Classical Highlights for September 2025

What is in the current batch of new albums deemed by our reviewers as worthy of a listen? There's a recording of Mozart's music sung by baritone Georg Nigl accompanied by Alexander Gergelyfi on a clavichord owned by Mozart himself. The vocal ensemble Gesualdo Six (pictured) put together another outstanding program on its new album Radiant Dawn. A somewhat dramatic presentation of Domenico Scarlatti's sonatas is given by pianist Javier Perianes, while the Miró Quartet surveys the music of Albert Ginastera and tenor Nicky Spence sings rarely heard Czech art songs.

Thomas Adès, Hallé - Thomas Adès: Shanty; Dawn; Tower - for Frank Gehry; Aquifer; Oliver Leith: Cartoon Sun; William Mars
Apollo Chamber Players - Ban: Stories of Censorship
Avi Avital, Between Worlds - Song of the Birds
Emanuel Ax, Leonidas Kavakos, Yo-Yo Ma - Beethoven for Three: Symphony No. 1; Op. 70, No. 1 "Ghost"; Op. 11 "Gassenhauer"
Brian Balkwill, Edith Coates, Edward Byles - Grace Williams: The Parlour
Rachel Barton Pine, Pacifica Quartet, Orion Weiss - French Impressions: Chamber Music by Chausson & Tailleferre
Frieder Bernius, Kammerchor Stuttgart, Barockorchester Stuttgart - Jan Dismas Zelenka: Missa Gratias agimus tibi
Fabio Biondi, Europa Galante - Locatelli: 6 Introduttioni Teatrali
Sarah Cahill - Birds & Insects: Arlene Sierra, Vol. 4
Can Çakmur - Schubert + Beethoven
Federico Colli - Mozart, Vol. 2
Continuum Ensemble, Timothy Long - Brian Current: MISSING
Marianne Crebassa, Anna Prohaska, George Benjamin - Picture a day like this
Alena Dantcheva, Yannick Debus, Il Gusto Barocco, Jörg Halubek - Antonia Bembo: L'Ercole amante
Joyce DiDonato, Michael Spyres, Il Pomo d'Oro, Maxim Emelyanychev - Purcell: Dido & Aeneas
Eva Maria Doroszkowska - Baltic Tides: Lūcija Garūta, Ester Mägi
Gustavo Dudamel, Alisa Weilerstein, Los Angeles Philharmonic - Gabriela Ortiz: Yanga
Ember - Birds of Paradise
Exaudi Vocal Ensemble, James Weeks - Chromatic Renaissance
Lisa Friend, Rohan De Silva - An American Affair: American Works for Flute
Silvia Frigato, Andrea De Carlo, Ensemble Mare Nostrum - Alessandro Stradella: Un angelo del Paradiso - The Orrigoni Songbook
Rumon Gamba, Oulu Sinfonia - Pictures from Finland
Sophie Gent, Kathleen Kajioka, Ensemble Masques, Olivier Fortin - Bach, Telemann, Albinoni: Concerti
Jess Gillam, Jess Gillam Ensemble - PRISM, Vol. 2
David Goode - Mozart: Organ Works - Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge
Mak Grgic, Mateusz Kowalski - Slavic Sessions
Haitham Haidar - Zaytoun
Linda Hirst, Diego Masson, London Sinfonietta - Songs Cathy Sang: Music Composed for the Voice of Cathy Berberian
Martin Jones - Piano Music of Camargo Guarnieri
Jonas Kaufmann - Schumann: Dichterliebe & Kerner-Lieder
Anastasia Kobekina - Bach
Yunchan Lim - Tchaikovsky: The Seasons
Laura Lootens - Diabolico
Maya Magub, Matthew Schellhorn - Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Four Characteristic Waltzes
Samuel Mariño - Lumina
Monika Mauch, Ulrike Malotta, L'Arpa Festante, Thomas Gropper - Carl Loewe: Hiob
Steffan Morris, Alasdair Beatson - Brahms: Cello Sonatas; Stanford: Ballata
Kent Nagano, Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg - Johannes Brahms: Symphonies Nos 3 & 4
Paul Neubauer, Anne-Marie McDermott - Shostakovich: Cello Sonata; Impromptu; Viola Sonata
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Philadelphia Orchestra - William Grant Still: Symphonies Nos 2 & No. 4; Margaret Bond: The Montegomery Variations
Georg Nigl, Alexander Gergelyfi - Mozart's Clavichord: Arias, Lieder and Keyboard Pieces
Gianandrea Noseda, Vitalij Kowaljow, London Symphony Chorus, London Symphony Orchestra - Shostakovich: Symphony No. 13 "Babi Yar"
Orchestra of the Swan - Light and Shadow
Christopher O'Riley - J.S. Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II
Javier Perianes - Scarlatti
The Choir of Peterhouse, Cambridge, Simon Jackson - Music from the Peterhouse Partbooks
Alan Pierson, Choir of Trinity Wall Street, Silvana Quartet - Mary Kouyoumdjian: Adoration
Franziska Pietsch, Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, Jonathan Pasternack - Tides of Dance
Francis Poulenc - Poulenc Plays Poulenc and Satie
Professor Girlfriend - My Mother in Love: The Summer Sessions
Gilbert Rowland - Johann Jakob Froberger: Suites for Harpsichord, Vol. 4
Charlie Siem, Philharmonia Orchestra, Oleg Caetani - Brahms and Enescu
Signum Quartett - A Dark Flaring: Works for String Quartet from South Africa
Sollazzo Ensemble - Leuven Chansonnier, Vol. 3 & 4: Le Cueur vous demeure
Sphinx Virtuosi - American Mirror
Hansjacob Staemmler, Muriel Cantoreggi, Johannes Erkes, Juris Teichmanis - Franz Xaver Mozart: Piano Quartet, Op. 1; Violin Sonatas, Opp. 7 & 15
St. Martin's Voices, Andrew Eari - Lucy Walker: Choral Works
St. Martin's Voices, Andrew Earis - Ned Rorem: Choral Works
John Storgårds, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Hallé Choir - Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos 1 and 3 'The First of May'; Two Scherzos
Manami Suzuki - Bach, Haydn, Schubert, Szymanowski
La Tempête, Simon-Pierre Bestion - Orlando: A Melancholic Portrait
Various Artists - Tobias Picker: Nova
Debbie Wiseman - Ten: Memories for Solo Piano
Yuval Zorn - Masques Images Hommages: Rameau, Szymanowski, Debussy