Pictures (1977) is an intriguing offshoot of drummer Jack DeJohnette's work with guitarist John Abercrombie in the Gateway Trio and other groups. A series of lightly colored aural collages that also feature DeJohnette on organ and piano with Abercrombie playing electric and acoustic, it conjures spare, plaintive moods without ever seeming static or New Age-y. The styles vary, ranging from Spanish folk to lyrical fusion to splintered string effects reminiscent of experimental British guitar great Derek Bailey. DeJohnette, who has recorded on the piano in a more straightforward context to less satisfying effect, succeeds in making us see as well as hear his compositions.

Saint-Saens’s Etudes offer an intricate and scintillating panoply of the French school of technique (the basis and prophecy of what Jean-Philippe Collard so mischievously called Marguerite Long’s ‘diggy-diggy-dee’ school of piano playing). Yet as Piers Lane tells us in his alternately wry and delightful accompanying essay (obligatory reading for all lovers of French pianism), they can be as evocative (‘Les cloches de las Palmas’) as they are finger-twisting (‘En forme de valse’, to name but one). The left-hand Etudes, too, given their self-imposed limitation, are a fragile and poetic surprise. In other words Saint-Saens’s Etudes are more comprehensive than their equivalents by, say, Moszkowski or Lazare Levey (superbly recorded by Ilana Vered on Connoisseur Society and Danielle Laval on French EMI, respectively – neither issued in the UK).

The fact that Roussel's four symphonies aren't better known is a pity, but surely the fault of his own countrymen. Symphonies were never a French specialty, and of the four great French practitioners of the symphonic art at the first decades of this century (Honegger, Roussel, Tournemire, and Magnard), only Honegger seems to have firmly established himself in the international repertoire. While Roussel's Third was championed by conductors like Charles Munch and Leonard Bernstein, even in France the remaining works are neglected. They are, however, one and all, excellently crafted pieces: tuneful, pithy, and very listenable. If you like one, you'll like them all; so this first-rate set is both good listening and good sense.

Stefan Sanderling, National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland - Tchaikovsky: Suites for Orchestra Nos. 3 & 4.

The playing of the excellent National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland - another Naxos discovery - is polished and sympathetic to the Tchaikovskian ardour… A fine, super bargain.

Adam Fischer was born into a family of conductors. His father Sándor Fischer conducted the Budapest Radio Orchestra. His brother Iván, and a cousin, György, are also conductors. The Fischers lived across the street from the Budapest Opera House, and he attended his first concert at the age of five. When Haydn's "Surprise" Symphony was played, he decided to be a conductor so he could make the audience jump. He made his conducting debut at the age of 7, leading an ensemble of children playing toy instruments and singing.

Yes, Olga Kern does appear in her photographs to be quite beautiful, glamorously, gorgeously, gloriously beautiful. Try not to hold that against her because, under all her appearance of beauty, Kern is actually a great musician and the proof is in her disc of transcriptions and variations by Rachmaninov. Kern's physical beauty is matched and surpassed by her tone, her technique, and, best of all, her interpretations. Her tone is clear, deep, rich, strong, and warm. Her technique is effortless, flawless, and just about beyond belief. And her interpretations are even better.

Personne d'Autre est le vingt-huitième album, édité en France de la chanteuse Françoise Hardy. L’édition originale est parue le 6 avril 2018.