Polyarts’ Carlos Simon released his new EP Christmas on 15 November, featuring piano arrangements of three festive tracks to get into the holiday sprit, performed by Carlos.

Paavo Järvi recorded the Complete Erato Recordings, a collection that gathers together the 30 albums, covering a remarkably eclectic range of repertoire, that the conductor recorded for Virgin Classics, EMI Classics and Erato between 1996 and 2015. The bonus CD includes the first release of Franck’s Symphony, recorded with Orchestre de Paris in September 2023.

Former Principal Guest Conductor of Czech Philharmonic Tomáš Netopil records Dvořák’s Legends and Slavonic Rhapsodies on the Pentatone label, marking the orchestra’s fourth recording featuring Czech composers in 2024’s Year of Czech Music. Dvořák wrote his Slavonic Rhapsodies just before the Slavonic Dances that catapulted him to world fame, and they share their colourful orchestration and appealing folk dance melodies. These lesser-known gems are now presented in a glorious idiomatic interpretation by the Czech Philharmonic, arguably the world’s best orchestra for this repertoire

Matilda Lloyd​’s second album on Chandos Records Resonance was released this November. Recorded with London Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Lee Reynolds in Henry Wood Hall, London, it features Weinberg’s Trumpet Concerto, Schönberger’s new Trumpet Concerto (2021), Rachmaninov’s Vocalise, and a brand-new arrangement of Alexander Goedicke’s Étude concertante by Lee Reynolds.

Matilda Lloyd writes: ​“Resonance is a multi-faceted word with many different meanings, all of which are explored in this album of music for trumpet and orchestra. It stems from the Latin word resonantia, meaning ​‘echo’, and both concertos on this album echo music of the past.

Weinberg’s Trumpet Concerto contains many fanfares that hark back to the trumpet’s military beginnings, and in the extended cadenza at the opening of the third movement, Weinberg includes snippets of music by other composers, including Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, Mendelssohn’s Wedding March, and Stravinsky’s Pétrouchka. However, these are not flippant references to the past, but rather euphemisms; Weinberg twists and distorts the quotations into something dark and menacing. 

Christoph Schönberger has described his Concerto as ​‘neo-romantic’, drawing upon the harmonic and melodic language of composers from the romantic period. ​‘Resonance’ can also be used to describe the powerful images, feelings, or memories that are conjured up in the mind upon listening to music. Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise is the ultimate expression of this kind of resonance. The final work on the disc, Goedicke’s Concert Étude, holds a personal resonance: it was my favourite work for trumpet and piano when I was growing up. At the start of my career, it was my preferred encore and now I am thrilled to have this brand-new orchestral arrangement by Lee Reynolds.”