Several albums stood out to our reviewers this month. One of those was a beautiful recital of French orchestral songs by Sandrine Piau (pictured). Also from France, Christophe Rousset lead his ensemble Les Talens Lyriques and impressive star singers in one of Lully’s famous operas, Atys. The same musicians also gave us a little-known operatic version of the Faust story by 19th century composer Louise Bertin. What would stage works be without an overture? The new ensemble, The Philharmonic Brass — expert performers from the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic orchestras and others — debuts with Overture!, a richly textured program of concert and opera overtures.

Behzod Abduraimov – Shadows of My Ancestors

Piotr Anderszewski – Bartók, Janácek, Szymanowski

Andrew Armstrong – In Blue

Claudio Astronio, THERESIA – Joseph Martin Kraus: Overtures

Emmanuele Baldini, Rafael Cesario – José Antônio de Almeida Prado: Works for Violin and Cello

Martin James Bartlett – La Danse

Louis-Noël Bestion de Camboulas, Les Surprises – Te Deum: Charpentier, Desmarest

Tomáš Brauner, Prague Symphony Orchestra – Dvorák: Slavonic Dances

Brundibár Ensemble – Forgotten Voices Rediscovered: Henriette Bosmans, Fania Chapiro

Gregor Bühl, Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz – Miklós Rózsa: Overture to a Symphony Concert; Hungarian Serenade; Tripartita

Javier Camarena, Angel Rodriguez – Sogno: Tosti Songs

Charles Castronovo, Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Ivan Repusic – Puccini: I Canti – Orchestral Songs & Works

Het Collectief – Messiaen: Quatuor pour la fin du temps; Murail: Stalag VIIIa

Le Consort – Philarmonica: Purcell, Matteis, Mrs Philarmonica

Elsa Dreisig, Adèle Charvet, Stéphane Degout – Rita Strohl: Musique vocale, Vol. 1 – Une compositrice de la démesure

James Ehnes, BBC Philharmonic, Andrew Davis – Stravinsky: Violin Concerto; Scherzo à la russe; Apollon Musagète; Orchestral Suites

JoAnn Falletta, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra – Kodály: Háry János Suite; Summer Evening; Symphony in C major

Sol Gabetta, Bertrand Chamayou – Mendelssohn

Edward Gardner, London Philharmonic Choir, London Philharmonic Orchestra – Berlioz: The Damnation of Faust

Véronique Gens, Cyrille Dubois, Hervé Niquet – Charpentier: Médée

Angela Gheorghiu, Vincenzo Scalera – A Te, Puccini

Gustavo Gimeno, Nathalie Forget, Marc-André Hamelin, Toronto Symphony Orchestra – Messiaen: Turangalîla Symphonie

Philip Glass – Solo

Bernard Haitink, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks – Bruckner: Symphonie Nr. 7

Marc-André Hamelin – Marc-André Hamelin: Variations on a theme of Paganini; My feelings about chocolate; Suite à la ancienne; Etc.

Domingo Hindoyan, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra – Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 in E flat major

Ruby Hughes, Manchester Collective – End of My Days

Judith Ingolfsson, Vladimir Stoupel – Rebecca Clarke: Sonatas for Violin, Viola & Piano

Neeme Järvi, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra – Lalo: Suites and Valse de la Cigarette from Namouna; Overture to Le Roi d’Ys; Symphony in G minor

Martin Jones – Piano Music of Oscar Fernândez

Das Kleine Konzert, Hermann Max – Georg Philipp Telemann: A Christmas Oratorio Pasticcio

Anastasia Kobekina – Venice

Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Reto Bieri, Polina Leschenko – Take 3

Adam Laloum – Schubert: Piano Sonata D. 959; Moments musicaux D.780

Igor Levit – Mendelssohn: Lieder ohne Worte

London Oratory Schola Cantorum, Charles Cole – Sacred Treasures of Venice

LyricFest – Daron Hagen: The Art of Song

Gergely Madaras, Hungarian National Chorus, Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège – César Franck: Les Béatitudes

Francesco Meli, Maria José Siri, James Conlon – Verdi: Ernani

Riccardo Minasi, Mozarteumorchester Salzburg – Strauss: Metamorphosen & Wind Sonatina No. 1

Neave Trio – A Room of Her Own

Orchestra of the Swan – Earthcycle

Phantasm – Matthew Locke: Consorts Flat and Sharp

Philharmonic Brass, Tugan Sokhiev – Overture!

Sandrine Piau, Jean-François Verdier – Reflet

Quatuor Modigliani – Grieg, Smetana

Timothy Ridout, James Baillieu, Frank Dupree – A Lionel Tertis Celebration

Christophe Rousset, Les Talens Lyriques, Flemish Radio Choir – Louise Bertin: Fausto

Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra – Sibelius: Symphony No. 4; The Wood Nymph; Valse Triste

George Rowley – Gurney: Piano Sonatas Nos. 1 and 3; Piano Sonata No. 2 – II. Adagio; Five Preludes; Autumn

Ola Rudner, Tonkünstler-Orchester – Suppé: Fantasia Symphonica; Orchestral Overtures; Preludes

Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys, Fifth Avenue, New York – Byrd: Sacred Works

Andreas Scholl, Czech Ensemble Baroque, Roman Válek – František Tůma

Choir of St. Luke’s, Chelsea; Grace Davidson; Jeremy Summerly – Philip W.J. Stopford: Sacred Choral Music

Talea Ensemble, Harlem Chamber Players – Julius Eastman: Femenine

Cédric Tiberghien – Variation(s) 2: Beethoven, Sweelinck, Bach, Cage, Feldman, Crumb

Jean-Luc Tingaud, Rundfunks-Sinfonieorchester Berlin – Franck: Symphony in D minor; Chausson: Symphony in B flat major

Trio Zimbalist – Piano Trios of Weinberg, Auerbach, & Dvorák

United Strings of Europe, Julian Azkoul – Through the Night

Elena Urioste, Tom Poster – Le Temps retrouvé: Fauré, Bonis, Hahn, Boulanger

Timo-Veikko Valve, Aura Go – Beethoven: Cello Sonatas; Webern: Works for Cello and Piano

Reinoud Van Mechelen, Marie Lys. Christophe Rousset – Lully: Atys

Jörg Widmann, Hagen Quartett – Mozart & Widmann: Clarinet Quintets

Wiener Philharmoniker, Christian Thielemann – Neujahrskonzert 2024 [New Year’s Concert]

Michael Alexander Willens, Kölner Akademie – Mozart: Overtures

Llyr Williams – Robert Schumann: Piano Works

Frank Peter Zimmermann, Bamberger Symphoniker, Jakub Hrůša – Stravinsky: Violin Concerto; Bartók: Rhapsodies 1 and 2; Martinu: Suite Concertante; Méditation