Very special repertoire demands equally select artistry, and May's Record of the Month offers a tantalizing prospect on both counts. Steven Osborne brings all his formidable musical intelligence to bear on Beethoven Piano Sonatas Opp 109, 110 & 111 and the music-making is everything that could and should be expected: here is a pianist completely attuned to, and at the service of, the composer's profoundest thoughts. A deliciously Francophile confection of Saint-Saëns Symphony No 2, Danse macabre & Urbs Roma comes courtesy of Thierry Fischer and the Utah Symphony, who return with a second instalment in Hyperion's mini-series featuring some seriously neglected, and hugely enjoyable, orchestral works.

The music may have been written six centuries ago, but the perennial problems of existence addressed by Dufay Lament for Constantinople & other songs may strike the listener as (strangely?) familiar, as The Orlando Consort deplore their various woes: principally love, drink and lack of money. Happily, these haven't affected their singing and the fifteenth century springs vividly to life in an extraordinary recital of secular songs. Very different voices are raised in Choral works by Bairstow, Harris & Stanford; all figures central to the Anglican choral tradition of the past hundred years, and the same might be said of the performers here. Westminster Abbey Choir—conducted by James O'Donnell—is steeped in the performance history of this music and brings to it a natural and persuasive authority.

Paul McCreesh marshals nigh-on apocalyptic forces—Gabrielis Consort, Players & Roar—for An English Coronation 1902-1953, this new Signum album a summation of this most spectacular of ceremonies. The Albion Quartet makes its recording debut, and auspiciously launches a new cycle, with Dvořák String Quartets Nos 5 & 12, here coupled with Suk's perennially popular Meditation on 'St Wenceslas'.

A new recording from St John's College Choir Cambridge on Signum marks 150 years since the consecration of the college's iconic Victorian chapel. Locus iste, also the choir's 100th album, charts musical highlights from all fifteen of the intervening decades.

The Colin Currie Group—on the percussionist's own label—took centre-stage at a festival of all things Reich held in December 2017. Colin Currie & Steve Reich Live at Fondation Louis Vuitton is the distillation of the three thrill-bent concerts which ensued, and includes the rarely heard Proverb with the wonderful Synergy Vocals riding on a bed of vibraphone and electric organ.

The Easter story is brought to eclectic life on SDG with Love is come again. Sir John Eliot Gardiner and The Monteverdi Choir interweave the centuries in a series of tableaux which take us from Good Friday through to Jesus' appearance at the lake side, with music from the pinnacles of the Renaissance set in often startling poses.

The Huddersfield Choral Society returns on glorious form to Signum Classics for The Hymns Album, Vol. 2, twenty-four further glimpses into the culture of a nation over the generations. Gregory Batsleer conducts. The Complete Choral Works by Maurice Duruflé have been recorded by the Houston Chamber Choir under their director Robert Simpson. The composer may have written surprisingly little for choir, but with treasures such as his Requiem an enduring position in the canonic literature remains assured.