For pianists of the calibre of Marc-André Hamelin, the concept of 'standard repertoire' simply does not exist; the wealth of interpretative intelligence and understanding such musicians bring to bear on works as familiar as the late Schubert Piano Sonata & Impromptus always guarantee that the listener will experience the music afresh. This is an indispensable Record of the Month for May. Much less familiar fare, Piano Concertos Nos 8 & 9 by Ferdinand Ries introduce the music of a pupil, secretary and youthful companion of Beethoven to the ranks of the Romantic Piano Concerto series, now reaching its three-quarter-century mark. Piers Lane is the familiar and ever-welcome presence at the keyboard, here accompanied by Leon Botstein and The Orchestra Now, both making their Hyperion debuts. While the extremes of Romantic introspection and excess gloriously evoked in Berlioz's Harold in Italy are eagerly embraced by Lawrence Power—whose viola takes on the role of Byron's eponymous hero—and the Bergen Philharmonic conducted by Andrew Manze.

Two albums of vocal riches from earlier centuries complete this month's releases. The Orlando Consort present the fifth volume of their important—and comprehensive—survey of the music of the fourteenth century's greatest composer-poet with Machaut Fortune's Child, and, for those yet to discover the glories of Hyperion's Tallis recordings with Andrew Carwood and The Cardinall's Musick, a single highlights album of the Tallis Votive Antiphons provides the perfect introduction.

A new album from St John's College Choir Cambridge presents the Vaughan Williams Mass in G minor & other choral works. Andrew Nethsingha conducts these heartfelt performances in the choir's latest collaboration with Signum.

Paul McCreesh and the Gabrieli Consort have returned to the studio for Signum to record A Rose Magnificat. The programme of sacred English music leaps the centuries from the glories of the Eton Choirbook through to newly commissioned premieres and is an admirable foil to Silence & Music, the group's 2017 survey of the English secular tradition.

From Signum Classics this month we have a double album of Mozart in London, a compendium of early works penned by the young Wolfgang during his fifteen-month stay in England alongside fascinating examples of the music which he is likely to have heard in the thriving city of the 1760s. Ian Page conducts The Mozartists. Alessio Bax has recorded Beethoven Piano Concerto No 5 & works for solo piano, the 'Emperor' accompanied by the pioneering Southbank Sinfonia under Simon Over.

A welcome reissue from LSO Live brings together the Rachmaninov Symphonies & Symphonic Dances, these acclaimed recordings originally laid down by Valery Gergiev and the London Symphony Orchestra between 2008 and 2015.

And finally, one for the child in all of us: The Nutcracker and I is a piano-and-narrator version of Tchaikovsky's ballet performed by Alexandra Dariescu and Lindsey Russell, a new working of the familiar story coming from author Jessica Duchen.