Reflections on mortality may be the inspiration behind Vida breve, the latest release from Stephen Hough, but—as with everything this remarkable musician undertakes—the results are emphatically, passionately, life-affirming. Highlights include major works by Bach/Busoni, Chopin, Liszt and Hough himself (a pianist-composer very much in their tradition), and February's Record of the Month is another distinguished addition to a long line of brilliantly planned and executed recitals.

Now nearing the end of its complete cycle, The London Haydn Quartet presents Haydn String Quartets Op 76, his last (and perhaps greatest) set of six. This is the composer at his most sublimely, abundantly inventive, and the members of the LHQ, with their 'immaculate technique, urbane humanity and perfect period manners' (The Sunday Times), again prove ideal interpreters. Similarly fluent performances can also be taken for granted from The Brabant Ensemble and their director Stephen Rice in a collection of Josquin Motets and Mass movements, marking the quincentenary of the composer's death.

An occasional series dedicated to choice selections of our all-time favourite recordings—ones you might possibly have missed? This time: Piano Concertos by Cipriani Potter from Howard Shelley (‘another gem from Hyperion’s Romantic piano concerto series’—The Guardian), Songs by Václav Jan Křtitel Tomášek from Renata Pokupić (‘little gems’—The Guardian), and David Briggs's Mass for Notre Dame from Trinity College Choir Cambridge (‘I’m not ashamed to say I had tears in my eyes’—Gramophone). If you don't know them already, a track from each is included on our monthly sampler which is free to download.

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.

Two contrasting orchestral albums from Signum Classics this month. The BBC Philharmonic and conductor Jac van Steen have recorded A vision of the sea & other works by David Matthews: richly melodious music from one of the UK's leading symphonists. While Timelapse from the Orchestra of the Swan scythes through conventions of stylistic propriety to create a fascinating aural tapestry from some surprising source materials.