Celebrating the sesquicentenary of his birth, Homage to Godowsky is a generous tribute to one of the greatest and most influential pianists in history. A programme of limpid, iridescent miniatures from the composer's colleagues and friends—a veritable Who's Who of composer-pianists of the age—this is repertoire which presents formidable challenges to the pianist, and not merely technical. It hardly needs adding that such challenges are relished by the brilliant Andrey Gugnin, making April's Record of the Month an essential purchase for all lovers of superlative piano playing. No fewer than three new releases offer contrasting yet complementary perspectives on the human voice. Fading is a profound musical response to the Office of Compline: crossing cultures and centuries, Owain Park and The Gesualdo Six present a selection of works which perfectly capture the darkling light and close of day.

With Missa Hortus conclusus, Magnificat & motets by Juan Esquivel the all-male voices of De Profundis turn to a figure who was, until recently, one of the great unknowns from the Golden Age of Spanish music. The dissemination of works discovered within a sizeable single volume from 1613 (the origin of much of the present release) has revealed a composer fully worthy to stand alongside his more famous contemporaries. Eamonn Dougan conducts. And tenor Robin Tritschler, a rising star of the lieder world, is the latest to join an impressive roster of soloists in Hyperion's Complete Brahms Songs edition. Again for this ninth volume, Graham Johnson's multiple contributions—as accompanist, curator and authoritative essayist—add to the attractions of an indispensable series.

LSO Live are this month re-issuing Gianandrea Noseda's 2016 recording of Shostakovich Symphony No 5, newly paired with a performance of the composer's precocious Symphony No 1 given in 2019. Composed when he was just eighteen, this is the work which propelled Shostakovich into the international spotlight. An ebullient London Symphony Orchestra revels in both works.

Varied choral fare from Signum Classics. Select members past and present of Nigel Short's elite choir Tenebrae have recorded Couperin's Leçons de ténèbres and the first set of Gesualdo Tenebrae Responsories, two works of mesmerizing intensity. Conductor Jonathan Griffith has assembled massed choirs and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to record Messiah … Refreshed!, a full-throated re-imagining of the extravagant Goossens/Beecham vision of Handel's masterpiece. Baroque oboists need not apply. And David Hill and The Bach Choir join forces with Finchley Children's Music Group for Will Todd's Lights, Stories, Noise, Dreams, Love and Noodles, a vivacious new collaboration with children's poetry crusader Michael Rosen.

The Bach St Matthew Passion is one of the very pinnacles of Western music: over a decade in the making, this adornment to Good Friday Vespers in early eighteenth-century Leipzig retains to this day an emotional power with few rivals. The Choir of King's College Cambridge, the Academy of Ancient Music and Sir Stephen Cleobury recorded this beautifully paced performance for the choir's own label in April 2019, the more-than-distinguished soloists headed up by Evangelist James Gilchrist.

Llŷr Williams continues his traversal of Schubert Piano Music with a sixth instalment featuring three of the earlier sonatas: D575 in B major, D664 in A major and D784 in A minor, dating from 1817, 1819 and 1823 respectively. As with other volumes, this Signum album was recorded live in concert in Cardiff.

It is hard to believe that forty years have passed since The Tallis Scholars made their still-definitive recording of the Allegri Miserere. To mark the occasion, the Gimell engineers have returned to the original mastertapes to make possible this gloriously remastered, and ultra-high-definition, re-issue of a much-loved classic. Then as now Peter Phillips conducts and the album includes Mundy's expansive Vox Patris caelestis and a sublime rendition of Palestrina's Missa Papae Marcelli.

Blessing & other choral works by Paul Mealor offers the perfect platform for conductor Mark Singleton and the New England choral ensemble Voce to make their debut recording for Signum Classics: music of unconditional peace and profound joy in performances of great integrity. A fifth volume in Llŷr Williams's live Schubert Piano Music cycle presents two of the composer's most appealing contributions to the genre: the characterful D845 in A minor and D894 in G major. The first two Beethoven Piano Concertos have been recorded by Elizabeth Sombart and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, also for Signum. Pierre Vallet conducts this new mini series, the other volumes of which will follow later in the year.