For November 2015 Alina Ibragimova has recorded the two Bach Violin Concertos, a Record of the Month of Baroque grandeur which also includes highly convincing violin re-imaginings of three concertos nowadays better known in other guises. Dramatic orchestral support comes from crack band Arcangelo and conductor Jonathan Cohen.

Two contrasting solo piano recordings this month: Stephen Hough returns joyfully to the studio in the company of two Slavic eccentrics to present a diverse programme of Scriabin & Janáček Sonatas & Poems, while Markus Becker steps into the Lisztian world of the Sonatas by Julius Reubke, the single one for piano and a fascinating transcription of the immense—and seminal—organ sonata (both works completed shortly before the composer's death at the age of twenty-four).

Jeffrey Skidmore has spent the last few years delving into all things Brazilian and transmits a highly infectious enthusiasm to the expert singers and instrumentalists of Ex Cathedra: Brazilian Adventures includes two Mass settings and a host of smaller discoveries. Meanwhile—in the frost-bejewelled fenlands of East Anglia—Stephen Layton and Trinity College Choir don their warmest bedsocks and snuggle up with a (slightly alcoholic) festive hot chocolate for Yulefest!—Christmas Music from Trinity College Cambridge, a veritable smörgåsbord of carols old, new and mashed-up—and a showcase of choral singing at its best.

The Tallis Scholars and Peter Phillips have recorded the Missa Corona spinea by John Taverner. Two years ago Gimell released the Missa Gloria tibi Trinitas which received exceptional reviews and was number 1 in the UK Specialist Classical Album Chart for 6 weeks; this new recording will not disappoint.

LSO Live celebrates Sir Simon Rattle's debut recording for the label in grand style, as he conducts the London Symphony Orchestra in Das Paradies und die Peri by Robert Schumann, a work as under-performed as it is magisterial. Under Valery Gergiev the orchestra launches a valedictory mini-cycle with thunderous Scriabin Symphonies Nos 3 & 4.

Two EPs (or whatever the digital equivalent is) this month: on LSO Live the distinguished Maria João Pires performs Beethoven Piano Concerto No 2, Bernard Haitink lending his expertise to the London Symphony Orchestra.

Crack chamber choir Tenebrae has returned to the Signum Classics studios to enjoy A Very English Christmas: twenty-two medievally infused carols by twentieth-century English composers. Rebecca Miller marshalls an enthusiastic Royal Northern Sinfonia for three Haydn Symphonies, Nos 52, 53 ('L'impériale') and 59 (the 'Fire' symphony). Julian Bliss has engaged Ailish Tynan and Christopher Glynn for a recital entitled The shepherd on the rock, a Romantic mêlée of soprano and clarinet and a thoroughly enjoyable listen. Seasons is a 'fusion' album: the violin of Kerenza Peacock fizzes in the Vivaldi 'Four Seasons' while soprano Grace Davidson soars through Oliver Davis' vocal re-imagining Anno; the Trafalgar Sinfonia sparkles throughout.