A new release from Westminster Cathedral Choir of Sheppard Media vita & other sacred music is simply stupendous: three works which showcase Tudor polyphony at its most awe-inspiringly fervid. What more remains to be said? Only that Martin Baker conducts, and that this is an indispensable Record of the Month for August. Contemplations of a mortality distinctly less anguished may be found at the end of the eighth volume of The Complete Richard Strauss Songs which brings this distinguished series to a close with—what else?—the sublime 'Four last songs'. The programme is shared between Nicky Spence and Rebecca Evans; as ever Roger Vignoles presides.

Our two piano releases this month could scarcely be more different. Marc-André Hamelin's illuminating booklet note for Feldman For Bunita Marcus invites the listener to explore nothing less than 'an alternate reality', appropriate for music which makes demands of even the greatest of pianists (and of its listeners) wholly unlike those to be found anywhere else in the repertoire. Whereas the challenges of Potter Piano Concertos Nos 2 & 4 are perhaps more conventional: there are considerably more notes for the soloist to get his hands around. Happily in this instance, the hands are those of Howard Shelley who, partnered by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, adds three first recordings of this English contemporary of Rossini and Schubert to our Romantic Piano Concerto series.

A diverse quartet of new releases from Signum Classics this month kicks off with the Chineke! Orchestra in unfettered performances of Sibelius' Finlandia & Dvořák's Symphony 'From the New World'. Joseph Nolan completes his epic survey from the great Cavaillé-Coll organs of France with a generous helping of Widor Solo Organ Works, while Claire Foison and colleagues enjoy a varied programme of Chamber music by Naji Hakim. Finally, James Gilchrist and Clare Wilkinson lead a starry cast to present an all-too-unfamiliar compendium of Songs by Stephen Wilkinson.