In this most recent edition Gramophone celebrates the centenary of Benjamin Britten‘s birth on November 22: Britten biographer Paul Kildea explores how the composer reinvented the perception of opera in English; Philip Clark investigates Britten’s sojourn to New York, and how the colourful set of people he met there shaped him as a composer; and we select the best international live Britten events this month, alongside recommendations for the year’s best new Britten recordings. Also this issue: the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment record Bach’s Christmas Oratorio in our Session Report; Rachel Podgerdescribes discovering Italian 17th-century violin music in the Musician’s Diary; Tully Potter champions the Busch Quartet in Icons; and Peter Phillips andThe Tallis Scholars return to Taverner in The Musician and the Score. Plus, as always, the month’s new classical music releases are reviewed by Gtamophone’s expert critics – including their Recording of the Month, Shostakovich’s Symphony No 4 performed by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic conducted by Vasily Petrenko on Naxos