Happy New Year!!

2014 is beginning with an exciting crop of new releases; despite the usual media grumblings and general woes, the record companies seem raring to go with some great new Classical recordings on offer. In particular the Jerusalem Quartet playing Janacek and Smetana String Quartets - going by their previous work these performances are bound to have great vivacity and flair. Jerusalem Quartet HMC902178 Offer £12.99

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet continues his Beethoven Piano Sonata cycle with volume two (a three disc set). The cycle will be completed with one more installment in the near future. Bavouzet CHAN10798 Offer £24.99

Staying with keyboard music, Hyperion has released a disc of CPE Bach played by harpsichordist Mahon Esfahani. Although not yet a household name, Esfahani is presently on tour and has had a lot of positive attention from critics and he was the first harpsichordist to be named a BBC New Generation Artist. Esfahani CDA67995 Offer £11.99.  Returning to Beethoven, we have a new set of his Cello Sonatas performed by Steven Isserlis and his regular collaborator, the forte-pianist Robert Levin. Included on this disc are the three sets of variations and the Horn Sonata. We are running a promotion on Steven Isserlis’ back-catalogue recordings this month as well – just click on Isserlis’ picture on the homepage. Isserlis CDA67981/2 Offer £23.99

Steven Isserlis also features on a fascinating new disc, again from Hyperion, this time of his grandfather, Julius Isserlis’ music. The disc mainly contains piano music in editions made by the pianist Sam Haywood. Julius Isserlis CDA68025 Offer £11.99

There has been much interest in Chandos’ new release of rarely heard Overtures from around the British Isles, with some lovely gems by Arthur Sullivan, Frederic Austen, Coleridge-Taylor, Stanford and others. A cracker of a release! British Overtures CHAN10797 Offer £12.49

This month sees the welcome release of Georg Tintner’s Bruckner symphony cycle as a boxed set on Naxos. These are the great recordings he made in the 1990's with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Tintner 8501205 £29.99

Two contemporary British composers are also featured this month: Signum are reissuing their recording of the late John Tavener’s magnum opus, 'The Veil of the Temple'. This is the concert version on two CDs taken from a work that is originally eight hours in length. Opus Arte are finally releasing the much- anticipated DVD of George Benjamin's 'Written on Skin'. Since its premiere at the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence in 2012 this work has captivated audiences, and the CD recording which came out in February last year (on Nimbus NI5885) is regularly asked for. Tavener SIGCD367 £19.99  Benjamin OA1125D £24.99

This is just the tip of the iceberg – check out our ‘New Releases’ and ‘Future Releases’ pages (click the ‘What’s New?’ tab).