The Arts Desk have looked at a range of classical music this week, including we can enjoy right now and what we can look forward to seeing this year.

Stephan Walsh flags up a modest yearly classical festival tucked away in Monmouthshire. Every January young professional musicians gather for the Wye Valley Chamber Music Festival in St Briavel’s Castle. Pianist Daniel Tong and violinist Fiona McNaught came up with the idea and it began life as a pleasurable retreat from busy concert schedules for those who love playing chamber music.

Often overlooked composer Elizabeth Maconchy is next with the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s disc of pieces. Maconchy’s style is edgy, gritty and surprisingly un-English, though she was a pupil of Vaughan Williams. Sir Mark Elder and the Halle Orchestra tackle the London Symphony of Vaughan Williams as he finally gets a look in. Rickson believed that this symphony shouldn’t really work, but when it is played as well as it is here, it truly does.

Graham Rickson provides a weekly round-up of the latest classical CD releases. First up is a disc of Bach’s keyboard concertos with Alexandre Theraud playing piano alongside the Les Violons du Roy chamber orchestra. Together they produce a unique sound, and the technical skill and energy on display here often dazzles and delights.

With all eyes turning to London for the summer Olympics and the centre celebrating its 30th birthday, it promises to be a bumper season at the Barbican throughout 2012. The classical highlights at the Barbican in 2012, among the theatre, new music and dance on offer, include an evening commemorating the sinking of the Titanic a century ago, appearances by Nico Muhly and Sufjan Stevens and a series of concerts by the visiting New York Philharmonic.