Classical

Steven Isserlis plays Schumann (RCA)

Schumann's Cello Concerto has had a bad press, and negative impressions have been reinforced by performances seeking concerto-like brilliance instead of the freely lyrical inwardness with which the work is actually imbued. Steven Isserlis gives the impression of having got to the heart of this enigmatic piece. He's prepared to accept it as a sort of anti-concerto, with, really, not a care for outward show or technical display. His loving, compassionate playing, well supported by the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie under Christoph Eschenbach, is in a class of its own. At the piano Eschenbach proves a caring partner, too, in the Fantasiestucke Op 73 - these are particularly fine - the Stucke im Volkston, and the Adagio and Allegro Op 70. Highly recommended.

Michael Dervan

Handel: Fireworks Music and other works. English Concert/Trevor Pinnock (Archiv Produktion)

Deutsche Grammophon's Archiv Produktion label is 50 years old, and what better piece to include in the celebrations than the original, outdoor version of Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks, still extravagant-sounding with its 54 wind players and six drummers. It's hard to imagine that the German company would have considered British performers for such a project 50 years ago, but Trevor Pinnock's English Concert - here in svelte, almost anti-al fresco form - is now one of the label's leading period instrument groups. The couplings, of Handel reclothed by himself and by Trevor Pinnock, follow the compilation style of the CD age in a spirit of waste-not-want-not to recycle worthwhile movements from a range of sources.

Michael Dervan

Haydn: Four piano trios. Vienna Piano Trio (Nimbus). Hummel: Four piano trios. Triangulus (Meridian)[P}Haydn's 40-odd piano trios are not trios in the modern sense. They arose out of the tradition of accompanied keyboard sonatas. But they are full of the purest Haydnesque invention, subtle wit and harmonic adventurousness. The Vienna Piano Trio play four - Nos 18, 24, 25 (with the famous Gypsy Rondo) and 29 - with gentle amiability and true conversational courtesy. Haydn's pupil, Johann Nepomuk Hummel (17781837) never aligned himself with the rising tide of romanticism. His trios are tinged with the influence of Haydn and early Beethoven. The British trio Triangulus give lean, plain-spoken accounts of music limited by the simplicity of its harmonic life. No telling paragraphs emerge from the consistent craft and focus of the moment. Michael Dervan