Opus Anglicanum, a group of five unaccompanied male voices and a reader, are described by South West Arts as: ‘most thought provoking, very professional and exuding enthusiasm’. Having already premièred Judith Bingham's ‘necklace of light’ at York Minster two years ago (2000) and established it in their repertoire to such critical acclaim, the group commissioned a further work from the composer to be a focal point in their new themed programme for 2003, ‘Sacred Journey’.

YUN: My Land, My People!; Exemplum in Memoriam Kwangju. Chorus and State Symphony Orchestra of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, c. Byung-Hwa Kim. Symphonies Nos. 1–5. Filharmonia Pomorska Bydgoszcz, c. Takao Ukigaya. Richard Salter (bar). CPO 999 165-2 (4-CD set)

‘Pierrot Dreaming’. MUSGRAVE: Canta! Canta!; Ring Out Wild Bells; Threnody; Pierrot; Chamber Concerto No. 2. Victoria Soames Samek (cl), Gabrielle Byam-Grounds (fl), David Le Page (vn/va), Matthew Sharp (vc), Mark Troop (pno). Clarinet Classics CC0038.

‘The Fall of Narcissus’. MUSGRAVE: Serenade; Narcissus; Impromptu for flute and cello; Wind Quintet; Impromptu No. 2 for flute, oboe and clarinet; Four Portraits for baritone, clarinet and piano. Victoria Soames Samek (cl), Members of English Serenata, David Le Page (va), Matthew Sharp (vc), Stephen Varcoe (bar), Rachel Masters (hp). Clarinet Classics CC0039.

MUSGRAVE: Memento Vitae; Helios; Night Music; The Seasons. Nicholas Daniel (ob), Scottish Chamber Orchestra c. Nicholas Kraemer; BBC Symphony Orchestra c. Jac van Steen. NMC (ANCORA+) D074.

‘Oriental Landscapes’. MUSGRAVE: Journey Through a Japanese Landscape. CHEN YI: Percussion Concerto. ZHOU LONG: Out of Tang Court. HOVHANESS: Fantasy on Japanese Wood Prints. Evelyn Glennie (perc), Singapore Symphony Orchestra c. Lan Shui. BIS CD 1222.

There's a heartening number of contemporary music festivals in the former Soviet-bloc countries, and in the three Baltic republics in particular: it's as if, after decades of the suppression of modern music – even though less severe there than elsewhere in the USSR – they're all desperate to make up for lost time. The Gaida Festival, founded in 1991 and an annual event in Vilnius in mid-October, is one of the most ambitious: ten concerts in as many days, presenting contemporary Lithuanian composers, usually in first performances, in conjunction with others from further afield (among them this year Saariaho, Tan Dun, Cage, Jan Sandström – with Christian Lindberg astride the ubiquitous Motorbike Concerto – and Gubaidulina). Naturally, such occasions are ragbags, with failures among the successes – but young composers have to be able to hear their miscalculations, and Gaida is commendably generous with its time.

MICHAEL FINNISSY: ‘Lost Lands’. Dilok; Delal; Kulamen Dilan; Moon's gain' down; Runnin' wild; Keroiylu; Lost Lands. Topologies: Christopher Redgate (ob), Julian Warburton (perc), Philip Gibbon (bsn), Guy Cowley (E-flat cl), Andrew McNeil (soprano sax), Darragh Morgan (vln), Ian Pace (piano). Metier MSVCD92050.

FINNISSY: ‘Etched Bright with Sunlight’. Snowdrift; O, schöner Mai; Free Setting; Verdi Transcription No.10; Stanley Stokes, East Street 1836; Wenn wir in höchsten Nöthen sind; Alkan-Paganini; Etched Bright with Sunlight. Nicolas Hodges (pno). Metronome MET CD 1058.

The final round of the second ‘Inscape’ competition, brainchild of violinist Adam Summerhayes, took place in the Purcell Room on 27 November 2002. The award structure is three-fold: a jury prize, deliberated over several months from the preliminary entry phase through to the final award; a critics' prize, decided on the night by a panel of four critics who had had access to the seven finalist pieces a week or so beforehand; and an audience prize, made up of an exit poll after the seven finalists had each been played.

MACMILLAN: Piano Sonata; in angustiis… I; Birthday Present; Barncleupédie; Lumen Christi; For Ian; A Cecilian Variation for JFK; Angel. MACRAE: Piano Sonata. Simon Smith (pno). Delphian DCD 34009

TUBIN: Symphonies Nos. 1–10. Gothenberg Symphony, Swedish Radio Symphony, Bamberg Symphony &Bergen Philharmonic c. Neeme Järvi. BIS 1402/1404(5-CDset)