This month’s outstanding releases veer between the old and the new, the known and the unknown, and what better place to start than The Brandenburg Project, a concept that encompasses all of them at the same time (BIS BIS2199). The idea goes back to 2001 when Thomas Dausgaard and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra commissioned six contemporary composers – Mark-Anthony Turnage, Steven Mackey, Anders Hillborg, Olga Neuwirth, Uri Caine and Australia’s own Brett Dean – to write companion pieces to each of Bach’s famous Brandenburg Concertos. A mere 20 years later, here they are on a three-disc set, wildly inventive and frequently fun.

On the Record

Flammen © Theatre an der Wien, Armin Bardel; Lise Davidsen © James Hole; Brett Dean © Bettina Stoess; Rachel Podger

Orchestra and conductor are on top form and, although my preference for the Bach originals would be original instrument performances, it’s a set well worth acquiring for the legendary Håkan Hardenberger making light of the fiendish trumpet part in Brandenburg Two, Mahan Esfahani a must-hear in No 5, and Pekka Kuusisto in No 3. As for the new works, I loved Mackey’s quirky Triceros and Neuwirth’s crazy Aello with its...