This week's Classical CDs reviewed

BACH: CANTATAS 169, 170, 35
Bernarda Fink (mezzo soprano), Freiburger Barockorchester/Petra Müllejans Harmonia Mundi HMC 902016★★★★

From the breezy opening of Cantata 169, Gott soll allein mein Herze haben, it's clear that this disc is going to be an instrumental delight. And so it proves. The organ is often to the fore, with the opening movement of Cantata 35, Geist und Seele wird verwirret, actually marked Concerto. The playing is alert and adventurous. Organist Wolfgang Zerer even shares the obbligato part in the second aria of Cantata 170, Vergnügte Ruh, with flute to penetrating expressive effect. Mezzo soprano Bernarda Fink is pure of tone and sincere of manner. Bach singing rarely comes as beautiful as this, and it seems a small price to pay that her responses to the words are sometimes a little generalised. www.tinyurl.com/6mchwb

SCHUBERT: COMPLETE OVERTURES VOL 1
Prague Sinfonia/Christian Benda Naxos 8.570328★★★

There's nothing at all well-known in this first volume of Naxos's survey of Schubert's overtures. The nine pieces were written between the ages of 15 and 19, and none appeared in print until the late 19th century, long after the composer's death. Christian Benda and the members of the Prague Sinfonia take an agreeably genial approach to music that presses so many familiar buttons in slightly unfamiliar ways that it's hard notto be regularly charmed by the endeavour. The lightness of musical touch has the advantage of never overstating the case, and the orchestral playing shows that regional musical flavour – in the form of horns with pronounced vibrato – is not yet a thing of the past. www.naxosdirect.ie

CHRIS NEWMAN: PIANO SONATAS 1, 4, 6 & 10
Michael Finnissy (piano) mode 201★★★

Music rarely comes as raw as the piano sonatas of Chris Newman. The Berlin-based Londoner, who turned 50 last year, composes, performs, writes poems and paints. There's a Satie-like naivete and boldness in his raiding of the past, from which he appropriates not for the purposes of quotation, but because he's looking for "the best material for the job". The jobs include effectively living in earlier styles (Sonata No 1, 1982), grafting CPE Bach with CPE Bach (Sonata No 2, 1990), grafting himself with Beethoven (Sonata No 6, 1997), and aspects of Schubert with Varèse (Sonata No 10, 2004). Michael Finnissy offers provocatively deadpan performances of the strangest of sincerely-posed, what-if? musical scenarios. www.moderecords.com

MENDELSSOHN: VIOLIN CONCERTO; PIANO TRIO IN D MINOR; VIOLIN SONATA IN F
Anne-Sophie Mutter (violin), Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra/Kurt Masur, Lynn Harrell (cello), André Previn (piano) Deutsche Grammophon 477 8001 (CD + DVD)★★★★

Anne-Sophie Mutter’s contribution to the Mendelssohn bicentenary brings performances of great favourites (the E minor Violin Concerto and Piano Trio D minor) plus the little-known Violin Sonata in F, generously supplied on both CD and DVD, with a video documentary bonus to boot. Mutter’s chameleon- like adaptability is heard to great advantage in the concerto, where she shows off her range of personas with a freshness and vitality that match the spirit of this effervescent piece. She’s matched all the way by conductor Kurt Masur. André Previn shows commendable octogenarian adroitness in the trio (with cellist Lynn Harrell) and violin sonata, but not always the necessary flexibility of response. www.tinyurl.com/ 5b9s4r