CYRIL SCOTT: Symphony No. 3 The Muses; Piano Concerto No. 2; Neptune. Howard Shelley (pno), Huddersfield Choral Society, BBC Philharmonic, c. Martyn Brabbins. Chandos CHAN 10211.

Once again Gavin Bryars confounds many of our expectations with his laid-back take on the world's dramas. The War in Heaven (1992) featured a serene counter-tenor and is anything but bellicose. In The Sinking of the Titanic (1969), performed as a companion-piece in this concert, Bryars's band appropriately plays on undisturbed by the ship sundering all around it. The central drama of Dr Ox's Experiment (1997) is one of celebrating stasis. And so it is that Bryars's latest work From Egil's Saga (2004), a setting of battle-hardened texts by the 13th-century Icelandic poet and warrior Snorri Sturuson, has that calm, quiet, lamenting detachment – ‘a portrait of Egil at the end of his days’, as the composer has characterized it. Once again the world is seen through a piece of interestingly darkened glass.

LACHENMANN: Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern (Tokyo Version, 2000) c. Sylvain Cambreling. ECM New Series 1858/9 (2-CD set).

DÖHL: Sound of Sleat; Bruchstücke zur Winterreise for piano; String quintet: Winterreise; Notturno. James Tocco (pno), Hugo Noth (accordion), Ovidiu Dabila (double bass), Auryn Quartet with Boris Pergamenschikov (vlc), Lasalle Quartet. Dreyer-Gaido 21013.

HÖLLER: Piano Works. Kristi Becker, Pi-hsien Chen (pnos). cpo 999 954-2.

PINTSCHER: Figura I–V; String Quartet No. 4, Portrait of Gesualdo; Dernier espace avec introspecteur. Theodoro Anzelotti (accordion), Arditti String Quartet. Winter & Winter 910 097-2.

‘Conciertos para el fin del milenio’. TOUSSAINT: Concierto No. 2 para violonchelo y orquesta (1999). MARQUEZ: Espejos en la arena (2000). SIERRA: Cuatro versos (Concerto for Cello & Orchestra) (1999). Carlos Prieto (vlc), Orquesta de las Americas c. Carlos Miguel Prieto, conductor. Urtext JBCC 047.

Listening to Luigi Ferrari, the Wexford Opera Festival's outgoing Artistic Director, one cannot understand why many of the rare operas Wexford is famous for reviving are not staples of an often rather repetitive repertoire. Perhaps their problem is that, to a degree, they require an audience to think, rather than merely emote. That was Wagner's problem.

BRAUN: Psalterion (2000); Day and Day (1998); Piano Trio No. IV (2002). Amber Trio Jerusalem, Eli Sassoon (santur), Edna Prochnik (mezzo-sop). Gramola 98766.

MAXWELL DAVIES: Miss Donnithorne's Maggot; Eight Songs for a Mad King. Jane Manning (sop), Kelvin Thomas (bar), Psappha. PSA CS 1001

MAXWELL DAVIES: Naxos Quartets Nos. 1 and 2. Maggini Quartet. Naxos 8.557396

HOLLIGER: Violin Concerto, ‘Hommage à Louis Soutter’. YSAŸE: Sonata op. 27, No. 3, ‘Ballade’ for solo violin. Thomas Zehetmair (vln), SWR Sinfonieorchester c. Heinz Holliger. ECM New Series 476 1941.

1. Deptford and South Bank Centre: Two Scottish Piano Concertos

2. Bristol: John Pickard's Violin Sonata

3. Wigmore Hall: Nordheim's ‘Five Stages for Four’

BRUN: Symphony No. 3 in D minor. Moscow Symphony Orchestra c. Adriano. Sterling CDS-1059-2.

BLOCH: Helvetia; Suite for viola and orchestra; Suite Hébraïque for viola and orchestra. Gérard Caussé, (vla), Orchestre de la Suisse Romande c. Lior Shambadal. Cascavelle RSR 6170.

BIRTWISTLE: The Axe Manual1; Oockooing Bird; Sad Song; Berceuse de Jeanne; Précis; Hector's Dawn; Ostinato with Melody; Betty Freeman: Her Tango; Saraband: The King's Farewell; Harrison's Clocks. Nicolas Hodges (pno), 1Claire Edwardes (perc). Metronome MET CD 1074.

HARVEY: Passion and Resurrection. BBC Singers, Sinfonia 21 c. Martin Neary. Sargasso SCD28052.

PĒTERIS VASKS: Violin Concerto Distant Light; Musica dolorosa; Viatore. Katarina Andreasson (vln and leader), Swedish Chamber Orchestra. BIS-CD-1150.

