John Puccio reviews ...

Bach: Orchestral Suites Nos. 1-3. Philip Ledger, English Chamber Orchestra. Virgin Classics 7243 4 82118 2.

Philip Ledger is an exacting conductor, and the English Chamber Orchestra is a meticulous ensemble, so you would expect anything they did to be pretty good. These Bach Orchestral Suites are, indeed, fairly good, but they don't really soar the way they should. They don't have the high spirits or lively inflections we hear from the very best performances on record.

I don't suppose we have much right to expect a truly classic interpretation from a budget-priced, 1991 issue, but I was still mildly disappointed in what I heard. Every note seems to be in place, every instrument is in precise accompaniment with every other instrument, every tempo and every phrase seems calculated for maximum correctness. Which is perhaps the problem: Ledger has squeezed the life out of the pieces, leaving them sounding a bit dull and ordinary. Moreover, we get only three of the four suites Bach wrote, not unusual since most sets spread the works over two discs, but here there is no second disc.

Finally, there is the sound, which is also more than a bit lifeless. It is largely devoid of dynamics, bass, or internal definition, appearing instead as bright and lean and not a little leaden. Compare this to Marriner's renditions of all four suites on a single, mid-priced Decca disc, and you see in Marriner a more sparkling manner, a more robust sound, and a far better proposition all the way around.

Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra; Martinu: Memorial to Lidice; Klein: Partita for Strings. Christoph Eschenbach, the Philadelphia Orchestra. Ondine SACD ODE 1072-5.

I have been saying over the years that live recordings give up too much in audio quality for any potential benefits in spontaneity, but this one contradicts expectations. It's a superb recording of three superb performances and gets high marks on all counts.

Christoph Eschenbach is in top form and his Philadelphia players have never sounded better in works that commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War. This is not to say that the music is entirely solemn, but it is appropriately elegiac and reminds us again of the horror those times.

Czechoslovakian composer Bohuslav Mantinu's Memorial to Lidice remembers the town of Lidice, which the Nazis destroyed in retaliation for the assassination of a regional governor. It's a short work, about a dozen minutes long, but it is powerful, growing in tension and intensity as it proceeds. Another Czech composer, Gideon Klein, tragically died young in a Nazi concentration in 1944, composing his String Trio while in prison the year of his death. Eschenbach plays an arrangement for string orchestra made in 1990. These three movements, too, are heartfelt, made all the more so by considering the circumstances under which they were written. The star attraction, however, is Hungarian composer Bela Bartok's celebrated Concerto for Orchestra, of which there must be dozens of recordings. Place this one among the best, the folk-inspired outer movements full of vitality and the central "Elegia" mournful and moving, with a note of life-inspiring freshness always present in all five sections.

The recording was made, as I say, live, done in Verizon Hall, Philadelphia during May of 2005 and reproduced in five-channel SACD, two-channel SACD stereo, and two-channel CD stereo. The hybrid disc may be played on any conventional CD player or on an SACD player. Because the miking is slightly closer than is often the case in a live recording, we get less audience noise. During the whole of the presentation, I did not hear any coughs, wheezes, or sneezes; indeed, I was only made aware of the audience at all when they broke out into applause after the final number. In the meantime, we get a wide soundstage, clear sonics, a minimum of compartmentalization, and some excellent transient response. The SACD layer appeared to me a bit cleaner and less fuzzy than the regular CD layer and a touch more dynamic; plus, of course, if you have five channels you should notice the additional hall ambience.

Beethoven: Violin Concerto; Romances 1 & 2. Maxim Vengerov, violin; Mstislav Rostropovich, London Symphony Orchestra. EMI 0946 3 36403 2.

This is one sweet recording, from Vengerov's violin playing to Rostropovich's conducting and the LSO's accompaniment to the sound the EMI engineers capture at their famed Abbey Road Studio No. 1. This isn't to say the disc will please all listeners, but it's in the running.

