The CD, unreleased as always, is dedicated to a romantic masterpiece, the Concerto for Cello and Orchestra No. 2 in B minor by Antonín Dvořák, played by the Italian virtuoso Miriam Prandi with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra under the orders of Michele Spotti. The CD is completed by a rarely heard work, the overture Le Roi d'Ys by Édouard Lalo. Unparalleled live recording of the concert in Katowice, December 8, 2023.

This recording, made in 1991, contains two fine performances. Indeed the performance of Hamlet is better than fine, it is positively thrilling. The Polish orchestra are well able to deliver on this and Leaper shows considerable empathy for the music. The recording is good, if a little lacking in absolute clarity at the bottom end which tends to be just a touch inclined to 'muddiness' at moments of greatest demand. This should not be over-emphasised in view of the excellence of the music making and the general acceptance of the recording. Indeed, the weighty sound-stage and quite close balance suits the heavier approach of Leaper when compared to Karajan on DGG for example, and to a lesser extent, Jansons on Chandos.

The musical reconstructions industry keeps gathering pace, but few works have attracted as much attention as Mahler's 10th Symphony. Joe Wheeler (who died in 1977) was a brass-playing British civil servant with a passion for Mahler. This completion (itself in an edition by the conductor here, Robert Olson) uses the leaner orchestration of the composer's later years. But does it sound Mahlerian? Certainly more so than Remo Mazzetti's 1997 version, but neither caps Deryck Cooke's acute sense of authentic detail and color in his legendary edition.

This live recording of the two Shostakovich cello concertos continues audite's successful cooperation with Marc Coppey, who approaches both works with boundless energy and without any sentimentality.