Angela Hewitt's contribution to the great man's sestercentennial is predictably fine: Beethoven Variations, a programme of comparatively lesser-known works for solo piano, demonstrates all of this remarkable pianist's poise, wit and profound musical intelligence to perfection. October's Record of the Month is one of pure, civilized pleasure from start to finish. Much the same could be said of Johann Baptist Cramer Piano Concertos Nos 1, 3 & 6, a second Hyperion volume of works by a distinguished contemporary of Beethoven and the seventh in our Classical Piano Concerto series. Howard Shelley, directing the London Mozart Players from the keyboard, displays his usual immaculate pianism.

The radiant textures of Jaakko Mäntyjärvi's Choral Music exert a powerful and immediate appeal, the contemporary Finnish composer's musical language a distinctive fusion of ancient and modern. His extensive Evensong setting evolved with performances by Stephen Layton and Trinity College Choir Cambridge in mind and the results are outstanding, as only to be expected in recordings from this source. And with volume 10 of The Complete Songs of Johannes Brahms an important Hyperion series comes to an end. Mezzo-soprano Sophie Rennert joins Graham Johnson in a recital spanning four decades of Brahms's creative life, from his debut as a Lieder composer in 1853 to a selection of the German folksongs published in his final years.

A new recording from LSO Live brings us Janáček The cunning little vixen & Sinfonietta, the former recorded live during semi-staged performances at the Barbican in 2019. The outstanding cast includes Lucy Crowe, Gerald Finley and Sophia Burgos, and Sir Simon Rattle draws from this charming and melodious score an enthusiastic response from his London Symphony Orchestra forces.

On Signum Classics, the Philharmonia Orchestra makes its first recording with Principal Conductor Designate Santtu-Matias Rouvali. The programme of excerpts from Tchaikovsky Swan Lake well serves to remind how richly this work deserves its place as a staple of the ballet repertoire. And Elizabeth Sombart completes her cycle of Beethoven Piano Concertos with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Pierre Vallet, here performing the mighty No 5 alongside the popular 'Triple' Concerto with orchestra principals Duncan Riddell and Richard Harwood.

Newly restored to its place in the treasured family of Collegium recordings is A banquet of voices – Music for multiple choirs. John Rutter conducts The Cambridge Singers in a sumptuous programme with the dazzling Tallis 40-part motet as its centrepiece. Also included are Allegri's Miserere and the most magnificent of Bach's six motets, Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied.

Flare & other works by Joanna Marsh, the composer's debut album on Signum, brings together a selection of music, mainly choral but also for orchestra or band, and much of it inspired by the architecture and culture of the Middle East where she now lives. The enthusiastically contributing artists include the BBC Singers & Symphony Orchestra, Onyx Brass and Royal Holloway Choir. Toby Young's Beowulf—variously narrated by Timothy West and Elin Manahan Thomas—is a new musical telling of the ancient story. Christopher Monks directs the Armonico Consort and a small army of children's voices. Requiem & other works by Borodin is a re-issue on the Cala Signum imprint and finds Geoffrey Simon and the Philharmonia Orchestra once again exploring the furthest reaches of the repertoire.

On the King's Cambridge label, former organ scholar of the college Parker Ramsay seats himself alone in the great chapel and performs his own arrangement for harp—his first instrument—of the great Bach Goldberg Variations. The result is both brainy and beautiful for, as Ramsay notes, the harp 'is a plucked instrument like the harpsichord, but is sensitive to pressure, like the piano'.

The London Chamber Orchestra and conductor Christopher Warren-Green make a welcome return to Signum with three sublime works for string orchestra by Vaughan Williams, Dvořák & Suk. Recorded live in 2019, this celebrated concert at London's Cadogan Hall fully captures the quintessential Englishness of the 'Tallis Fantasia' before exploring the connections between two delightful Czech serenades. All things are quite silent is the debut commercial recording for The Choirs of Pembroke College Cambridge and their trailblazing conductor Anna Lapwood. The programme comprises much of the choirs' favourite music, a good proportion of it relatively obscure.

A second Signum EP in their series The Library once again gives The King's Singers the opportunity to set down old favourites alongside new arrangements, here ranging from a Japanese lullaby to a new work by James MacMillan via, of course, The Beatles and Freddie Mercury …