Vengerov and company take a very romantic view of Beethoven's Violin Concerto, an interpretation that is a lot slower and more sentimental than some of us have lived with for so long. The opening Allegro ma non troppo, for instance, is mostly gentle and laid back; it has less bite than Szeryng and Haitink (Philips), less drama than Perlman and Giulini (EMI), and less show than Heifetz and Munch (RCA). Instead, Vengerov and Rostropovich provide a haunting, lyrical vision of the piece, steeped in emotion and punctuated by tremendously dynamic outbursts from the orchestra.

It's in the second movement Larghetto, though, where Vengerov comes into his own, the slow, languorous variations sounding more mournful than ever. However, I have to admit that this approach loses some weight in the Rondo finale, where some of Beethoven's intended exuberance and joy is rather sucked out of the music.

The sound engineers do their part as well to provide the performance with a soft, cushy, yet fairly close recording. It's maybe a little too well upholstered for ultimate midrange definition, but it suits Vengerov's comfortable reading.

The Celtic Tenors: Remember Me. Telarc CD-80667.

The Celtic Tenors are Matthew Gilsenan, Niall Morris, and James Nelson. If, like me, you find a degree of unfamiliarity with these names, it's probably because they may be more well known outside the U.S. Their album "Remember Me" finds the three classically trained operatic singers doing mostly contemporary pop ballads, apparently very big for them but leaving this reviewer singularly unimpressed.

The three men are backed on some tunes by the widely known musical group Air Supply and accompanied on various other tracks by singers Brian Kennedy, Majella Cullagh, Samantha Mumba, and Deirdre Shannon. Of the eleven songs on the disc, I found only two of interest, an a cappella arrangement of the traditional chestnut "Danny Boy," and a lovely interpretation by Niall Morris of "Caruso." The rest of the selections seemed to me overly romanticized, saccharine, mawkish, mundane, or treacly, bespeaking of dreams and hearts and flowers and lost love, with titles like "Ten Thousand Tears," "You Raise Me Up," "All Out of Love," "Angel of Mercy," "Deep in Your Heart," and "Still By Your Side." It's the kind of thing I recognize is enormously popular--just look at how well these kinds of concerts go over on PBS pledge-drive specials--but it doesn't appeal to me personally. It seems, in fact, a diminution of talent for three such gifted musicians to be spending entire albums on such vapid material. But obviously it's what sells and what a vast listening audience wants.

Although the disc is being distributed in America by Telarc, it appears not to have been recorded by them. For one thing, I remember the company promising never to release an album that contained less than an hour's worth of music, and this one contains barely forty-four minutes. For another, the sound is hardly up to Telarc's usual standards of realism. This one sounds like a typical pop studio job, with vocals up close and accompaniment lined up in exactly the same plane. Voices do sound natural, it's true, but instruments seem a tad blurred and bigger than life.

Chopin: Nocturnes, complete. Maurizio Pollini, piano. DG 00289 477 5718.

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

Ever since Maurizio Pollini won the Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 1960, he has been the world's leading exponent of the composer's music, match perhaps only by Rubinstein before him. Pollini's recording of the Chopin First Piano Concerto for EMI has never been surpassed in the last forty-odd years. I can't imagine his new recording of the complete Nocturnes being surpassed any time soon, either.

The two-disc set includes all nineteen of Chopin's little "night pieces," each of them played with consummate musicianship, quiet melancholy, overt drama, unabashed sentiment, and dazzling virtuosity. Never does any single piece sound less than spectacular, making one listen anew to music we thought we had heard enough times never to be impressed by it again. And by presenting the various Nocturnes in chronological order, one hears fascinating comparisons and contrasts as the composer matures over the years.

If I have one concern, it's minor: Each disc contains only a little over forty minutes, which seems short measure for a two-disc set. Other such sets fill out the balance of the free time with additional Chopin compositions. But this is, as I say, a minor concern. With music this good and playing this superb, who can complain? Surely, one cannot complain about the sound. DG has always recorded piano music well, and this is no exception, the piano sounding neither too close nor too distant, too big nor too small. The sonics are clear and clean, with a touch of warm ambient glow to make it more realistic. I loved every moment of this set.

Handel: Water Music; Music for the Royal Fireworks. Kevin Mallon, Aradia Ensemble. Naxos SACD 6.110115.

