Harnoncourt: Mendelssohn, Wagner, Schumann album review – revelatory readings from the late revolutionary

This 1999 live recording captures the late conductor’s radical ear in bracing Mendelssohn, gossamer Wagner and a luminous Liebestod – from Violeta Urmana

Pekka Kuusisto: Willows album review – luminous, inventive and penetrating

The Finnish violinist-conductor strips back The Lark Ascending to revelatory effect in an album that moves from searing grief to radiant, folk-infused transcendence with Sam Amidon

Bath BachFest review – joyous and mesmerising music making

The festival’s new artistic director Adrian Brendel presided over – and was a key part of – a day of virtuosic and adventurous performances

BBC Total Immersion: Icelandic Chill review – ambience, flowerpots and drones in varied day of new music

This celebration of Iceland’s outsize musical talents was a mixed bag, but highlights such as Bára Gísladóttir’s double bass concerto and Daníel Bjarnason’s I Want to Be Alive revealed singular and innovative voices

Sacconi Quartet review – new Freya Waley-Cohen work reveals ensemble at their finest

Marking 25 years since their formation, Dances, Songs & Hymns for Friendship was informed by the composer’s observations of the four musicians both in and out of rehearsal

Tamara Stefanovich review – inspired and insightful programme celebrates Kurtág at 100

The pianist’s recital was a masterful essay in sound where the Hungarian composer’s short piano works were woven into and out of Debussy, Liszt and Bach

HK Gruber: Short Stories from the Vienna Woods album review – still quirky after all these years

This collection of the 83-year-old composer’s larger-scale works highlights his inventive and restless writing

Johann Ludwig Bach: The Leipzig Cantatas album review – this distant cousin’s music is a remarkable discovery

This is the premiere recording of sacred cantatas by JL Bach: works preserved due to his distant cousin, JS Bach, copying them for performance. Conductor Johanna Soller brings them to sensitive and vivid life

Saul review – Purves didn’t just chew the scenery, he swallowed it whole

The London Handel festival opened with Arcangelo’s agile and elegant performance of the operatic oratorio. Christopher Purves dominated as the king, as David, Hugh Cutting’s voice was liquid honey

Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny review – big and brash staging for Brecht and Weill’s whisky-soaked dystopia

Jamie Manton’s new production for English National Opera is sparky and substantial. Danielle de Niese brings star quality to tarty Jenny, and the chorus are consistently superb

BBCSO/ Rustioni/ Davóne Tines review – Black-tinged Anthem spins US nationhood

The UK premiere of a stirring joint concerto by five US artists refashioned patriotic songs, minstrelsy and poetry to present an alternative America built on inclusion

The Great Wave review – Hokusai opera sounds and looks beautiful but skimps on drama

There are strong performances and much to admire in Dai Fujikura and Harry Ross’s opera about the Japanese artist, but it feels strangely inert

Ensemble Intercontemporain: Unsuk Chin album review – rich and strange music of kaleidoscopic colours

Berlin-based Chin’s intricate music is performed with panache in this disc of three of her orchestral works

Handel: Sosarme album review – Marco Angioloni makes the case for this little-known work

Doubling as vocalist and conductor, Angiolini is joined by fine singers in this rarely recorded late work. Giacomo Nanni’s sonorous ‘Fra l’ombre e gl’orrori’ is a particular highlight

LPO/Benjamin review – music of crystalline clarity and hedonistic pleasure

George Benjamin conducted this meticulously programmed and beautifully executed concert of his own Palimpsests alongside music by Scriabin, Stravinsky and Ravel