NORBERT MORET: TriptyquepourlesFêtes1; Gastlosen2; Mendiant du Ciel bleu3. 1The Tallis Scholars; 2Fritz Muggler organ); 3Béatrice Haldas (sop), Philippe Huttenlocher (bar), Nederlandse Omroep Stichting of Hilversum, Maitrise de St-Pierre aux Liens of Bulle, Düdingen Women's Choir; Heiner Kühner, Catherine Moret, Claudia Schneuwly (organs), Basle Radio Symphony Orchestra c. Armin Jordan. Musiques Suisses MGB CD 6199.

ROLF LIEBERMANN: Furioso for orchestra1; Geigy Festival Concerto2; Medea-Monolog3; Les Echanges4; Concerto for Jazz Band and Symphony Orchestra5. 3Rachael Tovey (sop), 3Darmstadt Concert Choir; 2Alfons Grieder (perc); 1,2,5Simon Nabatov (pno); 5NDR Big Band, 1–5Bremen Philharmonic Orchestra c. Günter Neuhold. Naxos 8.555884.

BETTINA SKRZYPCZAK: Scène1; Miroirs2; Fantasie for oboe3; SN 1993 J4; Toccata sospesa5; Concerto for Piano and Orchestra6. 1Noemi Schindler (vln), Christophe Roy (vlc); 2Mireille Capelle mezzo-sop), Ensemble Contrechamps of Geneva; 3Matthias Arter (oboe); 4Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonia of Zlin c. Monica Buckland Hofstetter; 5Verena Bosshart (fl), Riccardo Bologna, Eduardo Leandro (perc); 6Massimiliano Damerini (pno), Philharmonische Werkstatt Schweiz c. Mario Venzago. Musikszene Schweiz Grammont Portrait MGB CTS-M 78.

RICHARD DUBUGNON: Piano Quartet1; Incantatio for cello and piano2; Trois Evocations finlandaises3; Cinq Masques for oboe4; Canonic Verses for Oboe, Cor Anglais and Oboe d'Amore5; Frenglish Suite for Wind Quintet6. 4,5Nicholas Daniel (ob), 5Emma Fielding (cor ang), 5Sai Kai (ob d'amore), 1Viv McLean (pno), 2Dominic Harlan (pno), 1Illka Lehtonen (vln), 1Julia Knight (vla), 1,2Matthew Sharp (vlc), 3Richard Dubugnon (db), 6Royal Academy Wind Soloists. Naxos 8.555778.

Picking the chocolate-coated plums – a traditional Polish treat – from the abundance of riches on offer at the 45th annual Warsaw Autumn Festival (20–28 September 2002) sets a delectable challenge. Most of the concerts were packed, and predominantly with young people; its events were held in venues ranging from the elegant National Philharmonic to the sleek Warsaw Stock Exchange; and a typically diverse range of contemporary music, programmed with insight and performed with great commitment, drew enthusiastic – and occasionally enthusiastically critical – responses from the audiences. Indeed, while the plentiful supply of complimentary chocolate bars from sponsors E. Wedel certainly helped sustain energy levels during the nine hectic days of events, the reflexive stylistic juxtapositions created this Autumn's true momentum.

Although Sofia Gubaidulina has been an avowedly religious composer throughout almost all her long career, her Passion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ according to St John, which received its UK première at the Proms on …August, is distinguished among her recent works in that it is not simply a work with a religious inspiration but an act of worship (despite the Russian Orthodox church's ban on instruments in its services).

LEES: Symphonies Nos. 2, 3 and 51; Etudes for piano and orchestra2. 1Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz c. Stephen Gunzenhauser, 2James Dick (pno), Texas Festival Orchestra c. Robert Spano. Albany TROY 564/565 (2-CDset).

LEES: Passacaglia. PERSICHETTI: Symphony No 4. DAUGHERTY: Philadelphia Stories; Hell's Angels. Oregon Symphony c. James De Preist. Delos DE 3291.

