Yep, a three-way tie!

Roth’s Don Quixote/Till Eulenspiegel are both full of good things, http://www.colinscolumn.com/francois-xavier-roth-the-gurzenich-orchester-koln-record-richard-strausss-don-quixote-with-jean-guihen-queyras-tabea-zimmermann-and-till-eulenspiegel-for-harmonia-mundi/, performances that engross and illuminate and immediately become a top recommendation.

Equally so, Mirga’s conducting of British masterpieces, http://www.colinscolumn.com/mirga-grazinyte-tyla-the-cbso-the-british-project-britten-elgar-vaughan-williams-walton-deutsche-grammophon/, in particular, if certainly not alone from this collection, the Walton (music from Troilus and Cressida), which has a swagger and sensitivity that invites many return listens.

And FHR’s Early Stereo (4) is another gem, http://www.colinscolumn.com/first-hand-records-releases-early-stereo-recordings-4-cantelli-goossens-gui-kletzki/, a reminder of those heady two-channel LP days, record-cleaning cloths, stylus brushing, and precise (triangular) speaker & listener placement. No nostalgia trip though, for FHR’s selection is of top-notch performances, sounding great, not least Paul Kletzki’s account of Dances of Galánta, totally idiomatic and, come the conclusion, remarkable take-off, with a tempo that’s off the scale and stunningly realised by the RPO. In my review I should have mentioned the mellifluous clarinet contributions, which I assume are courtesy of Jack Brymer.