There was a time you couldn't find Handel's Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks on a single disc. In the old vinyl LP days they wouldn't fit on one record, and even in our CD age there are record companies that believe the two works are far too popular to couple together; there's more money in releasing them separately. For instance, Trevor Pinnock's excellent recordings of the two pieces are still being issued on separate albums. But times are changing, and there are any number of fine couplings of these two works, not the least of them this new low-cost entry from Naxos, available on a standard CD or an SACD.

Conductor Kevin Mallon's Canadian players, the Aradia Ensemble, perform on period instruments, and the Fireworks Music boasts the first-time inclusion of a transverse flute in "La Paix," a detail noted in the original manuscript but overlooked by most conductors. I doubt that anyone will notice the difference, but every new recording has to have a gimmick, something to differentiate it from the pack.

What really sets Mallon's recording apart is that it's played on period instruments, it's fairly well recorded, it's in Super Audio CD (if you want it), it combines both the Water Music and the Fireworks Music on the same disc, it's relatively cheap, and it's a lively interpretation. I would not, however, count it above Telarc's issue of both works with Pearlman and the Boston Baroque, which is marginally better played and more warmly and richly recorded, and it's also available in SACD for a few dollars more.

The differences between the CD and SACD layers on this new Naxos disc are slight, unless you play it in multichannel surround. Comparing the two-channel layers, though, reveals only a small degree more ambient bloom around the instruments in SACD and perhaps a touch greater dynamic range. In either case, I found the sound a bit lean at the low end and occasionally a tad bright in the treble, while midrange accuracy was adequate. I'd say if you have a five-channel surround setup, you'd probably want the SACD; otherwise, if you have a regular two-channel setup, the cheaper two-channel CD would probably suffice. Just don't forget about all those other great performances out there, if you don't already own them, from Pinnock, Pearlman, McGegan, Mackerras, Savall, and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, among others.

Ladysmith Black Mambazo: Long Walk to Freedom. Heads Up SACD HUSA 9109.

This one is a no-brainer, a must-buy if there ever was one. Ladysmith Black Mambazo is a South African a capella singing group that's been around for close to forty years, coming to prominence in Paul Simon's Graceland album of the mid eighties. This new disc contains some of their very best material, newly recorded with big-name guest artists, done up in a hybrid CD/SACD, and enhanced with a variety of CD-ROM materials. It's quite a lot for the money, most especially the great music.

First, if you've somehow never heard them, Ladysmith Black Mambazo under their founder and leader, Joseph Shabalala, are a terrific singing group, eight fellows who sound like twice their number in harmonies so sweet they rival the King's Singers. Here they perform songs like "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes" and "Homeless" from Graceland; "Nomathemba," which was Shabalala's very first composition; "Hello My Baby," one of the group's all-time in-concert favorites; "Rain Rain Beautiful Rain" and "How Long" from their Grammy-winning Shaka Zulu album; the traditional "Mbube," also known as "Wimoweh" or "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"; "Amazing Grace/Nearer My God To Thee," and about half a dozen more.

Equally compelling is that on each number there is a guest star: Lucky Dube, Melissa Etheridge, Emmylou Harris, Bhekumuzi Luthull, Taj Mahal, Vusi Mahlasela, Hugh Masekela, Joe McBride, Sarah McLachlan, Nokukhanya, Phuzekhemisi, Thandiswa, and Zap Mama. So even if you've already got the originals, the updates are different enough to warrant a double dip.

What's more, the disc's two layers provide a regular CD stereo reading, a SACD stereo reading, and an SACD multitrack reading. The group sound is a tad close and a little too resonant, but it still provides good definition, particularly in the SACD mode where the focus is just that little bit better. And the disc is enhanced for playback via computer (Mac or PC), where you can access several music videos, a number of still photos, a biography of the singers, and even a screensaver. Buy it; you'll like it.

Frank Ezra Levy: Symphony No. 3; Cello Concerto No. 2; Rondo Tarantella; A Summer Overture. Scott Ballantyne, cello; Takua Yuasa, RTE National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland. Naxos 8.559234.

