Rachmaninov: Liturgy of St John Chrysostom. (Nimbus, two discs for the price of Dial-a-track code: 1641 one)

These sacred works used to be almost something of a well-kept secret. The distinctive resonant aura of massed Russian male voices has always cast a very particular spell and understandably, until recently this part of Rachmaninov's output remained the preserve of choirs within the Orthodox tradition. The 1910 Liturgy may not have quite the richness of the later, better-known Vespers but it still includes much music of haunting beauty. This recording from the Kansas City Chorale under Charles Bruffy is reserved by comparison with most of the Russian competition, but also fuller in that it includes extensive deaconal chants which help to make contextual sense of the choir's responses atmospherically recorded.

Benjamin Britten: "Albert Herring" (Collins Classics)

Dial-a-track code: 1751

Albert Herring is showing its age a bit now: what self-respecting teenager these days would be caught dead stealing apples, for goodness sake? In Steuart Bedford's new recording the emphasis is more on beautiful singing than on comedy, anyhow, with Josephine Barstow's overly imperious Miss Billows striking the only harsh note. Gerald Finley makes a pleasing and - when he finally rebels against small-town morality - impressively heroic Albert.

Scharwenka: Piano Concertos 2 & 3 (Collins Classics)

Dial-a-track code: 1861

"One of these days," prophesied Harold Schonberg in his classic book The Great Pianists (1963), "a pianist will come up with a programme of Pieces Our Grandparents Loved..." The romantic revival is well under way, and chewing its way through more easy-on-the-ear, hard-to-play pieces than any one person ever managed to forget about. Seta Tanyel - has reached her eighth disc of

Xaver Scharwenka (1850-1924), coupling the Second and Third Concertos in performances with the radio orchestra of Hanover under Tadeusz Strugala. Scharwenka wrote a million-selling Polish Dance (his Op. 3 No 1) early in a very successful career, and his First Concerto was once a repertory item. Tanyel, whose last disc of Scharwenka chamber music I enjoyed a lot, adopts a rather formal and studious line in these two concertos. The long first movements sound overstretched, but she's altogether more winning in the dance-like finales.