Sepsis Baudouin, Simon V.

The first disc of the ever-fresh Op 6 Concertigrossi includes the oboe parts that Handel later added to Nos 1, 2, 5 and 6. The performances are brimful of vitality, and the clean articulation and light, predominantly detached style give the music buoyancy and help to bring out Handel's often mischievous twinkle in the eye. Speeds are generally brisk, with boldly vigorous playing, but Standage's team can also spin a tranquil broad line. Dynamics throughout are subtly graded, and except in one final cadence ornamentation is confined to small cadential trills.

"Mayr's Masses were in demand across Europe, and their composition is rooted in the Italian tradition of the messa concertata which demands division into separate vocal numbers. The Mass in E minor has long been recognised as an outstanding example of Mayr's late style, with its polyphonic mastery and dialogues between singers and concertante solo instruments being exceptionally convincing. The Mass in F minor evokes both joy and deep melancholy, though accompanied, as always, by Mayr's notable gift for melodic beauty."

All of Strauss' symphonic poems tell a story, but in Ein Heldenleben the subject is his own life. Casting himself as the Hero, the hostile music critics as Adversaries, his compositions as Works of Peace, his Flight from the World as Consummation, the 34-year-old composer seems to succumb to unabashed egotism and grandiosity. However, his self-indulgence is redeemed by his music, which abounds with soaring, rapturous melodies, breath-taking modulations and gorgeous, scintillating orchestral colors. A solo violin represents the Hero's Companion, Strauss' beloved but famously difficult wife; their love scene contains some of his most ravishing, ecstatic music. Equally striking is his mordantly satirical depiction of the cacophonously bickering Adversaries, who rear their malicious heads even during moments of triumphant fulfillment. Toward the end, Strauss slyly tempts listeners to "Name that tune!" with almost 30 quotes from his own works.

The Australian World Orchestra is an orchestra like no other: the finest Australian classical musicians from the leading orchestras around the world, come home to join with the top Australian-based players in one thrillingly talented super-ensemble. With 95 electrifying musicians, representing more than 40 orchestras, together under one roof, the Australian World Orchestra is, in the words of Sir Simon Rattle, 'one of the great orchestras of the world'. Now reissued at a special price, Bruckner's Symphony No. 8 is the perfect choice of repertoire for such a brilliant ensemble: grand in scope, intimate yet profound in its emotional journey, and radiantly beautiful.

Between 1980 and 1998 Simon Rattle conducted no less than 934 concerts with the CBSO. Together they performed works by many 20th-century composers, as well as established favourites, and gave a total of 16 world premieres. Rattle also made 69 recordings for EMI with the orchestra. This box brings together that recorded legacy, which includes pieces by composers pivotal to his work, such as Mahler, Sibelius and Szymanowski, as well as some of the new compositions he championed — Nicholas Maw’s Odyssy, Mark Anthony Turnage’s Momentum, Three Screaming Popes and Drowned Out, and Thomas Adès’ Asyla.

One of the most popular artists of the early-'70s singer-songwriter explosion, Carly Simon made her reputation by combining radio-friendly musical values with lyrics that tackled issues of romance and family with a frankness that's still disarming.

Recorded in 1990 at Rosslyn Hill Chapel, Hampstead (London), this beautifully produced CD contains six lesser-known works for violin(s) by Germany’s most prolific 18th century composer, Georg Philipp Telemann, who was, during his lifetime, considerably more famous (and more in demand) than any of the Bach dynasty. But as Nicholas Anderson points out in his rather brief introduction to this music, “Telemann did not altogether avoid in his own music those features which he criticised in others; sometimes his harmonies seem sparse, his passagework perfunctory.” Telemann was a great musician, but the violin “seems to have been that in which he was least fluent”. It is also well-known that Telemann’s facility in composing has gained him a reputation for producing quantity rather than quality – a reputation which, on the whole, is undeserved.

Born in 2000, Simon Bürki has won many international competitions. Currently studying at the Juilliard School, New York, with Sergei Babayan. His début recording features works by Rachmaninov – 2023 marks the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth – and Scriabin, Tchaikovsky, Liszt and Schumann. The programme confirms Simon Bürki’s affinities, with some of Rachmaninov’s sombre Études-Tableaux and Préludes, together with two Études by Scriabin, and a selection of transcriptions and short pieces. In these (post-)Romantic miniatures, the young pianist demonstrates his outstanding virtuosity and sober elegance, as well as the exciting flamboyancy and intensity of his playing.