Stu - a few classical recordings I liked this year (some may be late-ish 09):

-Helene (the beeyootiful) Grimaud has a new-ish recording of Austrian composers' solo piano music, including Mozart, Liszt, and (my fave) Berg which is very good.
- Younger, less beautiful violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja's recording of Ludwig Von B's complete works for violin and orchestra is great. Period instruments and austere stylings make it different from so many similar recordings.
- I really enjoyed a recording of guitar in symphonic settings by Chinese guitarist Xuefei Yang, including (of course) Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez, but also pieces inspired by and written by Isaac Albeniez which are great. I've really grown to love the guitar as a classical music instrument in the past couple of years.
- One of Mendelssohn's less famous works, his 2nd Symphony, with conductor Andrew Litton leading the Bergen PO, is worth a listen as well. It's a big bombastic symphony with choral parts in the final movement or two, kind of a lesser cousin to LWB and Mahler's more notable efforts in that style. I liked it.
- Mehldau accompanies singer Ann Sophie Van Otter on two disks - the first a Mehldau composed song cycle that is contemporary classical, and the second a selection of "modern" songs, many French. I very much enjoyed this, each disk for its own reasons.

The Kopatch, Mehldau, and the Litton are on emusic.