This second volume of Leos Janácek's orchestral works by the fine and sympathetic Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra under Edward Gardner is necessarily something of a mixed bag, with a couple of unfinished works, several pieces that more or less qualify as obscurities, and just one repertory work, the symphonic poem Taras Bulba, JW VI/15. That work from the World War I years is vintage Janácek, a programmatic evocation of scenes from Nikolai Gogol's epic novel that has the composer's trademark mixture of vividness and compression.

Conductor Edward Gardner and the Bergen Philharmonic here commence their series devoted to Leos Janaceks orchestral works. This opening salvo features three works from Janaceks late, great period: The Sinfonietta, one of the composers most successful and popular works; the Capriccio, with pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet taking on the left-hand solo part, and, restored to its original, striking orchestration by Sir Charles Mackerras, the suite of instrumental interludes from Janaceks 1923 opera The Cunning Little Vixen.

John Storgårds and the BBC Philharmonic continue their survey of Shostakovich’s late symphonies with this recoding of the 14th, with Elizabeth Atherton and Peter Rose as soloists. Completed in the spring of 1969, and premiered later that year, the symphony is written for soprano, bass and small string orchestra with percussion, setting eleven linked setting of poems by four authors.

Under the leadership of its Artistic Director, Adam Walker, the Orsino Ensemble is a chamber group of flexible formation with five outstanding wind players at its core. Each is a leader in his or her field, the group’s members committed to showcasing the depth and versatility of the wind chamber repertoire. They expand and reduce the Ensemble’s format as needed across their different programmes. This flexible approach is clearly demonstrated on this their début recording for Chandos, programming works for solo instrument through to the full wind quintet and piano needed for Albert Roussel’s Divertissement.

French Works for Flute is the Chandos début of Adam Walker, ably accompanied by James Baillieu. The pair is joined by the violist Timothy Ridout in Duruflé’s Prélude, récitatif et variations.

Edward Gregson began composing from a very early age, and his extensive output covers a wide range of musical sound-worlds. Music for film, television, and theatre sits alongside choral pieces and works for full orchestra. Having played in a brass band as a teenager, he has shown a special affinity in his compositions for brass throughout his career – both for brass band and for symphonic brass, which we celebrate with this new album. His seminal Quintet for Brass, Three Dance Episodes, and Aria for Philip mark his connection to the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble.

The Canadian pianist Louis Lortie returns with the second volume of his overview of the solo piano works of Gabriel Fauré. The two major works in this recital are the Ballade, Op. 19 and the Thème et variations, Op. 73. The earlier Ballade shows Fauré’s debt to Liszt, whilst the Thème et variations was modelled on Schumann’s Études symphoniques. The rest of the programme consists of shorter Nocturnes and Barcarolles, and is book-ended by the Pie Jesu and In paradisum from the Requiem – Fauré’s bestknown work – in transcriptions by Louis Lortie himself.

1905 was a year of revolutionary upheaval in pre-Soviet Russia. Shostakovich based this work on the events of one episode of that year, when thousands of workers and their families converged on the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg to petition the Tsar over their working and living conditions. The Tsar had been advised to leave, no-one was there to accept the petition, and the authorities resorted to cavalry charges to disperse the crowd. With 200 dead and 500 wounded, this incident damaged the Tsar’s reputation and flamed the fire of revolution in the masses.

For the second volume in his Birmingham Schubert symphony cycle, Edward Gardner turns to the Second and Sixth Symphonies. Composed between December 1814 and March 1815, the Second Symphony is not only a response by Schubert to the works of Beethoven, and especially the Prometheus Overture, but also strives to push the conventional symphonic boundaries, most notably in the extended exposition of the first movement. Completed in February 1818, the Sixth Symphony was the first to be titled "Große Sinfonie" (grand symphony) by Schubert, a mark of his growing confidence in his work in the symphonic idiom. The two Overtures were composed at the same time as the Sixth Symphony, and are clearly modelled on the overtures of Rossini, whose music was all the rage in Vienna at that time.

Recorded after the first London performance for over 130 years, Parry’s neglected oratorio here appears for the very first time. Having been commissioned by the Birmingham Festival, Parry decided to combine the Old Testament stories of Manasseh and Judith. A good deal of the libretto was provided by Parry himself, who took other texts from the biblical books of Isaiah, Psalms, and Judith. Having originally conceived the work in four acts, Parry condensed it into two. Judith was premiered by Richter in Birmingham in August 1888, and it consolidated Parry’s reputation as a choral composer, numerous performances following in Edinburgh and in London. Although popular in his lifetime, Judith fell into obscurity after Parry’s death.

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet’s acclaimed series of piano concertos by Mozart reaches its fifth instalment. Concertos Nos 5, 6, 8, and 9 are complemented by the overtures to Il sogno di Scipione, Lucio Silla, La finta giardiniera, Il re pastore, and Zaide. That all of these works were composed by Mozart between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five serves as a vivid reminder of his unique talents as a child prodigy: these are not childhood efforts but mature works. The Fifth Concerto was actually Mozart’s first, as Nos 1 – 4 are arrangements of works by other composers. As in the previous volumes, Bavouzet is partnered by Manchester Camerata and Gábor Takács-Nagy, all recorded in The Stoller Hall in Manchester.

For his second volume of Scarlatti sonatas, Federico Colli takes as his starting point the double sonata KK 63 and KK 64. These are two dances, the first (G major) full of vivacity and happiness, the second (D minor) full of indignation and peremptoriness. Working from this concept that opposition is needed to truly experience beauty, Colli has created his own personal double sonatas by pairing works with contrasting tempi, dynamics, character, or feeling. Like the first volume, the album was recorded on a Steinway Model D at Potton Hall in Suffolk.

In his latest recording for Chandos with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Neeme Järvi explores pieces by three of Estonia’s first composers. The bulk of the works in the programme were composed in the first decade of the twentieth century, and are all excellent representations of the birth of Estonian Music, as Estonia transitioned from a territory in the Russian Empire to an independent nation state. As was the norm at the end of the nineteenth century, these composers studied at the St Petersburg Conservatory, and Estonian symphonic music certainly has its roots in the Russian nationalist style. Like so much of European music of this era, ethnic identity is emphasised by the inclusion of native folk tunes, and the ‘Nordic’ style of Grieg and others is clearly an influence.