It's always a pleasure to welcome a new name to Hyperion's eminent roster of pianists, and we're especially delighted to present Mishka Rushdie Momen in Reformation – Keyboard works by Byrd, Gibbons, Bull & Sweelinck, her label debut. A selection of late Tudor music—Rushdie Momen's choice of repertoire is nothing if not refreshingly unpredictable—this recital is a reminder of how persuasive this music sounds on the modern piano when played with such natural authority and understanding. There is a long-established Hyperion tradition demonstrating the suitability of the piano in music originally written for the keyboard instruments of earlier times, and July's Record of the Month marks another splendid contribution.

Queen of Hearts, another of those carefully curated releases which are a speciality of Owain Park and The Gesualdo Six, is a collection of motets and chansons in honour of the Virgin Mary and her earthly counterparts from the courts of early sixteenth-century Europe. Blurring the distinction between sacred and secular, the programme includes music by some of the greatest names of the time—Brumel, Compère, Josquin and Gombert are perhaps the most familiar—and also two contemporary composers: Ninfea Cruttwell-Reade and Owain Park both contribute settings written especially to complement this programme.

The ongoing series dedicated to choice selections of our all-time favourite recordings—ones you might possibly have missed? This time: Friedman & Różycki Piano Quintets from Jonathan Plowright and the Szymanowski Quartet (‘greatly recommended—you won’t regret it!’—Classical Ear), Les Noces & other choral works by Stravinsky from the New London Chamber Choir (‘as magical a musical experience as this imposing score has ever afforded on record’—Fanfare), and Nikolay Roslavets' Chamber Symphony & In the Hours of the New Moon from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Ilan Volkov (‘leave it to Hyperion to come up with another first-class presentation of forgotten but fascinating music’—Audiophile Audition). If you don’t know them already, a track from each is included on our monthly sampler which is free to download.

Emmanuel Despax has returned to the Signum Classics studios to record a programme of Liszt Piano Works, choosing some of the greatest achievements from this most forward-looking of composers—the immense Sonata, of course, plus Funérailles, the 'Dante' Sonata, Nuages gris and more.

New from APR—the label specializing in historic piano recordings—we have The complete solo recordings of Olga Samaroff & Frank La Forge, two of the earliest Americans to make solo piano discs, in the early 1920s, before their careers took them in different directions, Samaroff becoming a teacher at the Juilliard School and La Forge a pioneering advocate of the importance of the accompanist.

Songs for Peter Pears on Signum brings together an impressive array of composers—Lennox Berkeley, Benjamin Britten, Arthur Oldham and Richard Rodney Bennett—who wrote specifically for perhaps the greatest British tenor of them all, plus an enigmatic set from Geoffrey Bush dedicated to the memory of Pears and Britten. Robin Tritschler and Malcolm Martineau step boldly into these boots, and with nothing to fear, and are joined as appropriate by Sean Shibe (guitar) and Philip Higham (cello).