Record Review Podcast

Composer, prominent conductor and influential composition teacher, Zemlinsky was at the centre of turn-of the century Viennese musical life. Among his distinguished pupils were Arnold Schoenberg (who also happened to be his brother-in-law), Berg, Webern and Korngold. He also taught and was romantically involved with Alma Schindler until she decided to marry a certain Gustav Mahler. And it's Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde which provided the model for Zemlinsky's best-known work, his1923 Lyric Symphony. Mahler had chosen Chinese poetry for his song-symphony and Zemlinsky, too, looked east, setting poems by the then fashionable 1913 Nobel Prize-winning Bengali writer Rabindranath Tagore. The seven texts, an exploration of love, are sung alternately by baritone and soprano, accompanied in lush late-Romantic style by a large orchestra.

Messiah is Handel's best-known work and one of the most frequently performed choral works in western music. It was composed in 1741 with a text compiled from the King James Bible. It is full of show stoppers such as "For unto us a child is born", "The trumpet shall sound" and the ever-rousing "Hallelujah" chorus.

Gillian Moore compares recordings of Mahler's Ninth Symphony and chooses her favourite.Mahler's final completed symphony is a monumental achievement ranging in emotion from wild passion to deep despair and finally resignation. He wrote it in 1908 and 1909 but did not live to see it performed. Leonard Bernstein said of the last movement: "It is terrifying, and paralyzing, as the strands of sound disintegrate. In ceasing, we lose it all. But in letting go, we have gained everything."

Inspired by the tumult of the impending French Revolution, Mozart's intricate and sublime opera Le nozze di Figaro proved explosive yet rapidly became one of the true masterpieces of the genre. Nicholas Kenyon discusses a wide range of interpretations with Andrew, before settling for what he believes to be the ultimate recording to buy, download or stream.

Perhaps the deepest-felt of Beethoven's piano concertos, the G major poses both interpretative and technical challenges of the highest order. Joanna MacGregor has been listening to a wide range of different interpretations and discusses with Andrew her ultimate recommendation to buy, download or stream.

Dedicated to 'dem lieben Gott' (the beloved God), Bruckner's monumental Ninth Symphony in D minor was intended to be the culmination of his life's work. Bruckner began working on the Ninth Symphony in the summer of 1887, immediately after finishing his Eighth, but he died in 1896 before finishing the fourth and final movement. Nonetheless, Bruckner's Ninth Symphony is often performed as a mighty, visionary large-scale three-movement work. Shimmering strings and low brass start the opening movement, Feierlich, misterioso, followed by the Scherzo and an achingly expansive Adagio.

Franz Schubert's last chamber piece, the String Quintet in C major (D. 956), is one of the most sublime pieces in the repertoire. It is scored for a standard string quartet plus an extra cello. The work remained unpublished at the time of Schubert's death in November 1828 and after it was belatedly premiered and published in the 1850s, it gradually gained recognition as a masterpiece. Knowing that Schubert died so soon after composing the work, makes many people hear a valedictory quality in the music.

The Serenade's status as a darkly dazzling 20th-century classic is founded on Britten's unerring ear for finding and setting English poetry, coupled with his instinctive sense of instrumental and vocal virtuosity. Its six texts, from Ben Johnson to Tennyson, deal with night and the corruption of innocence, themes which preoccupied Britten throughout his career. Both the solo writing and the interplay between voice and horn are based on the strengths of the two musicians for which it was written, Britten's long-time partner, Peter Pears and the horn player Dennis Brain. They made the first recording in 1944, a year after the premiere, and since then many subsequent recordings, most often featuring British tenors, have followed.

Bach's Concerto for two violins in D minor, BWV1043, affectionately known as the 'Double Concerto', is one of the most popular works of the Baroque repertoire. The two solo parts of this concerto have survived in Bach’s own handwriting, in an autograph that dates from around 1730, when Bach was living in Köthen.The outer movements illustrate the influence of the Italian Baroque style on Bach in their brisk rhythms, fugal imitations and much of the intricate passage work, while the central movement is deeply expressive as the melodic lines weave between the two violins.

Born in Moscow 150 years ago this year, Alexander Scriabin's music for solo piano has been recorded by many of the great pianists over the last century. But where to start if you're not familiar with this late-Romantic, sometimes elusive repertoire? David Owen Norris is on hand to navigate through some key pieces and makes some recommendations.

