Hyperion's Record of the Month for October is a compelling programme of British solo cello music written over the last century. Thanks to the inspired advocacy of Steven Isserlis, this collection of greater and lesser names—from Frank Merrick to Thomas Adès via Britten and Walton—and plurality of styles is fashioned into a convincing, satisfying whole. Isserlis's authority is evident throughout, and the rarities can seldom have enjoyed such interpretative care. Our Classical Piano Concerto series reaches volume eight with accounts of four Piano Concertos by Georg Benda: models of eighteenth-century grace and equanimity revivified by the tireless Howard Shelley, who also directs the strings of the London Mozart Players.

With Missa Christ ist erstanden & other works by Jacob Regnart, Cinquecento returns to the music of this distinguished composer and employee of the Imperial Habsburg courts of Prague and Innsbruck. Regnart was praised by Lassus, a near contemporary, as 'trefflich' ('splendid'), and it's a judgement that listeners to this new album will share.

The winners have been announced for this year's prestigious Gramophone Awards, with two Hyperion albums prevailing: Alina Ibragimova's awe-inspiring accounts of the two Shostakovich Violin Concertos with the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia 'Evgeny Svetlanov' and conductor Vladimir Jurowski carried off the concerto award, while the chamber category was won by the Takács Quartet, performing Piano Quintets by Elgar & Beach with pianist Garrick Ohlsson. Another notable win came for The Tallis Scholars with the final instalment in their epic Josquin Masses cycle. Congratulations to all concerned.

An occasional series dedicated to choice selections of our all-time favourite recordings—ones you might possibly have missed? This time: Choral music by Vierne, Widor & Dupré from Westminster Cathedral Choir (‘my obeisance goes to all artists involved with this outstanding production’—Soundscapes, Australia), Charpentier's Leçons de ténèbres, Litanies & Magnificat from Arcangelo (‘beautiful sounds, wonderfully recorded as well’—BBC Record Review), and The Complete Piano Concertos of Malcolm Williamson from Piers Lane and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra (‘an absorbing and highly entertaining experience’—International Piano). If you don’t know them already, a track from each is included on our monthly sampler which is free to download.

Recorded for LSO Live in December 2018, almost three decades after the composer's own iconic recording of the work with the same orchestra, Marin Alsop leads the London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus and a stunning line-up of soloists in a new version of Leonard Bernstein's Candide—a riotously satirical operetta as tellingly non-PC now as was Voltaire's novella when covertly published in 1759.

La Serenissima and Adrian Chandler have long been champions of music from the byways of eighteenth-century Italy. Their new album on Signum—entitled 'Behind Closed Doors' as a nod to the tribulations of attempting to make an ensemble recording this last year—presents the entire first book of Giuseppe Antonio Brescianello's Opus 1 Concerti & Sinphonie along with a spirited overture suite.

New from 1equalmusic this month comes Burden of Truth which features two ambitious re-imaginings of older works: Gavin Bryars revisits his 1970s cult hit Jesus' blood never failed me yet, while Antony Pitts takes a single folio from the early Tudor Eton Choirbook as the starting point for his Jesus autem transiens. The Song Company—greatly expanded (these unaccompanied works are in 32 and 25 parts respectively)—rises admirably to the challenges posed.