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Reviewed as an SACD in HFN Jul ’16, these are string orchestra transcriptions recorded at The Barbican (as DSD128 – might we hear this in the future?) on 26th April 2015. The Schubert Quartet was partly adapted by Mahler, and completed here by Donald Mitchell and David Matthews, while Shostakovich’s powerful Eighth was expanded, with the composer’s approval, by Rudol Barshai in 1974. It contains quotations from earlier works, from Tchaikovsky and the ‘DSCH’ motif. Such is the sensitivity of the 24 LSO string players that much of the intimacy of the Schubert prevails, and while I prefer the Shostakovich in its original form (we reviewed it herewith the Quatuor Debussy) the performance here has an admirably stark impact and presence in this dry acoustic setting.

Don’t panic: this may be Euro-jazz – how else do you explain a lineup of trumpet, piano and accordians? – but it’s both persuasive and highly approachable, at least when you acclimatise to the slightly unfamiliar tonalities here. Yes, there are times when a conventional rhythm section wouldn’t go amiss, for example in the take on Erik Satie’s Gnossienne No 1, but it’s clear how well the three musicians work together on this, their second Mare Nostrum outing, recorded some seven years after the original. It’s an interesting mix of Northern and Southern European styles – trumpeter Fresu is from Sardinia, Galliano is French and pianist Lundgren Swedish – but the light and shade work well together, whether in the original tunes or the trio’s take on a Monteverdi madrigal, and is well served by a fine recording. AE Sound Quality: 85% Hi-Fi News Lab Report All the tracks here have a spurious tone at ~19.

192kHz/24-bit, FLAC/ALAC; CKD512 (supplied by www. linnrecords. com) Three string orchestra transcriptions of Debussy (the Quartet arranged by the SE’s leader Jonathan Morton, the ‘Girl With The Flaxen Hair’ by Colin Matthews, and ‘Jimbo’s Lullaby’ from the Children’s Corner Suite by bassist James Manson – he plays on the recording too) alternate with film-associated music tracks by Takemitsu. His funeral march from Black Rain (emphatically not the Michael Douglas film) is followed by music for a boxer documentary, then Nostalghia, a homage to Tarkovsky.

The most familiar of the complete Haydn symphony cycles is the late-’60s/early-’70s Philharmonia Hungarica/Doráti set on Decca. Now the company has released a 36CD period-instrument equivalent using existing Hogwood and Brüggen recordings plus these new versions of this little-known group of symphonies composed in 1782-84. They became, the booklet note says, sufficiently popular in Europe to prompt a commission for the ‘Paris’ series. And that’s not surprising: I found myself encoring the finales of both Nos 79 and 81, and was mightily intrigued by the construction of No 80(i) where a simple dance tune keeps popping up in the context of a feverish allegro.