A bumper issue means double the number of recorded reviews from which to pick my regular handful, but let me start by recommending September’s Recording of the Month: Leif Ove Andsnes’ Mozart Momentum 1785 (Sony Classical 19439742462). The Norwegian pianist is in wonderful form in the first volume of a two-part project focusing on 1785, for Mozart, a true annus mirabilis. The double disc presents three extraordinary piano concertos – Nos 20, 21 and 22 – placed in context by other works written at the same time: the Fantasia in C Minor, the Piano Quartet No 1 and the Masonic Funeral Music.

On the Record

Angela Hewitt © Richard Termine, Leif Ove Andsnes © Helge Hansen, Sony Music Entertainment

In his five-star review, Angus McPherson is deeply impressed. “What’s remarkable here is the precision and nuance the orchestra brings to the table despite recording these works under physical distancing conditions in the Berlin Philharmonie during the city’s lockdown in November 2020,” he writes. “You wouldn’t know it from listening to the pulsing, muscular strings that open the D Minor Concerto, K466, or the precise, gleaming wind entries.” As for Andsnes, his playing is “profound”, “detailed” and “agile” by turns. “There...