Classical Playlist: Schumann, Mozart, Brahms and More

Photo
Marc-André Hamelin performing at Carnegie Hall in January.Credit Ruby Washington/The New York Times

WORKS BY SCHUMANN AND JANACEK
Marc-André Hamelin, pianist
(Hyperion)
The pianist Marc-André Hamelin brings commanding technique, elegant musicianship and imagination to a program of suites about, variously, rural life, nature and children. Janacek’s “On the Overgrown Path,” Book I is a 30-minute compilation of mood pieces, character pieces and short works inspired by folk music. Mr. Hamelin searches out the strangeness in the music while conveying the character. He gives a beguiling, lively account of Schumann’s overlooked “Waldszenen” (“Forest Scenes”) and brings freshness and distinction to his familiar “Kinderszenen” (“Scenes of Childhood”). (Anthony Tommasini)

MOZART: Violin Concertos
Festival Strings Lucerne; Daniel Dodds, leader; Arabella Steinbacher; violinist
(Pentatone)
The violinist Arabella Steinbacher considers Mozart’s Violin Concerto in G, which she learned at 8, her “signature piece.” Her sweet-toned, expressive playing and the polished, buoyant sound of the Festival Strings Lucerne renders that concerto and the Violin Concertos Nos. 4 and 5 a treat. (Vivien Schweitzer)

‘IMAGINARY PICTURES’: Mussorgsky, Schumann
Kirill Gerstein, pianist
(Myrios Classics)
The remarkable pianist Kirill Gerstein brings technical assurance, characteristic subtlety and a gift for instilling unease to two canonical collections of miniatures — Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” and Schumann’s “Carnaval” — often played more for their glittering surfaces than their unsettling depths. Well, Mr. Gerstein gets down deep. (Zachary Woolfe)

BRAHMS: ‘German Requiem’
Prague Philharmonic Chorus; Czech Philharmonic Orchestra; Giuseppe Sinopoli, conductor; Lucia Popp, soprano; Wolfgang Brendel, baritone
(Deutsche Grammophon)
This rerelease of a 1983 recording offers the chance to savor the lush, warm, full-blooded sound of Giuseppe Sinopoli conducting the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and the vocal soloists Lucia Popp and Wolfgang Brendel, both in fine voice. The tumultuous sixth movement, which builds in an emotive arc, is particularly vivid. (Schweitzer)

FRANCK AND ROUSSEL: Symphonies
Orchestre National de France; Leonard Bernstein, conductor
(Deutsche Grammophon)
Leonard Bernstein conducts a full-blooded, intense rendition of Franck’s Symphony in D minor, aptly conveying the joyful mood of the optimistic finale. The disc (a rerelease from 1982) also includes Roussel’s boisterous Symphony No. 3, with its jazz-hued finale. (Schweitzer)