One morning in 1822, Schubert wrote down an enigmatic text in which all his ghosts seem to take shape: wandering, solitude, consolation, disappointed love. Inspired by this dreamlike narrative, Raphaël Pichon, Pygmalion and Stéphane Degout have devised a vast Romantic fresco, combining resurrection of unknown treasures with rediscovery of established masterpieces. © harmonia mundi

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The art song might seem to present Mahler's style in miniature, but actually song pervaded his output. Some of the vocal movements in his symphonies use his songs directly, and beyond this, his interests in and treatments of German poetry set the tone for a major strand of his work, in general. Consider the grim Kindertotenlieder ("Songs on the Deaths of Children"), setting texts by Friedrich Rückert. Mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly, recently recovered from cancer surgery when this recording was made in 2021, seems to find resonance in these, and her voice, always persuasive in Mahler, has a rather uncannily fragile quality in these quiet songs. In the bigger songs from the Rückert-Lieder and Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen sets, Connolly has to apply a lot of vibrato by this time; listeners' reaction to this will vary, but she is nowhere less than emotionally honest and engaged here. Sample Wenn dein Mütterlein from the Kindertotenlieder, truly heartbreaking in Connolly's hands. Joseph Middleton, always a top-notch accompanist, outdoes himself here, introducing hints of the hidden psychological currents that make these songs so absorbing. A fine entry in Connolly's late-career turn toward Mahler specialization, this made classical best-seller lists in the summer of 2023.© James Manheim /TiVo

Beethoven composed the oratorio Christus am Ölberge in just "a fortnight, amid all sorts of tumult and other unpleasant and alarming events in my life". It marked the first time since the two "imperial cantatas" of 1790, the Cantata on the Death of the Emperor Joseph II WoO 87 and the Cantata on the Accession of Leopold II WoO 88, that he had embarked on a multi-movement vocal work. Christus am Ölberge was also Beethoven’s first composition on a religious subject and was destined to remain his only oratorio. © Phi

To say that Christian Thielemann's early March 2020 Gurre-Lieder at the Semperoper Dresden didn't take place a moment too soon is something of an understatement, when less than a fortnight later Europe's international-level live music making scene had been reduced to solo recitals self-filmed on mobile phones and posted onto social media. Equally fortuitously, it was recorded live, meaning we can now all listen to this ambitious project with its international line-up that would, had 2020 turned out differently, have received a second airing the following month at the Salzburg Easter Festival. Broad brushstrokes first, and in orchestral terms there's a wonderful transparency to the sound from the Staatskapelle Dresden bolstered by members of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra. As for tone colour, think silvery luminosity from the upper strings and woodwind, balanced by warm, rounded richness from the brass and lower strings - it's both luxuriously warm and sharply defined, making for a heavenly Prelude and Zwischenspiel, and full-throttle drama for the conclusion of Part 2. As for the chorus, there's some thrilling singing from the MDR-Rundfunkchor and Staatsopernchor Dresden, and while “Seht die Sonne” would possibly have packed even more of a punch when heard in the hall (they are perhaps slightly further back in the sound than a studio recording might have given us), “Gegrüßt, o König, an Gurre-Seestrand!” is unequivocally edge-of-the-seat stuff. Thielemann's overall architecture is also eminently satisfying, including a notably seamless-feeling transition over the stylistic shift between parts two and three. On to the soloists, and Camilla Nylund's Tove is warm and supple, losing not an iota of its mellow roundedness as she soars up high, with the climax of her “Du sendest mir einen Liebesblick” truly tingle-inducing. Dark-toned Stephen Gould as Waldemar is ardent in love, and especially compelling in despair, always in control of his own high-register leaps. Christa Mayer's Woodtaube is rich-voiced and passionate, and Kwangchul Youn's Bauer ringing and energetic. Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke makes for a colourful and enjoyably semi- raucous Klaus-Narr; and while Franz Grundheber may no longer be in his baritone prime, his voice is deliciously expressive and multicoloured in his sprechstimme Speaker role, and with a flexibility and strength thoroughly belying his eighty-plus years. If this cast ever gets reunited post-Covid then you should beg, borrow or steal a ticket. In the meantime, crank up the volume on this, and revel in it. © Charlotte Gardner/Qobuz

A is for “Amadeus,” and a recording which marks a return to the source for Quatuor Zaïde, who dedicate their fourth collection to the genius Austrian composer. Z is for Zaïde, a “Singspiel” by Mozart in the style of Die Zauberflöte, which historical transcription for string quartet is a world premiere! Paired with the Quartet in G Major, No. 14, K. 387, this miniature version of one of the most famous operas repeatedly casts each instrument of the quartet in a multitude of lyric roles, celebrating the eternal dialogue between singing and playing. © Nomadmusic