Building a Library: Jeremy Sams recommends his favourite recording of Ravel's Daphnis and Chloe (complete ballet).Maurice Ravel described his ballet, Daphnis and Chloe as a choreographic symphony. The story concerns the love between the goatherd Daphnis and the shepherdess Chloé. Ravel began work in 1909 after a commission from Sergei Diaghilev and it was premiered in Paris by his Ballets Russes in 1912. The orchestra was conducted by Pierre Monteux, the choreography was by Michel Fokine, and Vaslav Nijinsky and Tamara Karsavina danced the parts of Daphnis and Chloé. With rich harmonies and lush orchestrations it is one of Ravel's most popular works.

Simon Heighes recommends his favourite recording of Haydn's Symphony No 49 in F minor, 'La Passione'.This sombre and darkly dramatic Haydn symphony is one of a series of visceral minor key symphonies reflecting Haydn's reaction to the German proto-Romantic literary movement, 'Sturm und Drang' – Storm and Stress – where passionate subjectivity and turbulent self-expression were the order of the day. The symphony was one of the most popular during Haydn's lifetime and its ominous, almost continuous F minor intensity and arresting dynamism still make an impact today.

Pianist Lucy Parham picks through the greatest recordings of Rachmaninov's 2nd Piano Sonata. Sergei Rachmaninov's Piano Sonata No. 2, Op. 36, in B-flat minor was composed in 1913 and revised it in 1931. Three years after his third piano concerto was finished, he moved with his family to Rome and started working on his second piano sonata. It is a mighty but technically challenging piece. Rachmaninov himself was not satisfied with the work and revised it in 1931. In 1940, the pianist Vladimir Horowitz created his own edition which combined elements of both previous versions.

Building a Library: Emily MacGregor recommends a her favourite recording of Béla Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra.For Bartók, the circumstances surrounding the composition of his Concerto for Orchestra could hardly have been more miserable. In 1940 he fled his native Hungary to escape the Nazis and spent the remaining five years of his life in the United States, those years blighted by despair, painful illness and abject poverty. But unknown to Bartók, two fellow Hungarians, violinist Joseph Szigeti and conductor Fritz Reiner, conspired to persuade Serge Koussevitzky to offer a generous commission. In 1943, the glamorous conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra visited Bartók in his New York hospital, and flamboyantly presented the composer, not only with a commission for an orchestral work but also a $500 down payment. Bartók began work in August and finished the Concerto for Orchestra just under three moths later. It spotlights, often with brilliance and playfulness, all the sections of the orchestra and p

Katy Hamilton surveys the key works and recordings of American composer Amy Beach and chooses her favourite.Born in 1867 in New Hampshire, Amy Beach became the first successful American female composer, and her 'Gaelic' Symphony was the first symphony to be composed by an American woman. Despite great success during her lifetime, Amy Beach's music was neglected after her death in 1944, but enjoyed a renaissance in the late 20th century.

Marina Frolova-Walker recommends a version of Prokofiev's Fifth Symphony in Building a Library.Sergei Prokofiev wrote his Symphony No 5 in B-flat major in just a month in the summer of 1944 during World War II. He intended it as "a hymn to free and happy Man, to his mighty powers, his pure and noble spirit." The 1945 premiere was conducted by Prokofiev himself and the symphony has remained one of the composer's most popular works.

Perhaps the first of Mozart's extraordinary sequence of 'late' piano concertos, the D minor, K466, has attracted pianists as varied as Edwin Fischer and Mitsuko Uchida, many directing the orchestra from the keyboard. Tom Service guides us through a selection of the finest of these, with a recommendation for the essential recording to buy, download or stream.

Pianist Iain Burnside with a recommendation of the ultimate recording of the third, and arguably greatest, of Beethoven's five sonatas for cello and piano.

Edward Seckerson recommends a version of Shostakovich's Leningrad Symphony.Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 in C major was at first dedicated to Lenin. But eventually the composer dedicated it to the besieged city of Leningrad, where it was first played in 1942, during the siege by German and Finnish forces. It soon became popular in both the Soviet Union and the West as a symbol of resistance to fascism and totalitarianism. The work is still regarded as an important musical testament to the 27 million Soviet people who lost their lives in World War II.

Natasha Loges compares recordings of Brahms's String Quintet No 1 in F major, Op 88, and chooses her favourite.Brahms composed his String Quintet No 1 in F major in 1882 during a summer sojourn in the Austrian Spa town of Bad Ischl. Like the Mozart string quintets, it is written for two violins, two violas and one cello and Brahms intimated to his friend Clara Schumann that it is one of his finest works. To his publisher, Simrock, he said 'that you have never before had such a beautiful work from me'.The Quintet comprises three movements: a glowing Allegro non troppo ma con brio and an exuberant fugal finale bookend an expansive and passionate slow movement.