Alban Gerhardt has joined forces with the WDR Sinfonieorchester and conductor Andrew Manze to record the Elgar & Dvořák Cello Concertos, two stalwarts of the repertoire. The album benefits from the gorgeous acoustic of the Cologne Philharmonie, and performances from both cellist and orchestra are of the highest order.

Mahan Esfahani continues his mission to bring contemporary dazzle to the most seminal of repertoire, unleashing his turbo-charged harpsichord on the The Complete Keyboard Concertos of Johann Sebastian Bach. For this eighth instalment of his cycle, Mahan is joined by a team from the Britten Sinfonia, a deliberate choice to employ modern instruments for this most ground-breaking of repertoire.

Taking its title from a thrilling new piece by Joby Talbot, Wishing Tree is the latest album from The Gesualdo Six. As ever, director Owain Park has put together a sequence of music which effortlessly juxtaposes familiar folksong arrangements with new works by a host of up-and-coming composers, creating a whole which has been a popular concert programme for the group over many years. It’s our Record of the Month for June.

A welcome new boxed-set from Hyperion brings us The Complete String Quartets of Joseph Haydn on 20 CDs. These acclaimed performances from The London Haydn Quartet combine historically informed performance practice with performing editions published during Haydn’s own lifetime: ‘No one who loves this glorious music could have hoped for a better finish … the more I returned to these performances, the more I found myself warming to their fantasy, their disciplined spontaneity and their cumulative insights’ (Gramophone).

Naruhiko Kawaguchi has recorded a programme quietly entitled A journey with Beethoven, deliberately eschewing the canonic sonatas in favour of the wealth of shorter character pieces Beethoven wrote throughout his life. These then become the showcase for three remarkable fortepianos, the Signum engineers travelling with Kawaguchi down to the Finchcocks Collection in Kent for the privilege.

New releases from Signum Classics this month bring us a second instalment from Peter Donohoe in his Haydn Keyboard Works series: two discs with nine Sonatas, the G major Partita and more. And Nigel Short and Tenebrae have recorded In between & other choral works by Jessica Ulusoy-Horsley, vibrant new compositions which effortlessly reach across different musical traditions and cultures.

Roderick Williams has teamed up with the Carducci Quartet to record his own new arrangement of Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin, the familiar piano accompaniment intriguingly recast for the wide tonal palette of a string quartet. The result is a distinguished and insightful new version of this classic work. Also on Signum Classics we have Shostakovich: Symphony No 1 & Suite from Moscow, Cheryomushki. These ebullient works are the latest in Santtu-Matias Rouvali’s series at the helm of the Philharmonia Orchestra.

A new release from historical piano label APR brings us a three-CD set comprising The complete KAPP recordings of Ann Schein. Recorded between 1958 and 1960, the repertoire includes concertos by Chopin and Rachmaninov (Nos 2 & 3 respectively, Sir Eugene Goossens conducting the Vienna State Opera Orchestra), plus some electrifying performances of solo Chopin and more.

Marios Papadopoulos initiates a new compendium on Signum Classics with Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas Op 31. This is the first mainstream release of these highly regarded recordings, previously available via Oxford Philomusica: ‘Everything has time to breathe and tell; this is supremely civilized Beethoven … the reverse of the hardened virtuoso he makes you love and re-consider music you thought you had always known’ (Bryce Morrison).