FLAGELLO: Symphony No. 1; Theme, Variations and Fugue; Sea Cliffs; Intermezzo. Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra c. David Amos. Naxos 8.559148.

HOVHANESS: Symphony No 22, City of Light1; Cello Concerto2. 2Janos Starker (vlc), Seattle Symphony c. 1Alan Hovhaness, 2Dennis Russell Davies. Naxos 8.559158.

HOVHANESS: Symphonies: No 2, Mysterious Mountain; No 50, Mount St Helens; No 66, Hymn to Glacier Peak; Storm on Mt Wildcat, op.2 no.2. Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra c. Gerard Schwarz. Telarc CD-80604.

WILL TODD: St. Cuthbert. Patricia Rozario (sop), John Hudson (ten), Graeme Danby (bass); orthern Sinfonia Chorus, Durham Singers, Hallé Choir and Orchestra c. Christopher Austin. Mawson & Wareham Northumbrian Anthology MWM CDSP 56 79. (Distribution www.mwmrecords.co.uk or call 0191 232 8765; also obtainable online from www.tyalgumpress.com)

I am no believer in historical determinism, nor am I a Scottish (or any other kind of) nationalist, but the fact that The Sixteen should commission James MacMillan to set anew the text used by Robert Carver in his 19-part motet O bone Jesu brings a profound satisfaction. No one else could have tidied up five-centuries-old loose ends as he. Carver (c. 1487–1566) was part of the dizzyingly rich flourishing of Scottish culture in the early years of the 16th century – a Catholic culture, doused by the dour sincerity of the Reformation (the MacTaliban, if you wish). MacMillan, a dry-eyed member of Scotland's Catholic minority, is the first composer since those days whose combination of faith and accomplishment allows him to pick up the glove torn from Carver's hand. His O bone Jesu – given its first public airing by The Sixteen under their founder-conductor Harry Chistophers at Southwark Cathedral on 10 October, at the outset of a year-long tour that takes them round the British Isles and to North America – may not quite reach Carver's Olympian heights (no other Scottish composer has achieved commensurate greatness) but it exploits a striking range of emotional reference nonetheless.

MYASKOVSKY: Symphonies Nos. 24 and 25. Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra c. Dmitri Yablonsky. Naxos 8.555376.

Nestling on the Kent coast between Ramsgate and Dover, the historic town of Deal is the distinctly pleasant home of a Summer Music Festival which in its 21 seasons has come to incorporate a fair amount of important contemporary music alongside more traditional offerings. This year's programme featured a welcome performance of the Seventh Piano Sonata (1956) by Harold Truscott (1914–92), marking the tenth anniversary of the death of this composer (resident in Deal from 1954); the world première of the choral work Town and Country (2002) by the Festival's new President, Kent-born Sir Richard Rodney Bennett (b.1936); and two compositions (and one arrangement) by David Matthews (b.1943), part-time Deal resident and the Festival's Artistic Director since 1989.

Oliver Knussen's Symphony in One Movement is his latest symphony. It is also his earliest – originally composed as the Concerto for Orchestra in 1969, and premièred by the 17-year old Knussen and the London Symphony Orchestra, with André Previn playing the flamboyant piano part. 33 years later, the piece has finally reached its definitive form, and Knussen conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra in its world première as part of an all-Knussen programme in celebration of his 50th birthday, at the Barbican Hall on 1 November.

‘Lace Knots and Variations, and the Power of Sacred Physic’

MAGUIRE: Così1,2; Per Acqua3; Lace Knots1,4; Cummings Lieder5,2; Invenzione4. Inno a Dio3; L'Altro Quartetto4. 1Cristina Mantese (sop), 2Elisabetta Bocchese (pno), 3A Cappella Ensemble Lübeck c. Hartmut Bethke, 4Paul Klee String Quartet,. 5Julie Mellor (mezzo). New World 80602-2.