Bertrand Chamayou's recording of Ravel's complete solo music for Erato in 2016 established him as a great Ravel pianist, earning him a Gramophone Award nomination. It was described by Patrick Rucker as ‘deeply personal, vivid, unique. No one who loves French music or exquisite piano-playing will want to miss this.’ 

Chamayou’s new Ravel tribute – released today – looks at the composer from a different angle, featuring transcriptions both by Ravel and Chamayou himself of songs and orchestral works, as well as pieces by other composers who were inspired by Ravel, including Joaquín Nin, Xavier Montsalvatge, Arthur Honegger and Betsy Jolas. Chamayou speaks to James Jolly on the Gramophone Classical Music Podcast this week:

James Ehnes's latest recording is a tribute to Spanish violinist Pablo de Sarasate (1844-1908), comprising of two works composed for Sarasate – Lalo's Symphonie espagnole and Saint-Saëns's Violin Concerto No 3 – along with Sarasate's own Carmen Fantasy. Ehnes – Gramophone's Artist of the Year in 2021 – is joined by the BBC Philharmonic and conductor Juanjo Mena for this Chandos recording.

The Sixteen celebrate 25 years of their Choral Pilgrimage this year with an album – 'Angel of Peace' – and a UK-wide tour. The Sixteen's founder and conductor Harry Christophers spoke about the significance of the annual Choral Pilgrimage with Hattie Butterworth for the March issue of Gramophone (read the full interview here). ‘The initial idea was to bring the music of the past back to the buildings that it was written for. All the composers of the Renaissance were writing with the buildings in mind – just as the people who had been the architects of the cathedrals had the music in mind. So the two fit hand in hand.’ 

'Angel of Peace' features a wide range of music, from Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) and John Taverner (1490–1545) right up to the present day with Anna Clyne and Will Todd. Arvo Pärt's 90th birthday this year is also marked with performances of Tribute to Caesar, Da pacem Domine and Magnificat.

Today also sees the release of the first recording of John Weldon's The Judgment of Paris, written in 1700. Those who remember the superb recording of John Eccles's Semele by the Academy of Ancient Music, Cambridge Handel Opera and Julian Perkins from 2021 which was shortlisted for the Gramophone Opera Award will have a fair idea of what's in store. The Judgment of Paris was written by Weldon to enter into a competition arranged by the Earl of Halifax for a composer to set William Congreve's libretto. Weldon won the prize of 100 guineas but the masque was never published. Congreve, incidentally, was also the librettist of Eccles's Semele.

The soloists include Thomas Walker (tenor), Jonathan Brown (baritone), Helen Charlston (mezzo-soprano), Kitty Whately (mezzo-soprano), Anna Dennis (soprano), Anna Cavaliero (soprano) and Aksel Rykkvin (baritone). Helen Charlston (with Toby Carr) won the Gramophone Concept Album Award in 2023 for 'Battle Cry: She Speaks'. 

Haochen Zhang has recorded Liszt's Transcendental Etudes and Beethoven's five piano concertos with The Philadelphia Orchestra and Nathalie Stutzmann for BIS in the last three years, and today releases an album dedicated to Liszt's Piano Sonata in B minor and Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata.