Celebrating its 40th anniversary, the Emerson String Quartet releases Chaconnes and Fantasias – Music of Britten and Purcell.

For biographer Philipp Spitta, Bach's period as organist and later Konzertmeister to the Duke of Weimar (1708-17) was the time of his ‘early mastery’. Nowhere is this more evident than in the small but highly distinguished body of cantatas he wrote there, whether for the court chapel – the Himmelsburg or ‘Castle of Heaven’ – or for some clearly very joyful wedding (BWV202). From the ravishing duets for soprano and oboe of the latter to the penitential strains of BWV199, the radiant voice of Carolyn Sampson and the virtuosos of the Freiburger Barockorchester do full justice to Bach's inventiveness.

Author of more than 120 works, Thierry Escaich is one of the leading figures in contemporary musical creation. His works, in the repertoire of such prestigious orchestras as the Orchestre de Paris, New York Philharmonic and the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra of Saint Petersburg, are defended by personalities such as Valery Gergiev, Alan Gilbert, Lisa Batiashvili, Renaud and Gautier Capuçon, and Olivier Latry.

For his first recital, Louis-Noël Bestion de Camboulas invites us on a fascinating exploration of the keyboard music of J. S. Bach and his mentors. In the hands of this talented musician, the intimate tones of the harpsichord and the sumptuous strains of the great organ ring out by turns. Until the middle of the eighteenth century, the organ and the harpsichord were the two principal faces of a generic ‘keyboard’ repertory that was often played without discrimination on a number of instruments, which might also include the clavichord, the spinet and the virginal.

Following their acclaimed previous Wagner opera releases, Hallé present the re-mastered recording of their 2013 Prom performance, recorded live at the Royal Albert Hall.