Lebrecht’s Album of the Week

Musical no man’s lands

Two violin concertos fail to inspire

A masterpiece in miniature

Taneyev, Schumann: Piano quintets (Signum)

Playfulness and tedium

Stravinsky, Petrushka; Debussy, Jeux and Prelude (Decca)

Beethoven: Nine symphonies+ (Decca)

This Beethoven gift set is not for Christmas. It is for life

Whisperings of the cruel sea

Britten: Concertos (Orfeo)

A talented pianist and a battered piano

Bezhod Abduraimov: Shadows of my ancestors (Alpha-Classics)

What became of Tchaikovsky?

Tchaikovsky: 5th symphony etc (ICA Classics)

Essential all-embracing warmth

Gidon Kremer: Songs of Fate (ECM)

The light and the insubstantial

Poulenc and others: Chamber music (Calliope/DG)

Laid-back Bach

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: Württemburg sonatas (ECM)