A new release of Mozart Piano Sonatas K457, 533, 545, 570 & 576 marks the completion of Angela Hewitt’s self-recommending Mozart sonata cycle. Angela recorded all the sonatas in chronological order, and those issued here—the third and final double album—are the products of the composer’s maturity: Viennese masterpieces dating from the late 1780s and contemporary with the great piano concertos, symphonies and operas with which they stylistically have so much in common. As usual, Angela’s accompanying essay is no mere afterthought but offers a fascinating ‘performer’s-eye’ view of the works themselves, and of the interpretative challenges they pose. ‘An excellent recital that yields rewards on every listen’ was the BBC Music Magazine’s verdict on a previous instalment, and this, Hyperion’s Record of the Month for June, is a memorable conclusion to a fine series.

Judith Weir’s In the Land of Uz and Amy Beach’s The Canticle of the Sun make up just the sort of release which has always been something of a Hyperion speciality—two major choral works (by two major composers, including a former Master of the King’s Music), which may have been overlooked by a wider audience and yet which amply repay closer acquaintance. Both are settings of texts which address the inadequacies and complexities of the human condition (from the Book of Job and Saint Francis of Assisi), but any expectations of unremitting solemnity are quickly dispelled: the sinuous, jazz-inflected soprano saxophone which plays a prominent role in Dame Judith’s piece is alone worth the price of admission. David Hill conducts, and the varied forces—choir and vocal soloists, accompanied by instrumental ensemble in Uz and orchestra in the Canticle—are drawn from Yale Schola Cantorum.