#NowSpinning Medtner’s Rhythmically exciting Piano Concerto No.2 in C Minor. What a piece this is! Full of great ideas and exciting as hell. And this is a fine performance, too. Stormy and brilliant.

#NowSpinning Bychkov’s Mahler 2 for the second time today. So far I’ve found little to mark this out as anything other than routine, but I know there others will vehemently disagree. I don’t sense the investment in the work itself that we find with Walter, Fischer, Bernstein…..

My oh my another Sibelius surprise on the way. I am really not convinced by the full stop after the composer’s name on the cover, though. It’s really troubling me for some reason!

Sibelius’s Lemminkaïnen Suite has been very lucky on record. Indeed there are at least 27 versions in my collection, though I would bet it’s possible to find more than that. These are the four I return to most, with Segerstam probably topping the list. Which are your favourites?

#NowSpinning Denis Kozhukhin with Ravel’s Left Hand Piano Concerto. I’ve been meaning to hear this for a while. I nothing about this particular performance. It’s my favourite Piano Concerto, I think. So many recordings and so little time!

Coming in June!!!! If you already know Saraste’s RCA Cycle - much better than his Finlandia set - you’ll be salivating at this possibility. He is a very, very fine Sibelius conductor and obviously this orchestra has an idea how the music can sound! BOOM!!

#NowSpinning Michel Béroff and Kurt Masur with Prokofiev’s Piano Concertos No.4. I really enjoy this cycle. There’s plenty of pointed wit and the partnership between orchestra and soloist feels like a proper conversation.

#NowSpinning Moszkowski’s E Major Piano Concerto, Op.59. And so the journey through this wonderful box begins. Piers Lane’s playing is absolutely full of light and shade. He seems to have a gorgeously delicate touch.

#NowSpinning Antonio Pappano’s new LSO Live recording of Bax’s ever glorious Tintagel. The Barbican acoustic has rarely sounded this good on record and the orchestra sounds inspired. Loving the horns!

#NowSpinning Claudio Abbado’s Decca Beethoven 7 from Vienna, placed in the big box as an appendix to the Vienna DG cycle, but so much more than that! The playing has fabulous impact.

#NowSpinning Semyon Bychkov’s Mahler 1. My first listening, back when they were released, to 1 - 5 left me with mixed feelings. But I’m looking forward to listening again with fresh ears. The First is certainly very impressive in many ways….

#NowSpinning Haydn Symphony No.90, with Ansermet in Geneva for the home drive. And this performance does have a lot going for it, not least all of the warmth generated by the conductor’s approach. Lovely stuff!

Back to work from some down time and found some nice packages had been delivered! Box 1 of Hyperion’s Romantic Piano Concertos series has long been a dream. I stopped collecting the series in the hope this would appear. And here it is on 50 discs.

#NowSpinning Something of a Strauss classic from Karajan in Berlin. This account of Tod und Verklärung has gathered many rave reviews over the years, though, as ever, Karajan's way does not appeal to everyone. Thrilled to be hearing it again, personally!

#NowSpinning Ralph Vaughan Williams’s touching song cycle ‘The House of Life’ with Anthony Rolfe Johnson and David Willison. I’ve always found this disc dreamily moving.

#NowSpinning Karajan in Berlin with the Dvořák Serenade for Strings. I have to say the playing is magnificent as such, but I am not convinced that the freshness required for this work is there. It feels like every phrase is being stroked and wrapped up in a cute ribbon.

Four fabulous recordings of Sibelius Symphony No.2. The grand power of Segerstam’s performance is unique, but I love it. If I had to choose it would likely be the Barbirolli, for all its warmth. Which Sibelius 2 would be your choice? One of these or something else?

Four fabulous recordings of Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé. I am glad we live in a world where we don’t have to choose between such gorgeous beauties. But if I had to choose I think it would be the Monteux. Which would you choose? Any of these?

#NowSpinning Beethoven Overtures with Abbado in Vienna. These were most packaged with the Symphonies on original release but appear together in the big Abbado box. Really enjoying them. Zesty, colourful and fabulous well-upholstered.

A truly sad day as we say goodbye to bye to Madge, our beautiful Springer Spaniel. Sometimes you just know the time has come and it was her time this morning. I am beyond heartbroken.

#NowSpinning Abbado’s Vienna Beethoven Ninth. I have never heard this recording at all, which is astonishing given how much Abbado I have listened to over the years. I am immediately drawn to the orchestra’s massive sound.

#NowSpinning Suk’s so-gorgeous-it-can’t-be-true Fairy Tale, with Zdeněk Mácal and the Czech Philharmonic. The music is rich, romantic and colourful. And this performance is one of a few to totally knock it out of the park.

#NowSpinning one of my absolute favourite Bax works and one of my favourite British symphonies. Bax Symphony No.2 is powerfully windswept, craggily beautiful and totally epic. And Lloyd-Jones really finds all of that character and more.

#NowSpinning Mahler 7 with Rattle and the Vienna Philharmonic. It’s certainly very well-played, but so far somewhat hollow in spirit. But there is something beguiling about hearing this orchestra is the glorious Concertgebouw acoustic.

