Melodiya presents recordings of chamber music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Alfred Schnittke performed by the trio led by the outstanding musician Mark Lubotsky. Despite a 200-year gap between them, the music of these composers has much in common. It is the versatility of the genre palette, the combination of daring and bold innovation and the sense of continuity, an acute awareness of the tragedy of earthly existence while maintaining an objective attitude to the art.

I must applaud Nikolai Petrov's imaginative approach to programme-planning. After the remarkable CD of Paganini-inspired piano works containing his stupendous account of the 1838 version of the Liszt Paganini Etudes ( OCD144 12/87), we now have two more discs that also follow a thematic format. The contents of each have been chosen so as to give a historical survey of a particular aspect of piano music, thus continuing the tradition set by Anton Rubinstein in his historical concerts of the mid-1880s.

Anyone listening to this admirable set will gain an accurate impression of David Oistrakh’s overall playing style, his poise, composure, interpretative finesse, velvety tone and highly sophisticated musicianship. Various of the works programmed are - or have been - available in alternative Oistrakh recordings (the Tchaikovsky and Brahms concertos in around six versions apiece), but Melodiya’s selections are, in general, judiciously chosen.

The World of Romanticism” was a subtitle of the famous Svyatoslav Richter’s music festival “December Nights”. Its programme, as it was the organizers’ intent, comprised compositions by Schubert, Schumann and Chopin. Ten day were devoted to the works of each of the composers. In the beginning of the night which opened the ten days of Robert Schumann, Svyatoslav Richter presented the audience with a Viennese bouquet Blumenstück, Op. 19. That was what they used to call flower still life paintings in Germany (German die Blume stands for a flower, and das Stück – a thing) which were hugely popular in the 19th century.

Firma Melodiya presents a recording of two-piano transcriptions by Franz Liszt and Camille Saint-Saëns performed by the piano duet of Ludmila Berlinskaya and Arthur Ancelle. Representatives of famous artistic dynasties and alumni of different music performing traditions, they began to jointly perform in 2011 and have won the listeners’ hearts in Russia, France and Switzerland.

Given that there are so many discs of the Rachmaninov Piano Concertos available to buy, you have to ask what makes this set different or better than the rest? It's quite refreshing for a start, that all the works are played by different pianists. My main incentive to buy it was Nikolai Petrov's fantastic performance of the 4th Concerto in G minor, its first release on CD from vinyl.

Firma Melodiya presents an album with recordings of Alexander Scriabin’s, Julian Scriabin’s and Boris Pasternak’s works performed by Ludmila Berlinskaya, an Honoured Artist of Russia and prize-winner of prestigious international competitions.

The later Mikhail Kopelman-led Borodin Quartet recordings of the complete string quartets of Shostakovich aren't so much better than the earlier Valentin Berlinsky-led Borodin Quartet's recordings as they have more than the earlier recording. For one thing, there are two more quartets; the earlier cycle stops with 13 because Shostakovich hadn't gotten any further yet. For another thing, the playing is more emotional; the earlier cycle is violently expressive, but the later cycle has more humanity.

Melodiya presents recordings by Alexander Korneyev, (1930-2010) was an outstanding flutist, People's Artist of the RSFSR and laureate of the State Prize of Russia. A world famous soloist, Korneyev won recognition primarily as a concert musician. He has performed with well-known Russian musicians such as Lev Oborin, Ivan Kozlovsky, Sviatoslav Richter, Emil Gilels, Mstislav Rostropovich and the Beethoven Quartet.

Founded at the Moscow Conservatory in 1945 by violist (and later conductor) Rudolf Barshai, the Borodin Quartet survived defections and other personnel changes to become regarded as the leading Soviet (and then Russian) quartet of the second half of the twentieth century. Through Barshai, the student group became closely associated with Dmitry Shostakovich, and its later recordings and concerts of that composer's complete quartets are widely regarded as definitive.

Sviatoslav Richter commands legendary status in the keyboard world with almost superhuman technique and a level of intensity never exceeded in my memory. On this Melodiya album, the pianist performs the Tchaikovsky Piano Sonata No. 3 and Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition. Pictures was recorded in 1958. The Tchaikovsky Piano Sonata No. 3 is rarely heard in the recital hall. It sounds more like a piano transcription of an orchestral work than one written for piano, and the chord-oriented work cumbersome on the keyboard. With full orchestra, I'm sure the effect would be quite beautiful.