Record Review Podcast

Elin Manahan-Thomas's chooses her favourite recording of Schumann's song-cycle Myrthen.

The 26 songs that Schumann published under the title Myrthen (Myrtles) were all composed in 1840, the year in which great songs flowed out of him in a great flood of inspiration. He gave a beautifully bound edition of the Myrthen songs to his bride Clara on the eve of their wedding that year. This cycle contains some of Schumann's most popular songs such as Der Nussbaum and Die Lotosblume. And some of the greatest Lieder singers from Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau to Christian Gerhaher have recorded their interpretations of many of these great songs.

Simon Heighes with his pick of recordings of Mozart's sparkling and tuneful Symphony no.31 in D, nicknamed the "Paris" Symphony.

Continuing Radio 3's Vaughan Williams Today season, marking the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth, Kate Kennedy chooses her favourite recording of Ralph Vaughan Williams' The Lark Ascending.

In Vaughan Williams' modal and folk music-inflected The Lark Ascending a solo violin takes flight above the orchestra evoking for many the very essence of an idealised English countryside. But this popular work, written on the eve of the First World War, has perhaps inevitably become freighted with nostalgia for both a lost generation and a rural way of life which was soon to vanish forever.

Bach's St Matthew Passion is one of the most profound and popular choral works with many diverse interpretations of record to choose from, and Joseph McHardy joins Andrew McGregor to recommend his favourite.

Roger Parker recommends a recording of Brahms Double Concerto in A minor.

The Double Concerto was Brahms' last orchestral work, composed in 1887. It was written partly as a gesture of reconciliation towards his friend the violinist, Joachim. The old friends had fallen out over Joachim's divorce. The concerto has been praised for its "vast and sweeping humour". It needs two brilliant and well matched soloists.

Nigel Simeone with his pick of recordings of Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus.

Strauss's sparkling operetta premiered in 1874 and has been delighting audiences and listeners ever since. It has been fortunate on record, and Nigel discusses with Andrew a huge range of performances and styles.

Allyson Devenish chooses her favourite recording of Schubert's Piano Trio No 1 in B flat, D.898

Schubert began composing this masterpiece in 1827, the year before his death, at the same time as working on his famous song cycle Die Winterreise. It was a period in his life of illness and melancholy. But this work is brimming with lyricism and life force. Robert Schumann said of it: “One glance at Schubert's Trio in Bb and the troubles of our human existence disappear and all the world is fresh and bright again.” The work has attracted all the great performers of chamber music, from Alfred Cortot, Jacques Thibaud and Pablo Casals to the Beaux Arts Trio to the best musicians of today.

Tom Service chooses his favourite recording of William Walton's Symphony No 1 in B flat minor.

In 1932, with the spectacular success of Belshazzar's Feast behind him, Walton began his Symphony No 1. But, always a slow worker, the symphony took him two painful years to complete – painful because what lay behind most of the Symphony was the emotional upheaval that came with the end of a relationship. The result was the greatest English symphony of its time, its darkly menacing first movement bursting with seemingly elemental power, is followed by a bitter scherzo marked Presto 'con malizia' ('with malice'), a melancholic slow movement and a joyful major key finale.

Edward Seckerson compares recordings of Rachmaninov's 2nd Symphony in E minor and chooses his favourite. Today, Rachmaninov's 2nd Symphony is one of the composer's most popular works. Rachmaninov composed it in Dresden, during a period of retirement from concert activities, and conducted its premiere in Saint Petersburg in January 1908, to great critical acclaim. In his 2nd symphony, Rachmaninov introduces a single motto at the beginning that appears and evolves in each of the four movements, a compositional idea that can also be seen in Tchaikovsky, who was a great early influence on him. The symphony is a large-scale work lasting an hour that begins with dark, brooding melodic lines and ends in a triumphant scherzo finale.

Roger Parker chooses his favourite recordings of Haydn's operas.

Joseph Haydn is possibly one of the greatest composers who wrote operas which are hardly known. He wrote 17 of them, and opera occupied a great deal of his composing life. During the 1770s and 1780s, Haydn ran an opera company for his employer, Prince Nikolaus Esterházy. They put on up to 150 performances per year. Haydn's operas are not often performed today, but they contain some great music, which Roger explores.