#NowSpinning Ah now this is more like it. Karajan back in his wheelhouse with Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings. This has a magnificent intensity, with the density of string sound working to the benefit of the music rather than clogging things up, as it did in the Bruckner 3!

#NowSpinning the next six in Karajan’s big DG box. Bruckner Symphony No.3. I am generally a bit unsure about Karajan in the earlier Bruckner works, but I’ve only ever heard this Third once before. My first impression is that the opening lacks atmosphere!

#NowSpinning Neeme Järvi’s Bis Sibelius 5. Not a performance I particularly enjoyed on first hearing, but a couple of decades on my mind might be different on it. Any thoughts?

#NowSpinning Shostakovich Symphony No.1. I’ve been looking forward to working back through this Shosty cycle for some time. No time like the present! This First is certainly rocking my world right at this moment.

#NowSpinning Zubin Mehta’s Dvořák New World. I enjoyed their Eighth and have decent hopes for this one. The first movement certainly opens with determination.

#NowSpinning Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with Henryk Szeryng and Bernard Haitink. The orchestral opening is so beautifully posed and disarmingly sweet-toned. Awesome.

#NowSpinning Robert Kolinsky with Martinů’s weird and wonderful Piano Concerto No.4, ‘Incantations’. Ashkenazy draws some wonderful playing from the Basel Symphony Orchestra here, but Kolinsky is spectacular.

#NowSpinning the first disc in Armin Jordan’s Icon box of ‘French Symphonic Music’. Gabriel Taccino takes to the keyboard for the Symphonic Variations. This seems pretty understated, though there is plenty of elegant poise.

Having a bit of a time comparing multiple recordings of Shostakovich's Prelude/Fugue No.4. I have to say that it feels like a three horse race at the moment, with Nikolayeva two of those horses and Levit the other!

#NowSpinning something really special. Beecham’s Sibelius always has a special atmosphere and this famous version of the glorious Oceanides is no exception. The mysterious half lights and bardic otherworldliness are magnifciently affecting.

#NowSpinning Rossini Overtures with Igor Markevitch in Paris. This has to be some of the very finest mono sound I have ever heard. Extraordinary clarity, set within a wonderfully spacious acoustic. And Markevitch is certainly bringing an electric spirit.

One of my absolute favourite versions of Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances. They are delivered with such wit and rustic colour. Yet the refinement is astounding. Such a fabulous disc overall, actually.

#NowSpinning Järvi’s DG Sibelius 4. I don’t automatically assume that slow tempi are a problem, but I think they were in the Bis version. Järvi seemed to struggle to make sense of the first two movements. I remember this version being better, but let’s see.

#NowSpinning Brahms Symphony No.3 in a fresh but warm performance from Bamberg. There is gorgeous refinement here, particularly in the wind playing.

Now comparing Neeme Järvi with himself in Sibelius 4. I have to say, the Bis version is not shaping up so well right now. Järvi almost brings things to a standstill several times and the already fragmentary melodic lines disintegrate.

#NowSpinning Beethoven Symphonies 7 and 8 with Abbado in Vienna, on DG. There is another Vienna Seventh, but that's on Decca and coming up soon in the big box. I have to say this big, bold Seventh is floating my boat. It's powerful and gloriously propulsive.

#NowSpinning Haitink’s 1995 Mahler Festival Mahler 6. I am not in the mood for sleeping right now, but I am in the mood for great music-making. It’s good to hear the Berlin Philharmonic play in a hall other than its own, especially with this level of engagement.

#NowSpinning Bizet’s Symphony in C from this Orpheus Chamber Orchestra disc. What a bizarre mix, but thankfully the music-making is something special.

#NowSpinning Morton Gould’s Spirituals, with Dorati in Minneapolis. This is totally new to me and seems to suit the orchestra down to the ground, as did the Porgy suite. Dorati’s versatility is quite astonishing.

#NowSpinning Dorati’s Minneapolis Ein Heldenleben, rendered in very decent mono sound. I have only ever enjoyed this work in performances by Karajan and Reiner and I am not sure this is turning out to be a new addition to that list of two! It’s a work I find difficult to like.

Just listened to this Rite of Spring again and my admiration for it - and the conductor - has risen once more. It’s not sharp-edged, but it is beefy and imposing. There’s masses of character in the playing which, although not the most electrifying is incredibly rich. Hear it!!!

#NowSpinning Ravel Piano Works on my way into Central London for a meeting. Thank you to a good online buddy for the recommendation of the set! I am immediately struck by the warmth of the playing.

#NowSpinning Previn’s Vaughan Williams Sinfonia Antartica, which includes a spoken introduction to each movement. Perhaps Previn’s cinematic sensibilities drove his desire to maximise narrative. Perfectly fine by me!

This Tchaikovsky 6 is lacerating, yet also touching and emotionally complete. How Mravinsky got the Leningrad players to give so much is a wonder unto itself, but the extremes of emotional intensity come from his as much as from them.

This is still a magnificent Prokofiev 5. The work itself seems to draw the best and worst out of conductors, but this is definitely an example of performers finding their collective feet.

#NowSpinning Excerpts from Strauss’s Elektra with Inge Borkh. This immediately hits a chilling note; Borkh is haunting and dramatically alive. And the orchestra sounds magnificent.