In the early '20s, Franz Schreker was one of the best-known composers in the world. His music was suppressed by the Nazis because he was Jewish, and due to the High Modernism of the postwar period, a second totalitarianism, his reputation did not recover. This was a shame, for Schreker was anything but a conservative, and it is good to see that he is finally getting his due. What he needed at this point was a high-profile recording with top soloists, and that is exactly what he gets here from Christoph Eschenbach and the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, with soprano Chen Reiss and baritone Matthias Goerne. Deutsche Grammophon's PR text refers to "Schreker's sumptuous, hyper-Romantic music," but this is not quite right. Schreker could sometimes be that, as in the Romantische Suite that closes the album, but Straussian late Romanticism was only one of his influences. In terms of using tone color as a structural element, Schreker was in every way a contemporary of Schoenberg (his close friend) and Webern. Eschenbach's generous selection of orchestral songs here provides a good way to appreciate this quality; sample Die Dunkelheit sinkt schwer wie Blei from the Fünf Gesänge, with its mysterious strumming-like sounds. The text of that song is from a German translation of the Thousand and One Nights anthology, and Reiss sounds great in the Zwei lyrische Gesänge to texts (in German) by, of all people, Walt Whitman. Schreker could be neoclassic (in the economical Kleine Suite); he could be Impressionist-tinged; he mastered a full Expressionist idiom in the opera that gives the album its title, represented here by a substantial instrumental excerpt. This double-album release conveys the breadth of Schreker's musical language, but he is never blankly eclectic. A wonderful album that will help to rewrite the 20th century canon.© James Manheim /TiVo

Backed by the Sun King despite a lukewarm audience reception at first, Lully's Atys (1676) went on to become one of the composer's most successful operas, with revivals at French court theaters as late as 1753. In modern times, however, it is a considerably rarer item due to the massive forces and time required. Christophe Rousset was in the pit as harpsichordist when conductor William Christie gave the first modern revival of the work in the late '80s. That experience marks this 2024 release, which made classical best-seller lists at the beginning of that year. That is not common for a hefty five-act Baroque opera, but even a bit of sampling will confirm why it happened: Rousset, from the keyboard, brings tremendous energy to the opera. He pushes the tempo in the numerous dances and entrance numbers, and the musicians of Les Talens Lyriques and the singers of the Choeur du Chambre de Namur, all of whom have worked closely with Rousset in the past, keep right up. The singers in the solo roles are all fine; haut-contre Reinoud Van Mechelen in the title role and Ambroisine Bré as the goddess Cybèle, who sets the tragic plot in motion, are standouts. The sound from the increasingly engineering-expert Château de Versailles label is exceptionally clear in complex textures, and the sensuous cover art (representing, it is true, not the Roman mythological figure of Atys but Hippomène and Atalante) is a bonus. In the end, this is Rousset's Atys, and that is a very good thing.© James Manheim /TiVo

Taken from several live performances at the Gasteig in Munich in early 2023, this recording of Wagner's Siegfried made classical best-seller charts later that year. It is part of a series that began in 2016, intending to record the entire Ring Cycle live. The recordings have all been successful, and this is testimony to the skills of conductor Simon Rattle. There are conductors' Wagner performances, and there are singers' Wagner performances. This is the former. The Bavarian Radio Symphony seizes the listener's attention from the opening bell, and the energy never flags. There is nothing objectionable about the singers, but few of them will stick in one's head. The exception, perhaps, is soprano Anja Kampe as Brunnhilde (and Danae Kontora as the Voice of the Forest Bird); Kampe, of course, doesn't enter until the end, but at that point, everything comes together for a really thrilling conclusion of "radiant love, laughing death." Although these were live performances, they might just as well have been made in a studio; Bavarian Radio's engineering in its hometown is superbly detailed, and the audience discipline is awesome (no applause or other crowd noise of any kind is retained). There is a liveliness to Rattle's Wagner that sets it apart from performances in the German tradition, and it is fully on display in this recording.© James Manheim /TiVo

Marking saxophonist Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis' centennial, the 2023 anthology Cookin' with Jaws and the Queen: The Legendary Prestige Cookbook Albums spotlights the ebulliently earthy collaborations between the tenor icon and organist Shirley Scott. As a key member of the Count Basie band of the 1950's, Davis established his authoritative style as one that could be throaty and gruff one minute and velvet-soft the next. However, it was his work with Scott -- an effusively gifted player steeped in gospel and blues -- from about 1955 to 1960 that cemented their legacies and helped to popularize the soulful, hard-swinging organ trio sound. Culled from several 1958 sessions, Cookbook, Vol. 1, Cookbook, Vol. 2, Cookbook, Vol. 3, and Smokin' (all featured here) remain some of the most potent and memorable of their recordings. They are joined by Scott's band of the time, including drummer Arthur Edgehill, reed player/flautist Jerome Richardson, and bassist George Duvivier. Together, they dig into a mix of standards and some originals that strike a warm balance between Basie-esque swing, bop, groove-oriented R&B, and slow-burning blues. Of the latter, the group's 12-minute take on Johnny Hodges' "In the Kitchen" on Vol. 1 is a standout, as is the steamy, gospel-inflected "The Rev" off Vol. 2. Equally engaging originals pop up along the way, including Davis' frenetic "Have Horn, Will Blow," the sparkling "The Chef", and the trio of food-themed cuts on Vol. 3: "Heat 'n' Serve," "The Goose Hangs High," and "Simmerin'." The standards are just as delicious, with Davis and Scott cutting deep into ballads like "My Old Flame" and "Stardust."© Matt Collar /TiVo