The second part of John Eliot Gardiner's Brahms Cycle pairs the Second Symphony with the "Alto Rhapsody", Schubert's male voices setting of the "Gesang der Geister über den Wassern", and two of Brahms's arrangements of Schubert lieder.

Orchestre Romantique et Révolutionnaire's sound is vivid and clear. Nathalie Stutzmann's "Alto Rhapsody" is tenderly shaped, depthless, elegant. But for the squeezed tenors and excitable basses, this is an arresting and impressive performance.

Pick of the album: Stutzmann's poised, thoughtful 'Alto Rhapsody'