The joys start with a Canadian dream cast that includes soprano Karina Gauvin (Angelica), mezzo Allyson McHardy (Medoro) and bass Nathan Berg (Zoroastro).

There are many challenges to recording a large-scale work with chorus and orchestra in a vast, domed building like St Paul’s Cathedral in London. So, predictably, the sound is distant and echoey, with edges as blurred as on a watercolour painting in this new release on the LSO Live label.

Not as popular as The Creation, Joseph Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass — real title: Missa in angustiis (Mass of a Time of Anxiety) is no less thrilling, especially when presented with the verve of Boston Baroque under artistic director Martin Pearlman.

Deutsche Grammophon releases near-definitive recordings of the Tchaikovsky and Sibelius violin concertos, with Lisa Batiashvili as soloist.

The three esteemed French visitors — pianist Jean-Claude Pennetier, violinist Régis Pasquier and cellist Roland Pidoux — were opening the eighth annual Toronto Summer Music Festival, a celebration of chamber music and art song involving top professionals and talented, advanced students that runs to Aug. 3.

Four Last Songs: Aging and Creativity in Verdi, Strauss, Messiaen, and Britten; By Linda Hutcheon and Michael Hutcheon; University of Chicago Press.

The programme on this album — three cycles: Lieder eines Fahrenden gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer), Kindertotenlieder (Songs on the death of Children) and Rückert Lieder — covers a bit more than a quarter of Mahler’s art songs.

★★★★ (out of five) The three composers tackle the late Soviet system from different angles.

The wonderful, engrossing, 45-minute show is an ensemble effort on the part of some very fine musicians as well as theatre artists. It would take three quarters of an hour alone to describe the many layers of detail that work together to produce a psychologically as well as musically rich tapestry.

Loose Tea Music Theatre plays it by ear in this improvised comic opera, where audience approval is measured in laughs.