Record Review Podcast

Henrich Schütz is one of the most important composers before JS Bach. But with over 500 surviving works and despite his pivotal position as the first German composer to achieve international fame and repute, Schütz is perhaps still not as well known as he should be. Kirsten Gibson surveys recorded collections of the 17th-century composer and recommends the best one for anyone unfamiliar with his music.

Roger Parker talks to Andrew about the wide range of approaches to one of Mozart's masterpieces, the Divertimento in E flat, K563, from classic recordings from the 60s and 70s to young ensembles' recent additions to the catalogue.

Mark Simpson compares recordings of Richard Strauss's Eine Alpensinfonie and chooses his favourite. The epic Alpine Symphony is Strauss's vivid evocation of the thrills and spills of a day out in his beloved Bavarian Alps, including dangerous moments and a glacier on the way up to a spectacular view from the summit. On the way down there's a violent thunderstorm and at the end, as the sun sets and night falls, the deep, emotional satisfaction of having completed an arduous and exhausting journey. The 1915 tone poem thrillingly tests an orchestra, at once collectively, its individual sections and its principal players. And it also tests a conductor who has to convincingly marshal a score calling for 130-plus musicians including 34 brass players (with 12 offstage horns) and a percussion section stocked with, among other things, wind machine, thunder machine and cowbells. Spare a thought, too, for the recording engineers... Presented by Andrew McGregor.

Hannah French surveys the key works works and recordings of Czech composer Jan Dismas Zelenka and chooses her favourite.Zelenka was born in Central Bohemia in 1679 and, after his musical education in Prague and Vienna, he spent most of his professional life in Dresden. Much admired by Bach for the harmonic inventiveness of his counterpoint, and friends with Telemann, Pisendel and Weiss, Zelenka was considered one of the giants of the Baroque era. Zelenka's music is also inspired by Czech folk music and it was Smetana who is credited with rediscovering the music of his forebear during the 19th century.

David Owen Norris chooses his favourite recording of Elgar's Violin Concerto.Elgar's Violin Concerto in B minor was composed for the violinist Fritz Kreisler, who gave the premiere in London in 1910 - and Elgar made a recording with the young Yehudi Menuhin in 1932 that has become a classic. The score has the inscription "Herein is enshrined the soul of ....." The five dots are one of Elgar's enigmas, and many names have been suggested to fit the inscription. Elgar said of the Violin Concerto, "It's good! Awfully emotional! Too emotional, but I love it." Presented by Andrew MacGregor.

There has never been a more prodigiously talented child composer than Felix Mendelssohn and proof of that is his Octet. Written in 1825 when he was 16 years old, it was unprecedented in form: there had been double quartets but nothing like this where all the instruments are combined with unique brilliance and clarity of texture. Above all, though, it's the Octet's sheer lyrical joyousness and exuberant energy that set it apart, the teen Mendelssohn's generosity of spirit thrillingly combined with his compositional genius.

Haydn's Mass in Time of War is sometimes known as his Paukenmesse because of his prominent use of timpani for dramatic effect. It's one of the best known of his fourteen mass settings, and has been lucky on record. Richard Wigmore talks to Andrew about the work and about the very different approaches performers have brought to it, and settles on the ultimate recording to buy, download or stream.

Nigel Simeone chooses his favourite recording of Lehar's The Merry Widow.The Merry Widow by the Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Lehár is one of the most popular operettas in the repertoire. It's the story of a fabulously rich widow, and the political shenanigans involved in making sure her fortune stays in the principality by finding her the right husband. Since its 1905 premiere in Vienna, it continues to captivate and charm audiences with its tuneful score, including hits such as the "Vilja Song", "You'll Find Me at Maxim's" and the "Merry Widow Waltz".Presented by Andrew McGregor.

Simon Heighes compares recordings of Bach's Coffee Cantata and chooses his favourite.Among Bach's secular cantatas, perhaps the most famous and frequently recorded is Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht – the Coffee Cantata – BWV 211. Probably composed in 1734 for a performance at Leipzig's Zimmermann Coffee House with the student group collegium musicum, the comic cantata satirises the Saxon obsession with coffee, depicting a family dispute between father and daughter, Schlendrian and Liesgen, at odds about the benefits of the hot drink.

Sarah Devonald chooses her favourite recording of Saint-Saëns's Carnival of the Animals.The Carnival of the Animals is a glorious romp in fourteen movements by Camille Saint-Saëns. It is for two pianos and chamber ensemble; and is among his most popular. Includes well-known movements like Elephants, Fossils and the Swan. Presented by Andrew McGregor.

Allyson Devenish compares recordings of Schumann's Liederkreis, Op 39, and chooses her favourite.Schumann's Liederkreis, Op 39, is considered to be one of the greatest song cycles of the 19th century. Composed in 1840, Liederkreis comprises 12 songs which set poems by the German Romantic poet, Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff. Together, the 12 songs explore themes of loss, loneliness, nocturnal mystery, ecstasy and reverie. Schumann himself considered the Liederkreis, Op 39 to be the most romantic music he had ever written, and he wrote to his wife that the cycle had 'music of you in it, dearest Clara'. Presented by Kate Molleson

Musicologist Marina Frolova-Walker chooses her favourite recording of Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, a set of dazzling variations for piano and orchestra on Paganini's 24th Caprice for solo violin, was premiered in 1934 in Baltimore by the Philadelphia Orchestra and Leopold Stokowski with Rachmaninov playing the solo part. Rachmaninov had already written four piano concerti, and this Rhapsody parades as a one-movement piano concerto that takes Paganini's theme on a journey through brisk and highly virtuosic variations at the beginning and end and through richly lyrical variations in the slower middle section. The Rhapsody has become a cornerstone of the virtuoso piano repertoire and it has also been adapted for ballet. Presented by Andrew McGregor.

