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The Most Incredible Thing is the Pet Shop Boys' first foray into the world of ballet scoring, and it’s as slick and smart as expected. Composed for London’s Sadlers Wells Theater adaptation of a late-period Hans Christian Andersen story, this must be a welcome souvenir for audience members, but those not in attendance will find the two-disc set a bit much, and with so many story-driven twists and audio cues, it’s too demanding for background listening. That said, any fans who found the duo’s Battleship Potemkin soundtrack compelling will find this a welcome, lighter alternative, seeing as how the sound is another mashing of Russian classical music and synth pop, with Tchaikovsky being the composer of influence here…

Italian singer Sara Mingardo is considered among the more important contraltos of her generation. Her repertory is broad, encompassing works by composers from Monteverdi to Britten, though she has scored some of her greatest successes in operas and sacred music of the Baroque.

Conductor Rinaldo Alessandrini's historical-instrument recordings of Vivaldi and other Italian Baroque composers, originally recorded around the turn of the millennium for the Opus 111 label, are being reissued on Naïve, complete with the fashion-forward graphics for which that label is known. Any and all remain completely distinctive, but this all-Vivaldi disc makes perhaps the ideal place to start. It comes with a pretty substantial booklet essay (in French, English, and Italian, although the texts of the vocal pieces are only in Latin, English, and French) by Alessandrini himself, providing the historical background for his unorthodox readings; this is highly readable and touches on such subjects as visual art and theatrical history.

For her tenth Deutsche Grammophon release, pianist Alice Sara Ott returns to the music of Frédéric Chopin. She approaches Chopin’s 24 Préludes op. 28 from a fresh perspective, finding a personal thread that parallels the music’s dramatic arc and wide-ranging moods. The pianist frames the Préludes within a contemporary context by interspersing them with seven works by 20th- and 21st-century composers.

Alice Sara Ott presents a new deluxe version of the successful Echoes of Life album, set for release on 27 October. Among the 11 newly recorded tracks complementing the original album are the famous Bach Prelude in C Major both on a grand piano and a specifically prepared upright piano, as well as Silvestrov’s Distant Music, Chopin Preludes and a new composition by Alice’s friend Chilly Gonzales. The album is now available for pre-order alongside the second pre-release track ‘Silvestrov: Distant Music’.