For March's Record of the Month, The Nash Ensemble couples the String Sextets by Tchaikovsky & Korngold, two chamber works brimming with Romantic ardour. The pairing may be an uncommon one, but it is highly effective: separated by little more than twenty-five years, both masterpieces nevertheless come from opposite ends of their composers' lives—the Korngold is an astonishing achievement for a seventeen-year-old, even for so prodigiously gifted a wunderkind, while Tchaikovsky's Souvenir de Florence, a late work, caused its composer considerably more trouble than the gloriously life-affirming results would suggest.

Duruflé's Requiem & Poulenc's Lenten Motets make another apt programme, the bittersweet poignancy of the Poulenc—so characteristic of its composer—providing the perfect foil to the mysticism and grandeur which pervade the Duruflé. This account of the Requiem, benefiting from the generous acoustic and splendid organ of Saint-Eustache in Paris, is the perfect showcase for Stephen Layton and The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge.

The ongoing series dedicated to choice selections of our all-time favourite recordings—ones you might possibly have missed? This time: Robin Holloway's Gilded Goldbergs from The Micallef-Inanga Piano Duo (‘a remarkable achievement … rollicking, camp good fun’—The Sunday Times), Prokofiev Piano Concertos Nos 1, 4 & 5 from Nikolai Demidenko and the London Philharmonic Orchestra (‘another feather in Hyperion's cap’—Hi-Fi News), and Beethoven Songs from Stephan Genz and Roger Vignoles (‘I have never heard these songs sung more beautifully. An instant classic’—Gramophone). If you don’t know them already, a track from each is included on our monthly sampler which is free to download.

Gianandrea Noseda and the National Symphony Orchestra of The Kennedy Center, Washington DC, conclude a glorious cycle on the orchestra's own label with the release of Beethoven Symphony No 9, a distinguished quartet of soloists and The Washington Chorus at full strength ensuring that the choral finale is every bit an 'ode to joy'.

Fascinating new releases from Signum Classics this month bring us a recording of Puccini Symphonic Suites as imagined by Carlo Rizzi, who also conducts the Welsh National Opera Orchestra, and Oculus by Julie Cooper, a veritable panoply of performers contributing to a varied programme of new works by this most approachable of composers.

An exciting new recording from LSO Live captures concert performances of Janáček's Káťa Kabanová as given by the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle in January 2023. The all-star cast includes Amanda Majeski ('a truly great performance in the title role'—The Guardian), Magdalena Kožená and Katarina Dalayman, and the magic between conductor and orchestra is all one might expect in this repertoire.