Vaughan Williams / MacMillan / Tavener: Choral Works - Westminster Abbey Choir / Vaughan Williams Mass in G minor / Vaughan / Williams O Taste and See / MacMillan What man is he that feareth the Lord? / MacMillan Mass of St Edward the Confessor

Filipe de Magalh�es was perhaps the most celebrated Portuguese composer of his day. Idiomatic performances from Cupertinos- 'true ambassadors of Portuguese polyphony'- will go a long way towards justifying that reputation to a modern audience.

Dvor�k's mature string quartets are masterly, allb rimming with life-enhancing music, and Op.106 is no exception. The Tak�cs Quartet gives superlative accounts of both this and the apt coupling by a young Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.

Exciting accounts of eight anthems spanning nearly two hundred years, with a welcome emphasis firmly on recent works.

Debussy may have stipulated 'mains formidables' as the requirement for pianists tackling his �tudes, but they need a lot more besides. It's clear from these magisterial performances that Steven Osborne's 'formidable hands' are always at the service of a profound musical intelligence.

With radiant accounts from The Brabant Ensemble of the Mass, a Magnificat and a selection of motets, this album of first recordings is a major addition to Guerrero's still select discography.

Ludwig Daser's life and work encompassed both Catholic and Lutheran courts, at Munich and Stuttgart respectively. Cinquecento's program-which, besides the substantial Missa Pater noster, includes a selection of Latin motets and German chorale settings-illustrates a variety of styles and genres from both, offering a welcome introduction to this lesser-known master from the sixteenth century.

'Mahan Esfahani couldn't make a routine recital of Bach's keyboard music if you paid him' was BBC Record Review's verdict on a previous release: prospective listeners to this wonderful new set should rest assured that any hint of the routine remains as distant a threat as ever.

Angela Hewitt's voyage of discovery through Mozart's piano sonatas is proving a joy, the works sounding newly minted in vital, alert accounts which respect their scale and sensibility while revealing influences of Mozart's orchestral and concerto writing of the period.

The rich profusion of musical idioms employed by Pancho Vladigerov, filtered through the prism of his dazzlingly virtuoso piano writing, makes for some exciting listening. Nadejda Vlaeva responds thrillingly to the extreme pianistic challenges.

STANFORD: REQUIEM

With these two late, great Vaughan Williams symphonies - Antartica and No.9 - Martyn Brabbins and his BBC forces complete a cycle enthusiastically acclaimed by Radio 3 Record Review as "unmissable".

Polyphony and Stephen Layton present highlights from the choral repertoire by four twentieth-century American giants: Samuel Barber, Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland and Randall Thompson. Framed by Thompson's understated favorites Alleluia and Fare Well, the program includes Bernstein's Missa brevis, motets by Copland and - of course - Barber's inimitable Agnus Dei.

Endless hours of joy and wonder is how Angela Hewitt sums up the insights and rewards of playing and recording Mozart's piano sonatas, and a similar experience awaits listeners to these remarkable accounts, the first release in a complete cycle.

Classical Music