In honor of Philip Glass' 70th birthday, Sony has devoted two CDs to 18 short works and movements of larger works, from recordings in its archive. The set provides a useful introduction to the composer's work from a relatively brief span in his long career, from 1976 to 1988. It was an exceptionally productive period for Glass; works written during that period include his three large-scale portrait operas – Einstein on the Beach, Satyagraha, and Akhnaten – all represented here, as well as two very popular albums of short pieces: Glassworks and Songs From Liquid Days.

Recorded for two different record companies over 14 years in five different locations, Emanuel Ax's Brahms concertos plus his Two Rhapsodies, Op. 79; Three Intermezzos, Op. 117; and Four Piano Pieces, Op. 119, are joined together for the first time here on two discs. Given the span in space and time, Ax is surprisingly quite consistent in his approach. The same emphasis on content over form, on heart over mind, on lyricism over drama is equally present in both concertos as well as in all the solo works.

It was the heroic age, the postwar age when American pianists first made their mark in the great wide world. The heroes took many forms: the apollonian Van Cliburn, the dionysic Byron Janis, and the mercurial Gary Graffman, along with many, many others. The most intellectually brilliant and technically incendiary member of the pantheon was Leon Fleisher. While other heroes rode the Russian war horses of Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov to fame and glory, Fleisher stuck with Beethoven and Brahms, the Alpha and Omega of German composers for the piano. In these Columbia recordings of Beethoven's Third and Fourth piano concertos from the 1959 and 1961, Fleisher teamed with George Szell, the sternest of living conductors, leading the Cleveland Orchestra, the most virtuosic of American orchestras, and the results are transcendent.

These performances are truly great and surprisingly well recorded too. Walter has masterful way to create maximum drama and profundity in the 2nd symphony without making much fuss, letting the music flow naturally and speak for itself. The final apotheosis is very powerful and awe-inspiring without resorting to Bersteinesque exaggeration. The first symphony is equally impressive, beautifully crafted and lavishing in orchestral colour. Definitely a must-buy for anyone after fine performances of the two symphonies.

Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) was not only a brilliant conductor – having served with the New York Philharmonic for several decades beginning in 1943 – but was also recognized as one of the 20th century's most lauded composers. In that respect, few if any have contributed as significantly to classical music in the context of the American experience. It could likewise be contended that his contributions to the Broadway stage solidified the formerly intransigent chasm existing between symphonic and popular music. In honor of what would have been Bernstein's 85th birthday, Sony Music created a pair of mid-priced sets celebrating the maestro's accomplishments. A Total Embrace: The Composer (2003) offers more than three and a half hours of highlights spanning nearly a quarter-century.

If you loved the crossover hit song "Time to Say Goodbye" as performed by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman, or any of the Three Tenors discs, then you will love this disc also. Marcelo Álvarez and Salvatore Licitra are two of the new century's rising tenor stars, already being hyped as their generation's Domingo and Pavarotti. Here you have the two of them with the same lush orchestra and moving, passionate melodies as those other discs, including two new songs by Francesco Sartori, composer of "Time to Say Goodbye.

It's hard to approach a Radiohead tribute with anything but reservation, as the majority of the band's later work is difficult to replicate, especially if your arsenal consists of a single piano. Things aren't helped much thanks to Brad Mehldau's jazz interpretations leaving a bitter taste in the mouth of even the most die-hard Radiohead fan. That said, True Love Waits isn't a bad compilation if you were a fan of Mehldau's reworkings. However, if you were on the other side of the fence, it might not be the best album you'll listen to all year.

That said, Anner Bylsma's disc gets a great deal more playing time. The timbre of the piccolo cello is ideally matched with the organ. While purists may balk at such unusual instrumentation, I cannot help but think such an experiment is quite in keeping with the spirit of Baroque era practices. In general, I try not to judge the success of a recording by a preconceived idea of what a musical elite would or would not approve of.

Joshua Bell has returned to the mainstream repertoire from his recent successful excursions into film (The Red Violin) and bluegrass-crossover (Short Trip Home), and his playing, always brilliant, and arresting, has reached a new peak. Despite the booklet's claim to the contrary, these two concertos have nothing in common except fiendishly difficult bravura solo parts; rather, they represent a perfectly valid pairing of opposites. Bell makes the most of the contrasts, bringing out each work's idiomatic character.

For this 2009 release, internationally acclaimed violinist and conductor Leonidas Kavakos celebrates the 200th birthday of Felix Mendelssohn, whose brief meteoric career helped shape Romantic music. Engaging the listener immediately, the album opens with a rousing performance of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in E Minor, Op. 64. which is both conducted and performed by Kavakos.

This Chopin recital represents Murray Perahia's return to the Sony studios after a two-year absence due to serious injury. So may I start by saying that this is surely the greatest, certainly the richest, of all his many and exemplary recordings. Once again his performances are graced with rare and classic attributes and now, to supreme clarity, tonal elegance and musical perspective, he adds an even stronger poetic profile, a surer sense of the inflammatory rhetoric underpinning Chopin's surface equilibrium. In other words the vividness and immediacy are as remarkable as the finesse. And here, arguably, is the oblique but telling influence of Horowitz who Perahia befriended during the last months of the old wizard's life.