Music researcher and writer Katy Hamilton chooses her favourite recording of Liszt's Sonata in B minor. When Clara Schumann described Liszt's 1854 Piano Sonata in B minor as 'truly terrible' it reflected an influential school of 19th-century thought (Brahms fell asleep when he first heard it). But for Liszt himself it was his breakthrough piece which established him as a 'proper' composer, one for whom musically-driven formal organisation and inspired ingenuity were paramount, rather than a mere pianist whose music was generated by the need to demonstrate his transcendent technique.Posterity has sided with Liszt, not Clara – and so have successive generations of performers, reflected in a recorded legacy that is a veritable Who's Who of the great pianists of the last century and our own. Presented by Andrew McGregor.

Leonard Bernstein's exuberant Chichester Psalms was one of the composer's many strong connections with the UK, commissioned for the 1965 Southern Cathedrals Festival at Chichester Cathedral. Music journalist Edward Seckerson talks to Andrew about the background to the piece, whilst whittling down the available recordings to come up with the finest recording to buy, download or stream.

Musicologist Professor Natasha Loges chooses her favourite recording of Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata. Beethoven's Violin Sonata in A major, Op.47, more commonly known simply as the Kreutzer Sonata, is one of the most technically challenging pieces in the violin repertoire. Leo Tolstoy immortalised the work in his notorious and daring 1889 novella The Kreutzer Sonata, which was promptly censored by the Russian authorities and, a year later, prohibited in newspapers in the USA. Beethoven composed his Kreutzer Sonata in 1803 and originally dedicated it to his friend and leading virtuoso of the day, George Bridgetower. They premiered the work together in May 1803 at Vienna's Augarten Theatre, allegedly sight-reading the entire work. Shortly afterwards, the two men fell out and Beethoven changed the dedication to the French violin pedagogue, composer and conductor, Rudolphe Kreutzer. It is said that Kreutzer himself hated the sonata and refused to play it. The dedication, however, has remained. It is a lengthy thre

Iain Burnside chooses his favourite recording of Mozart's Quintet for Piano and Wind K.452. Mozart wrote his famous Quintet in E flat major for Piano and Winds in 1784 and it was premiered at the Imperial and Royal National Court Theater in Vienna. Shortly afterwards, Mozart wrote to his father: "I myself consider it to be the best thing I have written in my life." It is scored for piano, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon. And most people seem to agree with the composer that it is indeed one of his best pieces - with its amazing wind-writing and life-enhancing energy. Presented by Andrew McGregor.

Musicologist Dr Flora Willson chooses her favourite recording of Mahler's orchestral song cycle Das Lied von der Erde.Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, 'Song of the Earth', is a set of six songs for two voices and orchestra, but is it a song-cycle or a symphony? Mahler certainly intended for Das Lied von der Erde to reflect the world in co taining everything, the whole range of human emotions and earthly experience, but the work doesn't easily fall into either the category of song-cycles or truly symphonic works. Mahler drew his texts for Das Lied from a compendium called The Chinese Flute, a translation of Chinese poems by the German poet Hans Bethge.Mahler wrote Das Lied von der Erde in 1908-9 within a year of losing his beloved daughter Maria and receiving the diagnosis of the heart condition that would kill him in 1911. The work begins and ends with two of Mahler's most famous songs: Das Trinklied vom Jammer der Erde (The Drinking Song of Earth’s Sorrows) and Der Abscheid (The Farewell), a hauntingly beauti

Conductor and choral expert Jeremy Summerly chooses his favourite recordings of Carl Orff's iconic cantata, Carmina Burana. Carl Orff composed his cantata in 1936, based on 24 poems from the medieval collection Carmina Burana. The poems cover a wide range of subjects, which are just as topical today as they were in the 13th century: the fickleness of fortune and wealth, the ephemeral nature of life, the joy of the return of spring, and the pleasures and perils of drinking, gluttony, gambling, and lust. Orff said to his publisher "Everything I have written to date, and which you have, unfortunately, printed, can be destroyed. With Carmina Burana, my collected works begin." It became the most famous piece of music composed in Germany at the time. Presented by Andrew McGregor.

Academic and Sibelius enthusiast Dr Leah Broad chooses her favourite recordings of Sibelius' Violin Concerto. Presented by Andrew McGregor.

Baroque music specialist Dr Simon Heighes chooses his favourite version of Bach's Motets. These technically challenging works contain some of Bach's very best music and can be thrilling in performance by a top-notch group of singers. They're also the only of Bach's vocal works that stayed in the repertoire without interruption between his death in 1750 and the 19th-century Bach Revival. Recordings reviewed include performances by The Sixteen and Voces8 & The Senesino Players. Presented by Andrew McGregor.