Some of the connections with Venice may be a little tenuous, and this particular Winged Lion even circles over Spain clutching a Venetian guitar. The Palladian Ensemble's debut disc was called An Excess of Pleasure; the sequal offers nothing less! From two gutsy Vivaldi concertos via the dashing caprice of Santiago de Murcia's La Jota to a canzon by Cavalli which discharges itself in a haunting echo of Monteverdi's Lamento della Ninfa, the programme continually surprises and enchants. The playing too.

Pianist Alice Sara Ott releases Nightfall, an album that explores the transition and harmony between day and night, light and darkness. This recording features a collection of evocative pieces by Satie, Debussy, and Ravel, including Debussy's "Clair de lune" and Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit - all played with Ott's velvet touch and soulful depth.

The pianist Ekaterina Litvintseva won critical praise for her solo album on Piano Classics (PCL10226) of piano music by Dora Pejacevic: 'You owe it to yourself to make the acquaintance of Dora Pejacevic if you haven't done so already.' (Fanfare, May 2022) With her colleagues in Trio RoVerde, she now turns to the Croatian composer's chamber music. The Cello Sonata dates from 1913, the same year as Pejacevic wrote the first piano concerto by any Croatian composer. Like Brahms's First Cello Sonata and Elgar's Cello Concerto, it is cast in a moody E minor, with a yearning character are established from the outset by a long-limbed cantabile melody for the cellist.