Hyperion's Romantic Piano Concerto goes from strength to strength, and January's Record of the Month serves as a reminder, if any were needed, of the series' continuing excellence. Volume 82 sees stalwarts Howard Shelley and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra present Piano Concertos by Stéphan Elmas, two worthy additions to the long-established RPC tradition: seldom-heard works given idiomatic and committed accounts, and which sound as though Shelley has known and loved the scores all his life. More virtuosity is on display in Fragments from Hans Andersen & Studies by York Bowen, played by the 2018 Honens Prize Laureate (and Hyperion debutant) Nicolas Namoradze. This is music of wit, brilliance and charm from a composer Hyperion has done much to champion, with performances to match.

And in one of those agreeably eclectic juxtapositions so characteristic of Hyperion, the last of our releases this month takes the listener back seven hundred years to medieval France. Machaut: The lion of nobility is the next in The Orlando Consort's endlessly fascinating survey of the fourteenth-century composer-poet's oeuvre, a survey which is bringing the music and manners of the period into sharp focus.

An occasional series dedicated to choice selections of our all-time favourite recordings—ones you might possibly have missed? This time: John Sheppard Media vita & other sacred music from Westminster Cathedral Choir (‘nothing less than ethereal’—Classics Today), Shostakovich & Shchedrin Piano Concertos from Marc-André Hamelin (‘a top recommendation’—Fanfare, USA), and In Praise of Woman from Anthony Rolfe Johnson (‘unreservedly recommended’—Gramophone). If you don't know them already, a track from each is included on our monthly sampler which is free to download.

Newly paired on Signum Classics are the fine 1990s recordings of Richard Strauss' Duet-Concertino & Capriccio Prelude by the Academy of London, now presented alongside the Clarinet Concerto & Appalachian Spring Suite by Aaron Copland as recorded by the Royal Northern Sinfonia. Ernst Ottensamer is the clarinet soloist and Richard Stamp the conductor throughout.