Cecilia McDowall is noted for her ‘practical’ approach to composing choral music to suit the needs and capabilities of local amateur choirs, and she has a growing association with several, notably the St Albans Choral Society, by whom she was commissioned to write a new setting of the Stabat Mater, which duly received its world première in St Albans on 23 October 2004. It was written to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of St Albans Choral Society, and they duly rose to the occasion lustily in fine spirits.

DIAMOND: String Quartets (complete); Concerto for String Quartet; Night Music for Accordion and String Quartet1. Potomac String Quartet with 1Carmelo Pino (acc). 4-CD set (each disc available separately): Albany TROY 504 (Nos. 3 and 8, Concerto), 540 (Nos. 2, 9 and 10), 613 (Nos. 1, 5 and 6) and 727 (Nos. 4 and 7, Night Music).

Piano music of Erik Chisholm and his friends. BARTÓK: With Drums and Pipes. SORABJI: Fantasiettina sul nome illustre dell'Egregio poeta Hugh MacDiarmid ossia Christopher Grieve. CHISHOLM: Piano Sonata in A, An Riobain Dearg. STEVENSON: A Threepenny Sonatina. BUSONI: Fantasia Contrappuntistica. Murray McLachlan (pno). Dunelm DRD0219.

CHISHOLM: Music for piano Volume 1. Straloch Suite; Scottish Airs for Children; Piano Sonata in A (abridged version 2004). Murray McLachlan (pno). Dunelm DRD0222.

CHINARY UNG: Spiral VI; Seven Mirrors; Grand Alap; Grand Spiral (‘Desert Flowers Bloom’). Quake, Gloria Cheng (pno), Walter Gray (vc), Rob Tucker (perc). La Jolla Symphony Orchestra c. Harvey Sollberger. New World 80619-2.

HOWELL: Violin Sonata in F minor; Rosalind for violin & piano; Piano Sonata in E minor; Humoresque for piano; 5 Studies for piano. Lorraine McAslan (vln), Sophia Rahman (pno). Dutton Epoch CDLX 7144.

BACEWICZ: Violin Sonatas Nos. 4–5; Oberek No. 1; Sonata No. 2 for violin solo; Partita; Capriccio; Polish Capriccio. Joanna Kurkowicz (v;n), Gloria Chien (pno). Chandos CHAN 10250.

MARIC: Byzantine Concerto1; Cantata: Threshold of Dream2,3,6; Ostinato Super Thema Octoïcha4–6; Cantata: Song of Space7. 1Olga Jovanovic (pno), Belgrade PO c. Oskar Danon, 2Dragoslava Nikolic (sop, alto), 3Jovan Milicevic (narr), 4Ljubica Maric (pno), 5Josip Pikelj (hp), 6Radio-TV Belgrade CO c. Oskar Danon, 7Radio-TV Belgrade Mixed Choir & SO c. Mladen Jagušt. Chandos Historical 10267H.

MUSGRAVE: For the Time Being: Advent1; Black Tambourine2–3; John Cook; On the Underground Sets1–3. 1Michael York (narr), 2Walter Hirse (pno), 3Richard Fitz, Rex Benincasa (perc),New York Virtuoso Singers c. Harold Rosenbaum. Bridge 9161.

KUI DONG: Earth, Water, Wood, Metal, Fire1; Pangu's Song2; Blue Melody3; Crossing (electronic/computer tape music); Three Voices4. 1Sarah Cahill (pno), 2Tod Brody (fl), Daniel Kennedy (perc), 3San Francisco Contemporary Music Players c. Olly Wilson, 4Hong Wang (Chinese fiddle), Ann Yao (Chinese zither), Chen Tao (bamboo fl). New World 80620-2.

FIRSOVA: The Mandelstam Cantatas: Forest Walks, op. 36; Earthly Life, op. 31; Before the Thunderstorm, op. 70. Ekaterina Kichigina (sop), Studio for New Music Moscow c. Igor Dronov. Megadisc MDC 7816.

KATS-CHERNIN: Ragtime & Blues. Sarah Nicholls (pno). Nicola Sweeney (vln). Signum SIGCD058.

CHAMBERS: A Mass for Mass Trombones. Thomas Hutchinson (trb), Ensemble of 76 trombones c. David Gilbert. Centaur CRC 2263.

JACKSON: Organ Works (includes Sonatas 1–4, Toccata, Chorale and Fugue, 3 Pieces, Eclogue, Suite Montrealaise, Ballade, 5 Preludes on English Hymn Tunes, Exultet, Diversion for Mixtures, Intrada, Recit and Allegro, Scherzetto, Scherzo Amabile, Fantasia Argenti, Improvisation, Impromptu and other pieces). Francis Jackson (organs of York Minster, Blackburn and Lincoln Cathedrals). Priory PRCD 930 (4-CD set)