Britten: Sinfonia da Requiem, Winter Words (arr Holloway), etc album review – confirms Gardner’s status as an outstanding conductor of Britten

The first recording of Robin Holloway’s imaginative orchestration of the song cycle Winter Words is fascinating, and completes a superb new disc of Britten’s music

The Lost Tapes, Beethoven sonatas 18,27, 28 & 31 album review – Richter always found something fresh to say

Sviatoslav Richter’s already huge catalogue is enriched by these rediscovered recordings of recitals of Beethoven’s piano sonatas from 1965

Voces8 review – agile and poised vocal group celebrate 20 years, with a little help from their friends

The choir’s birthday concert focused mainly on 20th and 21st-century music with a contemplative bent. Joined in the second half by members old and potentially new, and also the BBC Singers, the sound was thrilling

New Music Biennial review – sitars, thorax-quaking bass and vibrators

A varied weekend in the UK City of Culture showcased a huge range of energetic, imaginative and boundary-crossing new music

Saul review – probing, dark and engrossing staging of Handel’s oratorio

Barrie Kosky’s remarkable 2015 production returns to the summer festival with Christopher Purves and Iestyn Davies superb in the lead roles

Così Fan Tutte review – country house remix offers fresh farce and energy

Misogynist Don Alfonso is at the centre of things in this opera-within-an-opera benefiting from a witty translation into English, formidable arias and scene-stealing acting

Furtwängler: Symphony No 2 album review – conductor’s own massive work has real curiosity value

One of the 20th century’s greatest conductors, Wilhelm Furtwängler, also composed; this, his second symphony, is arguably his finest achievement, but it is unmemorable and feels predictable

Ligeti: Violin and Piano Concertos, etc album review – As always, Faust’s performance is perceptive and immaculate

These fresh and original concertos revealed the full power of Ligeti’s new musical language; Isabelle Faust and Jean-Frederic Neuburger give accomplished and polished accounts of both

The Queen of Spades review – dark and convincing staging of Tchaikovsky’s compulsive drama

Aaron Cawley brings a prodigious intensity to Pushkin’s antihero Hermann, while a fine ensemble and Douglas Boyd on the podium help drive the innovative score forward

Béla Bartók: Complete Piano Concertos album review – Tomáš Vrána rises to the challenge

The young Czech pianist tackles Bartók’s formidable concertos with confidence and technical accomplishment, although tempi can feel a little sluggish

My Days: Orlando Gibbons and Nico Muhly album review – a luminous tribute

The English composer died 400 years ago; this new collection commemorates the enduring power of his music; Muhly’s My Days, a ritualised memory piece about Gibbons, contrasts perfectly

Wahnfried review – madness, monstrousness and a mischievous Wagner daemon

Avner Dorman’s chilling opera about the toxic Wagner clan’s in-fighting comes to the UK in an effective and lively staging by Polly Graham

Cassie Kinoshi x Ensemble intercontemporain review – vivid and anarchic, new music programme full of thrills

A memorable work by Hannah Kendall and Cassie Kinoshi’s [Untitled] – featuring virtuoso turntabling and choreography - were paired with Boulez’s visionary Sur Incises, all conducted by rising star Nicolò Umberto Foron

The Flying Dutchman review – terrific cast and hurtling momentum in OHP’s first ever Wagner

Julia Burbach’s blurs the lines of reality and illusion in an impressive new staging of Wagner’s horror story that hits more than it misses. Musically it is very fine indeed

I Fagiolini review – startlingly intense surround-sound baroque

The former church was an excellent setting for Robert Hollingworth and his group’s superb exploration of Benevoli’s baroque masses for multiple choirs