Classical Highlights for May 2026

This past month there seemed to be a sizeable amount of very good keyboard music, as well as opera or opera-adjacent recordings. Nikolai Lugansky (pictured) gives masterful readings of three of Schumann's large piano compositions, while harpsichordist Pierre Gallon selects pieces to accompany the nighttime hours before dawn, and Claire Huangci plays music by German and American female composers. In the operatic realm, Raymond J. Lustig has written a short opera about Dr. Ignaz Semmelweiss, an early practitioner of antiseptic procedures. Then there's the live recital by current Metropolitan Opera star soprano Lise Davidsen, a rare kind of use of that house's stage. Jules Massenet is largely known for his operas, but a second volume of his songs was recently released with conductor Pierre Dumoussaud leading the Ochestre de l'Opéra Normandie Rouen.

May Classical Reviews

Sophia Agranovich - A Reverie of the Soul: Piano Works by Robert Schumann
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Manchester Camerata, Gábor Takács-Nagy - Mozart: Piano Concertos, Vol. 12
Nicola Benedetti - Violin Café
Michael Stephen Brown - Michael Stephen Brown: Twelve Blocks
Clara Brunet, Bor Zuljan - Mr Dowland's Dream
Laura Catrani, Accademia dell'Annunciata, Riccardo Doni - Barbara Strozzi. Virtuosissima Sirena
Bertrand Chamayou, Leif Ove Andsnes - Schubert 4 Hands
Shura Cherkassky - Shura Cherkassky: Nimbus Rediscovered Recordings, Vol. 1
Chiaroscuro Quartet - Beethoven: String Quartets, Op. 59 Nos. 1 & 2
Cupertinos, Luís Toscano - Francisco Garro: Masses – O Quam Pulchra Es & Cantate Domino
Lise Davidsen, James Baillieu - Live at the Met
Hannah De Priest, Les Délices, Debra Nagy - Arcadian Dreams
Joyce DiDonato, Time for Three - Kevin Puts: Emily – No Prisoner Be
Elsa Dreisig - Invocation
Gustavo Dudamel, Los Angeles Philharmonic - Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet
Pierre Dumoussaud, Orchestre de l'Opéra Normandie Rouen - Massenet: Songs with Orchestra II
Mark Elder, Hallé - Huw Watkins: Fanfare; Symphony No. 2; Concerto for Orchestra
Laurence Equilbey, Insula Camerata, Insula Orchestra - Beethoven Extended: Symphony No. 5 - Performed by a double orchestra
Isabelle Faust, Alexander Melnikov - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Sonatas for Fortepiano & Violin, Vol. 4
Pierre Gallon- After Dark: A Midnight Fantasia
Rumon Gamba, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra - Overtures from the British Isles, Vol. 3
Giancarlo Guerrero, Peter Otto, Nashville Symphony - Kip Winger: Symphony of the Returning Light; Violin Concerto 'In the Language of Flowers'
Kenneth Hamilton - Kenneth Hamilton plays Liszt, Vol. 3: Demonic and Divine
Nicolas Horvath - Assassin's Creed: The Piano Collection
Claire Huangci - Piano Heroines: Hensel, Wieck, Beach, Price
Ermonela Jaho, Carlo Rizzi - Donizetti: Songs, Vol. 6
Paavo Järvi, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich - Mahler: Symphony No. 7
Robert Jindra, Adriana Kucerová, Katerina Knezíková - Smetana: The Two Widows
Isata Kanneh-Mason - Prokofiev
Adam Klemens, FILMharmonic Orchestra Prague - Dave Soldier: Vipers at the Onyx
Pekka Kuusisto, Sam Amidon, Norwegian Chamber Orchestra - Willows
Piers Lane, Goldner String Quartet, Umberto Clerici - Carl Vine: Child's Play
Leonkoro Quartet - Out of Vienna: Berg, Webern, Schulhoff
Nikolai Lugansky - Robert Schumann: Fantasie, Op. 17; Carnival Scenes from Vienna; Humoreske
Cristian Măcelaru, Orchestre National de France - Elsa Barraine: Symphonies 1 & 2 "Voïna"; Song-Koï; Les Tziganes
Evangelina Mascardi, Estrovagante, Riccardo Doni - Beyond Vivaldi: Lute Concertos
Nicoholas McGegan, Cantata Collective - Bach: St. Matthew Passion
Charlotte Mundy - Raymond J. Lustig/Matthew Doherty: Semmelweis
Anne-Sophie Mutter - My London
Anne-Sophie Mutter - East Meets West
Joseph Nolan - The Complete Alkan Organ Works, Vol. 1
ORA Singers, Suzi Digby - Songs of Angels
Seiji Ozawa, Boston Symphony Orchestra - Respighi: Pini di Roma; Feste Romane; Fontane di Roma
Antonio Pappano, London Symphony Orchestra - Vaughan Williams: Symphonies Nos. 5 & 9
Luciano Pavarotti - Luciano Pavarotti Sings Tenor Arias
Piatti Quartet - Phantasy: Vaughan Williams, Boyle, Howells, etc.
Aline Piboule - Archipel: Claude Debussy - La Mer; John Ireland - Sarnia
Sarah Plum - an expanding distance of multiple voices
Pygmalion, Raphaël Pichon - Johann Sebastian Bach: Johannes-Passion
Quatuor Arod - Haydn: Op. 76
Pascal Rogé - Fauré: 13 Barcarolles; Dolly Suite
Randall Scotting, Academy of Ancient Music, Laurence Cummings - Divine Impresario: Nicolini on Stage
Gil Shaham, Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Eric Jacobsen - Coleridge-Taylor, Dvořák, Stewart
Orli Shaham, Members of Pacific Symphony - American Tapestry
Sean Shibe - Vesper
Johanna Soller, Capella Sollertia - Johann Ludwig Bach: The Leipzig Cantatas
Yeol Eum Son, Going Home Project - Ravel: Complete Chamber Music II
Turtle Island String Quartet - Island Prayers
Jörg Widmann, Irish Chamber Orchestra - Invitation: Mozart, Mendelssohn & Schumann
Keri-Lynn Wilson, Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra - Beethoven: Symphony No. 5; Kolomiiets: Suite from "The Mothers of Kherson"
Kenneth Woods, BBC National Orchestra of Wales - Christopher Gunning: Symphonies Nos. 8 & 9
Kazuki Yamada, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra - William Walton: Symphonies 1 & 2; Orb and Sceptre
Esther Yoo, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Long Yu - Love Symposium
Jovita Zöhl, Philipp Kronbichler, Peter Degenhardt, John McAlpine, Friedrich Jaecker - Morton Feldman: Complete Works for Multiple Pianos