Fresh from reading Tim Ashley’s absorbing centenary tribute to Gabriel Fauré (12/24), I pounced on Warner Classics’ set of ‘The Complete Works’ with renewed enthusiasm. First, it’s so wonderful to discover a great historic track that I never knew about previously. Jane Laval counted as one of the most significant French concert sopranos of her generation and her glorious 1931 recording of the ‘Pie Jesu’ from Fauré’s Requiem rounds off Warner’s magisterial collection (the centenary of the composer’s death fell last year). The same CD also includes fine historic complete recordings of the Requiem under Ernest Bourmauck (1938) and Nadia Boulanger (1948). Modern versions of the Requiem included are under David Hill (small orchestra) and Michel Corboz (full orchestra). Interesting that not all the historic/modern comparisons work in the former’s favour. Of the two featured versions of the First Piano Quartet, the one featuring Marguerite Long and Trio Pasquier (1956) is pipped to the interpretative post by pianist Samson François and members of the Bernède Quartet (1968). More marvellous playing arrives via a Fauré specialist, pianist Jean Hubeau with the Via Nova Quartet in the First Piano Quintet (1970), and Hubeau teams up with Paul Tortelier for achingly memorable 1961 recordings of the two cello sonatas. Perhaps the most remarkable take on Fauré’s chamber music is the 1940 set of the darkly intense Second Piano Quartet with Long, violinist Jacques Thibaud, viola player Maurice Vieux (one of the precious few recordings we have of this outstanding French musician) and cellist Pierre Fournier. And there’s the Krettly Quartet’s probing account of the String Quartet, recorded in 1928, a mere four years after the work was written.

All manner of exquisite miniatures crop up everywhere, and of course there are Fauré’s many songs (or mélodies) featuring the likes of Elly Ameling, Régine Crespin, Camille Maurane, Gérard Souzay and, in the historical section, Charles Panzéra, whose 1936 recording of Fauré’s great song-cycle La bonne chanson with his pianist wife Magdeleine Panzéra-Ballot is an undoubted benchmark. Then there are Ninon Vallin, Pierre Bernac and Maggie Teyte, to name but a few recorded pre-war. Add the extended ‘lyric poem’ Pénélope, incidental music of varying hues and the many piano works – Jean-Philippe Collard’s set of the Barcarolles is full of gaiety and Éric Heidsieck’s 1960‑62 recordings of the complete Nocturnes both deeply felt and memorably transparent – and you have the basis of a truly desirable set. Warner’s presentation is sturdy and attractive, François Laurent’s booklet note is of the first order, there are numerous unfamiliar illustrations and I cannot imagine that any sensitive music lover will fail to be entranced by this set.

At the opposite end of the musical spectrum from Fauré’s delicate oeuvre is the thick-set orchestral music of Johannes Brahms, the symphonies, Haydn Variations and overtures in particular, big in scale and heart, especially under the clarifying baton of Otto Klemperer, whose resplendent 1961 Philharmonia recording of the German Requiem (Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Philharmonia Chorus) is one of the glories of his discography. Just listen to those unassailable horns boldly declaiming at 2'23" into the second movement, ‘Denn alles Fleisch, es ist wie Gras’. Warner’s excellent transfers are taken from their ‘Otto Klemperer: The Warner Classis Remastered Editions’, which also include Klemperer’s moving performance of the Alto Rhapsody (Christa Ludwig), an added feature of this latest six‑CD collection.

Franz Schmidt’s four symphonies might not level with the Brahms cycle for consistency but they make a strong impression all the same, the Third’s mysterious Adagio especially, and the whole of the Fourth. In the digital field Paavo Järvi and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony (DG, A/20) warrant a front-ranking recommendation but I have greatly enjoyed making the acquaintance of Vassily Sinaisky’s thoughtfully considered performances with the Malmö Symphony Orchestra, especially as (unlike the Järvi set) they include musically significant fill-ups such as the 27-minute Chaconne of 1931 (which sounds like orchestrated Bach, maybe as fashioned by Respighi or Stokowski at his most outlandish), the Fuga solemnis, the Variations on a Hussar’s Song and music from the opera Notre Dame (including the celebrated Intermezzo). It’s quality music that grows on you with each hearing.

When it comes to the Beethoven string quartet cycle, numerous distinctive recordings have been appearing in generous ensemble-themed box-sets (not least the PraΩák, Artemis and Juilliard Quartets, with the Guarneri Quartet forthcoming). The Belcea Quartet’s Alpha Classics cycle from 2011‑12 is consistently alert, the Trio of Op 127’s Scherzando vivace firing off like a lightning strike. The Belceas get Beethoven’s humour as well as his profundity, though their use of nuance and dynamics (especially at the quietest levels) is remarkably expressive. A pity that the Grosse Fuge is amputated from the main body of Op 130, but that said, the Belceas give it a ferocious outing. Brahms’s quartets and sextets (plus the Piano Quintet with Till Fellner) draw warmth from these versatile players. They’re able to adjust to whichever musical style is to hand while adding ideas of their own to the mix, whether in standard repertoire or the works by Janá∂ek (both quartets are included, twice recorded – in 2011 and 2018), Shostakovich, Ligeti, Schoenberg, Berg and Webern. Theirs is an adventurer’s way with the music; you feel that they are learning as they play, while simultaneously teaching us.

The recordings

Fauré The Complete Works Various artists (Warner Classics) 

Brahms Orch Wks, etc Klemperer (Warner Classics)

Schmidt Cpte Syms, etc Malmö SO / Sinaisky (Naxos)

The Alpha Classics Complete Recordings Belcea Qt (Alpha)