On her 2005 album for Endeavour Classics, cellist Denise Djokic explores currents of folk songs in works by composers as diverse as Ralph Vaughan Williams, Robert Schumann, Leos Janácek, and Gaspar Cassadò. The unifying plan is apparent in her choice of Vaughan Williams' pastorally flavored Six Studies in English Folk Song (1926), Schumann's rustic Fünf Stücke im Volkston (1849), and Janácek's sweet Fairy Tale (1910). Less obvious, though, are the folk song elements in Cassadò's fairly abstract Suite for solo cello (ca. 1950); and the inclusion of Igor Stravinsky's brilliant Suite Italienne (1932) – adapted from the ballet Pulcinella, and based on themes by Pergolesi and his eighteenth century contemporaries – seems outside Djokic's survey, except for the use of secondhand material.

Russo-British pianist Yevgeny Sudbin has traversed the Rachmaninov concertos at a deliberate pace, issuing a recording of the Piano Concerto No. 4 in G minor, Op. 40 in 2007 and rounding out the set with this reading of the Second and Third in 2018. His Rachmaninov is carefully wrought, subtly intertwined with the orchestral part rather than trafficking in high contrasts, and here the effect is heightened by Sudbin's unusual interpretation of the opening Moderato of the Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18.

For once the hyperbole rings true. Christian Leotta’s fourth volume of Beethoven sonatas is indeed ‘a major addition to other sets currently available’. Musicianly to the core, this young Italian pianist quietly but unmistakably commands your attention at every level. His musical focus and concentration are unswerving, nothing is rushed or overly volatile, everything is scrupulously placed yet illuminated with acute detail and vitality. You will rarely encounter performances more meticulously prepared.

Le pianiste italien Christian Leotta nous revient avec le volume 3 de son intégrale des 32 sonates pour piano de Beethoven. Il a fait de ce corpus une spécialité. Ce CD double contient notamment les sonates pour piano No. 17 en ré mineur op. 31 No. 2 “ La Tempête” et la No. 31 en la bémol majeur op. 110, ainsi que quelques sonates des premiers opus.

The second two-disc installment of a projected Beethoven sonata cycle from Christian Leotta offers individualistic interpretations that alternately hit and miss, sometimes within the same work. The “Waldstein” first-movement exposition and recapitulation exude power and polish, yet the development comes off too sectionalized and rounded off for the arpeggiated sequences to generate the dramatic tension we expect. Leotta’s deliberation in the Rondo yields gorgeous, alluringly blurred sonorities at the outset as he observes Beethoven’s long pedal markings, yet the extensive scales and rotary figurations run in place, moving nowhere until the Presto coda: too little, too late.

French Canada's ATMA Classique label tends to favor Canadian artists and specifically those from Québec, but the only connection between Canada and young Italian pianist Christian Leotta is apparently that he appeared in 2002 and perhaps – this is not made clear in the booklet – that he began playing the complete cycle of Beethoven's piano sonatas in that city. He's certainly among the youngest performers to have attempted that feat, and perhaps that mark of ambition is what attracted the label to the project.

Dutch musicians are different. They are absolutely objective, but deeply passionate; completely faithful to the letter of the score, but totally in touch with the spirit behind the score; wholly dedicated to their ensemble, but profoundly individualistic in their expression. In these ways, the Storioni Trio is the epitome of Dutch music-making. On this disc, the Storioni Trio fully inhabits not only the late eighteenth century world of Beethoven's early E flat major Trio Op. 1/2, but also the early nineteenth century world of Beethoven's later D major Trio, Op. 70/1, nicknamed the "Ghost."

Pollini is so much a part of the contemporary music scene that it's amazing to realize that the earliest material on this disc (Stravinsky and Prokofiev) dates to the 1940s. These two performances retain their power to startle and amaze, both through Pollini's seemingly effortless virtuosity and through the immediacy of his musical conceptions. This Prokofiev is a close rival even to Richter's. Webern, from six years later, is so colorful and well organized that it makes the difficult music almost easy to listen to. Not many listeners will put up with Boulez's obscurities, but there is still plenty to make the disc worthwhile.

Was the golden age of the piano that of a defeat for female composers? If they occupied an important place in ancient and baroque music, the bourgeois society which emerges from the Enlightenment limits their access to the conservatory and to the quarry. Marie-Catherine Girod explores this key moment and reveals to us the talent of the resistance fighters of the classical and romantic periods, and of the first modernism, those whose history has retained the name, such as Fanny Mendelssohn or Clara Schumann, or of whom she is rediscovering it today.

‘Rachmaninov fans won’t want to miss this’ was Gramophone’s verdict on Steven Osborne’s recording of the Études-tableaux, and this thrilling new release is an equally essential acquisition. Osborne proves a predictably fine exponent of the Faustian Piano Sonata No 1 and is no less compelling in the selection of shorter works which completes the album.

Liszt's three volumes of Annees de pelerinage are rarely recorded complete, largely because many pianists remain baffled by the dark-hued prophecy and romanticism of the third and final book. So it is particularly gratifying to welcome Lazar Berman's superb 1977 DG recordings back into the catalogue, particularly when so finely remastered on CD. Berman is hardly celebrated as the most subtle or refined of pianists, but at his greatest he combines grandeur and sensibility to a rare degree and his response to Book Three, in particular, is of the highest musical quality and poetic insight.

The piano may not be the ideal medium for capturing the expressive possibilities of Glass' style of minimalism, but pianist Bruce Brubaker selects pieces that work well on the instrument. Part of the problem with hearing Glass on the piano is forgetting the sound of his ensemble, and the variety of colors (and volume) they have imparted to similar music. Brubaker begins his recital of works by Glass and Alvin Curran with his transcription of "Knee Play 4" from Einstein on the Beach. It is in fact a lovely piece on the piano if one can put the spectacular power and tonal range of the instrumental version out of one's mind. "Opening" from Glassworks, originally scored for piano, works beautifully on the instrument, and flows as naturally as the C major Prelude from Book I of The Well Tempered Clavier. The two pieces by Curran, Hope Street Tunnel Blues III and Inner Cities II, use a syntax similar to Glass, with a more dissonant tonal vocabulary. Hope Street Tunnel Blues III has ample kinetic energy that gives it an exhilarating momentum.

Dvorák's popular Piano Quartet No. 2 in E flat major, Op. 87, and Piano Quintet No. 2 in A major, Op. 81, have received numerous performances by Czech ensembles, as well as plenty of foreigners who have attained fluency in the received Czech style (or not). This fine release by Britain's Schubert Ensemble takes the step of defining a non-Czech way of playing Dvorák, with fresh and persuasive results.