The voice of Christopher Purves is akin to a force of nature, its range, scale and sheer magnificence verging on the incredible. And July's Record of the Month offers the perfect opportunity to experience this awe-inspiring instrument in full flow with a second volume of Handel's Finest Arias for Base Voice. Jonathan Cohen and Arcangelo accompany with all their customary distinction. Voices of an earlier age take flight under the direction of Robert Hollingworth with the all-male singers of De Profundis bringing us Missa Assumpsit Jesus & motets by Sebastián de Vivanco. This composer may now be rather less well known than his contemporary (and fellow choirboy at Ávila Cathedral) Tomás Luis de Victoria, but his music should not be overlooked by anyone with an interest in Renaissance polyphony.

Two important albums complete this month's Hyperion releases and feature three traditionalist composers from 19th- and 20th-century Mitteleuropa whose reluctance to adapt to the modernist trends of their times conspired to turn contemporary fame into posthumous neglect. Jonathan Plowright, whose affinity to this repertoire is well known, employs his formidable talents in the service of Piano Music by Josef Suk—four atmospheric suites brimming with potent Czech melody. While Simon Callaghan presents Piano Concertos by Rheinberger & Scholz, two composers who have long been prime candidates for admittance to the roster of Hyperion's Romantic Piano Concerto series. The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra accompanies, with the brilliant young conductor Ben Gernon making his label debut.

On the Hallé's own label, Sir Mark Elder has recorded Wagner's Das Rheingold, a glittering line-up of soloists—including Sarah Tynan, Susan Bickley, Madeleine Shaw, Leah-Marian Jones, Samuel Youn, Iain Paterson and Reinhard Hagen—captured live at the Bridgewater Hall home of The Hallé Orchestra in November 2016.

The 24 Caprices by Paganini: merely technical exercises, or the K2 of the repertoire? A new LSO Live album presents Roman Simović in warmly recorded and richly expressive performances of these unique works. Simović also takes the lead in Stravinsky's A soldier's tale; Malcolm Sinclair narrates over an ebullient LSO Chamber Ensemble.

The house of the mind is a new Signum album from Queen's College Choir Oxford. Director Owen Rees has assembled a programme of apparently diverse works by or in response to Herbert Howells' uniquely powerful contribution to the genre. An eighth volume in David Goode's Complete Bach Organ Works returns us to Cambridge, and the Metzler organ of Trinity College Chapel.

Beethoven & Mendelssohn Concertos provide the stage for Min-Jung Kym's recording debut. This stunning pianist has long revered Beethoven's 'Fourth', shares Mendelssohn's 'Double Concerto' with Zsolt-Tihamér Visontay, and enjoys full-bodied support from the Philharmonia Orchestra and Clemens Schuldt. Similarly on Signum, Richard Blackford's Niobe is a new concertante work which was commissioned in 2017 by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra who here perform under Ben Gernon. Tamsin Waley-Cohen's violin gives voice to the heroine's tragedy.

A new release from 1equalmusic finds musical polymath Antony Pitts at the helm of The Song Company of Australia. Their live programme, In illo tempore, melds the old and the new into a tapestry of intrigue.

The gorgeous soprano of Grace Davidson returns to Signum in the company of the Academy of Ancient Music. Their album of Handel and Vivaldi includes the latter's perennially popular Nulla in mundo pax sincera alongside less well-known works by Handel.