The latest releases reviewed

You might expect a disc called Virtuoso Cello Showpieces to be packed with romantic warhorses for the instrument. But 19th-century composers were much more taken by the piano and the violin, and the longest work here, a decidedly unvirtuosic Sonatina in G, is borrowed from the violin repertoire of Dvorak, composer of the greatest romantic cello concerto. Dvorak's cello originals, the Rondo in G minor and Silent Woods, sound much better on the instrument. Maria Kliegel's focus on virtuosity causes her to miss the point of Castelnuovo-Tedesco's Figaro Variations. More successful are Buxton Orr's 1985 Carmen Fantasy (written to provide cellists with an equivalent to Franz Waxman's Carmen Fantasy for violin), Cassadó's Lamento de Boabdil, and Franz Danzi's deft Mozart Variations. www.naxos.com MICHAEL DERVAN

Opening with the evocative tolling of bells, a short, poignant motet by Tallis, and a 13th-century processional sequence heard from a great distance, this turns out to be a highly atmospheric CD. It's intended as a "pilgrimage through the great choral masterpieces of the English tradition," and it's modelled on a series of concerts the Gabrieli Consort gave in northern Spain two years ago. The conception, performances and recording quality are all of the best, and the repertoire choices, skipping a couple of centuries from Byrd, Parsons and Sheppard (the 20-minute Media vita in morte sumus) on the way to Holst, Howells, Britten, Bennett and Tavener in the 20th, work well. This has the air of a project that came into perfect flowering without stress or effort. www.deutschegrammophon.com MICHAEL DERVAN

The care and responsiveness, the savouring of every last word you would expect from Ian Bostridge are here in his new selection of Handel arias and duets. No one could accuse Britain's leading tenor of not taking ownership of Handel and his music. Not all is clear gain, however. Bostridge sings with a combination of gentleness and insistence and an ever-present vibrato that sometimes causes one to be too much more aware of Bostridge than Handel. Not so with the pointed and stylish playing of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under Harry Bicket. The selection of arias comes from Semele, Messiah, Serse, La Resurrezione, Acis and Galatea, Ariodante, Samson, L'Allegro, Il Penseroso ed il Moderato and Jephtha. www.emiclassics.com MICHAEL DERVAN

John Ogdon, who tied with Vladimir Ashkenazy for first prize at the 1962 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, died a white-haired 52-year-old in 1989, the last 16 years of his life and career derailed by schizophrenia. Some of the early concerto recordings here (Tchaikovsky's First, Rachmaninov's Second) are curiously underpowered. The often thrilling blend of the impetuous and the intellectual that Ogdon showed in concert is better represented in Liszt, the orchestral Hungarian Fantasy and Rhapsodie espagnole; some of the fine solo Liszt items (including the Sonata in B minor) are marred by troubling transfer flaws. The set also includes Ogdon's own knotty Piano Concerto, First Sonata, and Theme and Variations, plus never-before-released recordings of Bartók's First Piano Concerto and Rachmaninov's Paganini Rhapsody. www.emiclassics.com MICHAEL DERVAN