In November 2016, at the age of 23, Beatrice Rana recorded Bach's Goldberg Variations – her first solo release. In her review at the time, Harriet Smith wrote, 'Levit, Gould, Fischer – these are Bachians of major note. But Rana patently deserves to be numbered among them, and this is a remarkable document.' That recording would go on to be shortlisted for a Gramophone Award and Rana was named Gramophone's Young Artist of the Year in 2017. Rana's new recording sees a return to Bach, this time alongside the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, for four keyboard concertos: BWV1052 in D minor, BWV1053 in E major, BWV1054 in D major, and BWV1056 in F minor. 

Opera Rara won Gramophone's Label of the Year Award just last year and their rationale for deciding which opera to record next is simple, according to the label's Repertoire Consultant Roger Parker: ‘My criterion when deciding on any of these operas is that it doesn’t necessarily have to be the first ever recording, but it has to be the best recording.’ You can read the full story behind Opera Rara's new recording – released today – of Verdi's 1857 version of Simon Boccanegra on this website and in the April issue. The new recording is conducted by Sir Mark Elder with The Hallé and features Germán Enrique Alcántara as Simon Boccanegra, Eri Nakamura as Maria/Amelia, William Thomas as Fiesco, Iván Ayón-Rivas as Gabriele Adorno and Sergio Vitale as Paolo Albiani with the Chorus of Opera North and the RNCM Opera Chorus.

It is the 100th anniversary of the birth of composer and conductor Pierre Boulez on March 26. Last week saw the release of Tamara Stefanovich's recording of the Second Piano Sonata for Pentatone and today sees a new recording of Livre pour quatuor by the Diotima Quartet. The Diotima Quartet have recorded Livre pour quatuor before (for Megadisc, reviewed in February 2016) but this new recording is notable for containing a world premiere recording of the fourth movement, left unfinished by Boulez at his death and completed by Philippe Manoury. And if this new Boulez recording appeals, seek out the Diotima's Ligeti album from two years ago, which Liam Cagney felt 'should become the go to Ligeti string quartets recording for the foreseeable future.'

Nobuyuki Tsujii's debut studio album for DG features Beethoven's mighty Hammerklavier Sonata alongside Liszt’s transcription of An die ferne Geliebte. Interestingly, Tsujii played the Hammerklavier in the semi-final of the Cliburn Competition in 2009, a competition he jointly won along with Haochen Zhang whose own recording of the Hammerklavier was released just two weeks ago by BIS (paired with Liszt's Piano Sonata). 

Tsujii's live Cliburn performance of the Hammerklavier was released by Harmonia Mundi and reviewed by Jeremy Nicholas for Gramophone, who wrote: 'The Hammerklavier holds no terrors for him – resolutely brisk tempi, by and large exemplary textual clarity and a sound grasp of structure. The emotional depth of the work is beyond him at present.' It will be fascinating to hear how this new studio recording compares with that live recording from 16 years ago. 

Trombonist Peter Moore's latest album, 'Shift', is an exploration of brass band culture featuring the Tredegar Town Band. Shift is the name of a new concerto written by Simon Dobson (b1981) and dedicated to Moore, which receives its premiere recording here. Other works on the album include Langford's Rhapsody, Leidzén's Concertino for Trombone and Brass Band and an arrangement of 'Nobody Knows the Trouble I See'.