saint-Michel de Bolbec was originally built in 1630 by the organ builder William Lesley (Guillaume Leslie) for a church in Rouen. Lesley was Scots but based in Rouen. The organ was enlarged in 1728-30 and moved to Bolbec in 1792. There were 19th-century interventions, but the 1999 restoration took it back to its 1792 state. It has pipework contemporary with Lugge, retains its four keyboards and a 30-note "à la Française" pedalboard, and is tuned to an uneven temperament (Savior, 1701).

The disc begins with ten of Lugge's plainchant-based voluntaries, six Gloria tibi trinitas, Christe qui lux, Miserere, In nomine and Ut re mi fa sol la. This was a genre that developed during the 16th century when the organist would play chant-based voluntaries alternating with the sung chant. This would hardly be happening in Exeter in the 17th century when the Reformation was in full swing, so it is not clear why Lugge wrote these works which hark back to the work of organists like Tallis, Byrd and Bull. 

Powerful & intense: the music of Elena Firsova & Dmitri Smirnov reflects their friendship with Rudersdal Chamber Players but also links back to Schnittke, Gubaidulina & Denisov

Love and Loss: Elena Firsova, Dmitri Smirnov; Rudersdal Chamber Players; OUR Recordings
Reviewed 15 December 2025

The Danish contemporary music ensemble pays tribute to its friendship with Elena Firsova and Dmitri Smirnov with a programme of powerful and uncompromising yet surprisingly lyrical music

There is a fascinating transnational quality to Love and Loss on OUR Recordings. Performed by Rudersdal Chamber Players, one of the Nordic region’s leading ensembles for contemporary music. The disc represents a special tribute to their friendship with the composers, Elena Firsova and Dmitri Smirnov, which dates back to 2019. Both born in Russia, Firsova and Smirnov met and fell in love while studying at the Moscow Conservatoire, but despite some success they ran afoul of officialdom and were denounced as members of The Seven, a group of non-conforming composers that included Denisov, Firsova, Smirnov, and Gubaidulina, at the 6th Congress of the Union of Soviet Composers. They moved to England in 1991, and their daughter is Russian-British composer Alissa Firsova.

Founded in 2017 by violinist Christine Pryn at the suggestion of Russian-American composer Lera Auerbach, Rudersdal Chamber Players has become the ensemble-in-residence at Rudersdal Sommerkoncerter based in the Danish municipality of Rudersdal some 20 kim north of Copenhagen. The core of the ensemble is a piano quartet, but the instrumentation is flexible and can be adapted to suit different venues and programmes and on this disc we hear Jonas Frølund, clarinet, Christine Pryn, violin, Marie Stockmarr Becker, viola, John Ehde, cello, and Manuel Esperilla, piano.

Challenges & rewards: Tredegar Town Band celebrates the brass music of Robin Stevens with Brass Odyssey

Robin Stevens: Brass Band Odyssey, Mancunian Fanfare and other works; Tredegar Town Band, Ian Porthouse; World of Sound
Reviewed 9 December 2025

Not a brass player himself, Robin Stevens' music revels in the challenges of writing for brass band and Tredegar Town Band do him proud on this new disc

Composer Robin Stevens studied at the Royal Northern College of Music and at Birmingham University with John Joubert. A cellist and teacher by trade, debilitating illness took him out of circulation for 17 years. Thankfully fully recovered, he has devoted himself to composition since 2017.

This new disc from Tredegar Town Band and Ian Porthouse on World of Sound showcases Robin Stevens' writing for brass band and for brass instruments. In his introduction in the CD booklet, Stevens is candid about the challenges of writing for brass instruments and brass band: "a composer writing for an instrumental family outside his or her comfort zone can, potentially at least, bring an unorthodox freshness of approach which is conducive to creative energy and vitality. As a music-college-trained cellist myself it is a common experience for me to present a wind or brass player with a challenging and unconventional passage and be received with an initial frown or two: then, with goodwill and give and take on both sides, adjustments are made to the passage which preserve its expressive essence, make it playable and bring into being music which, because it is not obviously idiomatic, probably would not have been conceived by a composer writing for their own instrument."

The disc opens with Brass Odyssey (from 2012-2013) for brass band and eight percussionists. The longest piece on the album, it is well over 20 minutes in duration, with Stevens structuring it in two parts, Elegy and Towards Rejoicing. It begins in a serious, bleak vein, with Stevens' use of note clusters giving density to the sound and providing an uncompromising air. There are percussion interjections, but often his use of the instruments is relatively discreet. Change comes gradually, with moments of colour and movement leading, eventually, to fanfares, yet at one point things collapse into a bleak solo. Finally, the music takes off unashamedly, with vivid, busy textures and eventually something of a swing to the rhythms, leading ultimately to a terrific clamour.