When France's Quator Arod played Franz Joseph Hadyn's String Quartets, Op. 76, with period-replica bows and instruments, they said that it transformed their way of playing. Hear this record and more in our December 2025 edition of Sunday Classical: New Releases, hosted by Mark Pinto on Dec. 7 from 3-6 p.m. Here's the full list.
Letters From Paris
Alexandra Whittingham (guitar)
The young English guitarist and YouTube sensation presents her first full-length album with the Decca label. On it she celebrates well- and little-known pieces by French composers, several in specially commissioned new arrangements. A cast of musical stars of Whittingham’s generation, including saxophonist Jess Gillam, make guest appearances.
Haydn: String Quartets Op. 76
Quatuor Arod
For their concert performances and recording of Haydn’s Op. 76 quartets, the members of France’s acclaimed Arod Quartet sought “to play in a way that was faithful to both the spirit and letter of these works.” They commissioned period-replica bows for their already-period instruments. The bows “transformed [their] way of playing, which became lighter, more open and more free.” The result is immediately apparent in their performances of these six “revolutionary” quartets, “which reached a new level of freedom in their form, tempi, and lyricism.”
All the Stars Looked Down: A John Rutter Celebration
Choir of King's College, Cambridge, Britten Sinfonia, Daniel Hyde (conductor)
This is the first of two recordings this month released in tribute to one of England’s most beloved, respected, and performed composers on the occasion of his 80th birthday. For their beautiful new Christmas album, the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge offers a selection of John Rutter’s orchestral arrangements of traditional and original carols, along with carols by several of the great choral composers who have influenced him, including David Willcocks and Ralph Vaughan Williams.
John Rutter: Reflections
Steven Osborne (piano), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, John Rutter (conductor)
We are treated to the orchestral side of the composer best known for his choral music in this first purely orchestral album in John Rutter’s 58 years of recording. The highlight is the premiere recording of his four-movement piano concerto, “Reflections,” a 1979 work the composer says “reflected, or perhaps re-imagined, the music of so many of the composers and genres that had guided and influenced me as I found my own voice.” Award-winning Scottish pianist Steven Osborne is soloist.
Tchaikovsky: The Sleeping Beauty; Children's Album; Piano Sonata, Op. 80; Theme and Variations, Op. 19/6
Daniil Trifonov (piano)
Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov, hailed by The Times as “the most astounding pianist of our age,” explores the often-overlooked solo piano works of his Romantic-era compatriot. These include the Piano Sonata No. 2 in C-sharp minor, which Trifonov calls “a neglected masterpiece,” and the Op. 39 Children’s Album, which distills Tchaikovsky’s “memories of youth and family.” Rounding out the album is a delightful suite from Sleeping Beauty fashioned by Mikhail Pletnev, winner of the International Tchaikovsky Competition 33 years before Trifonov’s own triumph in 2011.
B.A.C.H.
Martin Fröst (clarinet), Sébastien Dubé (double bass), Anastasia Kobekina (cello), Jonas Nordberg (lute), Göran Fröst (viola), Benny Andersson (piano)
The clarinet as we know it today did not exist during J.S. Bach’s time, but Swedish virtuoso Martin Fröst successfully reimagines some of the composer’s best-loved works. Collaborating with several top-level special guests, Fröst presents all-new arrangements of Bach inventions, chorale preludes, “Air on the G String,” and more in this beguiling and intimate release.
Henriëtte Bosmans: Concertos
Gemma Rosefield (cello), Benjamin Nabarro (violin), Rowan Pierce (soprano), BBC Philharmonic, George Vass (conductor)
You’re invited to encounter the emotionally rich and lyrical voice of Dutch composer Henriëtte Bosmans (1895-1952). Her public career as a concert pianist was cut short by the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands (she was half-Jewish), though she continued to compose prolifically and to perform in secret house concerts. Recent renewed interest in her life and work has led to recordings such as this welcome release, which showcases concertante works such as her exquisite and imaginative Cello Concerto No. 2 and poignant Concertstuk for violin and orchestra.
William Walton: Cello Concerto; Symphony No.1; Scapino
Jonathan Aasgaard (cello), Sinfonia of London, John Wilson (conductor)
The much-praised Sinfonia of London and director John Wilson turn their attention to two works by the 20th century English composer who blended modernist techniques with a distinct melodic style. The orchestra’s principal cellist Jonathan Aasgaard stars in Walton’s neo-romantic Cello Concerto, one of his most important late scores, and the orchestra thunders through Walton’s 1935 Symphony No. 1, a piece composer John Ireland described as “simply colossal, grand, original, and moving to the emotions to the most extreme degree.”
Richard Strauss: Eine Alpensinfonie; Vier Lieder, Op. 27
Louise Alder (soprano), Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Nicholas Collon (conductor)
An Alpine Symphony is a 1915 orchestral tour-de-force recalling a mountain expedition from the composer’s childhood. The Finnish Radio Symphony and chief conductor Nicholas Collon follow up a series of award-winning albums with this recording of the longest and grandest of Strauss’ orchestral works. To this is added Strauss’ intimate Op. 27 songs, sung by British soprano Louise Alder. These four love songs were a wedding gift by the composer to his wife Pauline de Anha upon their marriage in September 1894. Originally written for voice and piano, Strauss orchestrated them a half-century later.
Grand Tour
Freiburger Barockorchester, Gottfried von der Goltz (conductor)
Freiburg’s Baroque orchestra marks more than 15 years of performances across Germany by recreating this musical journey. Stopping in Rastatt, Stuttgart, and Eisenach, the ensemble pauses to admire music by illustrious German composers Georg Philipp Telemann and J.S. Bach (a double concerto for flute and violin and the Brandenburg Concerto No. 2) and marvel at works by less familiar names including Johann Ludwig Bach, a distant cousin whose music was admired by Johann Sebastian.
Iberia
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Domingo Hindoyan (conductor)
By the turn of the twentieth century, Spain was one of the top European destinations for the French, while the presence of Spaniards in France left a lasting impression on French arts, literature, and music. This new outing from England’s Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and chief conductor Domingo Hindoyan offers “frequently revelatory” (The Guardian) renditions of favorite works by three French composers of the period enamored with the sights and sounds of Spain. The title piece by Debussy and Chabrier’s España join four pieces by Ravel including Rapsodie Espagnole and the iconic Boléro.
Terra Memoria
Dudok Quartet
Amsterdam’s prize-winning-winning Dudok Quartet deliver string quartets by Dmitri Shostakovich and Kaija Saariaho. Shostakovich regarded his powerful String Quartet No. 3 of 1946 as one of his best works. From 60 years later comes Saariaho’s String Quartet No. 2 bearing the Latin subtitle giving this album its name and dedicated “for those departed.” The ensemble rounds out this release with arrangements by two members of several of Shostakovich’s Op. 34 piano preludes.
