The disarming simplicity of French duets—a magical collection of works mostly written for children—conceals the musical depths which are very much the preserve of grown-up pianists. March's Record of the Month brings together two of today's greatest, Paul Lewis and Steven Osborne, whose long-standing partnership always guarantees very special results. In complete musical contrast, the technical demands which Ligeti's 18 Études make on the player verge on the superhuman: Danny Driver joins a brilliant and fearless few able to rise to the challenge of these endlessly fascinating works.

A second Hyperion release from El León de Oro looks set to repeat the success of the first, praised by Gramophone for its spirit of 'joyful adventure'. A wide-ranging programme of a Magnificat, Lamentations and Canciones by Francisco Guerrero sees the conducting duties shared between Peter Phillips, for the Latin-texted polyphony, and the choir's founder Marco Antonio García de Paz, who directs a vibrant selection of Spanish Canciones.

An occasional series dedicated to choice selections of our all-time favourite recordings—ones you might possibly have missed? This time: Vieuxtemps Violin Concertos from Chloë Hanslip (‘I really feel a smile coming out of the loudspeakers’—BBC Music Magazine), Intimations of Immortality & Dies natalis by Gerald Finzi from John Mark Ainsley and the Corydon Singers (‘rich, glowing performances in a class apart’—BBC Music Magazine), and Poulenc's Gloria & Motets from Polyphony and Stephen Layton (‘music-making of immense power and vibrancy’—Gramophone). If you don't know them already, a track from each is included on our monthly sampler which is free to download.

New from Signum Classics is Oliver Davis' Solace, a sixth album from this British composer, and one featuring a diverse selection of works. Whether writing for strings, pianos or voices, or creating a new guitar concerto, his is a compositional voice of distinctive character.

Subtitled 'Baroque Instrumental Music from the Italian States', Settecento finds Adrian Chandler leading the musical alchemists of La Serenissima on a whirlwind tour through the Kingdom of Naples, the Republic of Venice and the Papal States of Bologna, in a programme of works by Dall'Abaco, Vandini, Mancini, Vivaldi and more. Also for Signum, the Julian Bliss Septet has recorded I got rhythm. Centred, of course, on the inimitable legacy of George Gershwin, the album also takes in classics by Benny Goodman, Art Hickman and others.

New from LSO Live this month we have a thrilling programme of Shostakovich Symphonies Nos 9 & 10, two of the composer's most paradoxical works. Recorded live at the Barbican in 2018 and 2020, conductor Gianandrea Noseda draws from his mammoth London Symphony Orchestra forces performances every bit worthy of their place in this ongoing cycle.

The expert voices of Contrapunctus and director Owen Rees continue their exploration of the Baldwin Partbooks with The Sweetest Songs—the third and final instalment of this series on Signum Classics. The programme examines the genre of the 'Psalm-motet', hugely influential in sixteenth-century England but rather less familiar to modern audiences, with several first recordings. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra has recorded Symphonies Nos 6 & 7 by Christopher Gunning, the composer himself once more taking the podium. By way of contrast between the symphonies, the album also includes the tone poem Night voyage.