OK, Frank Ezra Levy is not exactly a name that jumps out at you, but he is one of the composers Naxos is showcasing in their "American Classics" series. And for good reason. Born in 1930, Mr. Levy has been composing music for the better part of seven decades. This album contains four of his works, mostly world premieres of short pieces and mostly written in the last few years.

Things begin with his Summer Overture (1997), a sprightly affair with plenty of gusto to get the show rolling. That's followed by the more substantial Cello Concerto No. 2 (2002), with soloist Scott Ballantyne.

Levy is himself a cellist, so he knows the instrument. The opening Allegro shows a hint of melody, with orchestral support used discreetly, sometimes sounding like a chamber group. Levy calls his piece a "kaleidoscope construction," and it certainly runs the gamut of emotional moods. The second movement Adagio works best, a lovely dialogue between soloist and orchestra. However, the final movement breaks out into such exhilarating jubilation, it's hard to tell that it belongs in the same piece. Here you'll find some nice percussive effects, with the cello, oddly, less dominant.

The Rondo Tarantella (2003) is from an opera Levy composed called Mother's Day, the abundance of percussion, drums, cymbals, you name it, emphasizing the music's episodic, comic tone. Things close out with the brief, twenty-minute, two-movement Symphony No. 3 (1977). It's the oldest work on the disc, written when the composer was a mere stripling lad of forty-seven. Again we hear the music's kaleidoscope effect, with themes turning every which way and returning in different guises. The slow dirgelike opening sets the mood, but it eventually opens up to a lovely, sunny middle section with vaguely Scottish, pastoral inflections. Then, the symphony returns to a more somber tone, leading to a Vivace finale with marchlike cadences. Honestly, I think Levy may have improved with age.

The Naxos sound displays modest but pronounced orchestral depth; a touch of hardness; a clean, well-balanced frequency range; some strong, well-focused bass outbursts; and clear, sparkling highs. It's worth a listen.

Mahler: Symphony No. 4. Berg: Sieben Fruhe Lieder. Renee Fleming; Claudio Abbado, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. DG B0005759-02.

Maestro Claudio Abbado has been cultivating a friendship with the music of Gustav Mahler for many years, and his latest recording of the Fourth Symphony shows what he has gleaned from years of experience with the subject matter. However, this doesn't necessarily mean you're going to like what you hear.

If you're familiar with Abbado the Mahlerian, you'll know he is no namby-pamby. His Mahler is vigorous and sometimes unrelenting, which is fine because Mahler's music, especially his symphonies, is so filled with ups and downs, subtilties and grotesqueries, tranquillity and parody, that it lends itself to any number of interpretations. Here, the conductor continues the kind of tear he was on in his reading of the Seventh Symphony, always thrusting forward.

But you might find Abbado's approach more than a little disconcerting when applied to Mahler's most gentle and amiable work. Here, he starts the Fourth Symphony with an opening movement that is anything but gentle or amiable, sounding more gruff than usual through a series of fits and starts. This is OK if you think of the whole symphony as simply leading up to the serenity of the finale, and then the contrast seems to fit. But that opening sleigh ride may portend tough sledding ahead for listeners not used to Abbado's somewhat brusque ways.

The Scherzo and Adagio go by without incident, the former being bizarre enough not to show much damage and the latter sounding quite lovely. The Finale, though, the heavenly conclusion, can be downright jarring in Abbado's hands, and through no fault of Renee Fleming. It's just that the conductor produces so many dramatic change-ups, you'd think he was pitching for the White Sox.

I wouldn't exactly call this a first choice among alternative versions of the Fourth Symphony, but it is a fascinating study of what can be done with the work. While for me, Abbado has turned a generally charming piece of music into a generally charmless one, the conductor may be exactly what other listeners have been waiting for. The Berg songs, as brief as they are, make an attractive and appropriate coupling.

The DG sound is much like what we're hearing lately from many conductors and orchestras, namely, live sonics. This recording was made in Berlin over several days in May of 2005 before a live audience. Thankfully, the audience is so quiet you'd never know they were there. The only time we hear from them is their applause at the very end of the album-at the end of Berg songs-and then the applause has a track of its own that can be programmed out.

As for the actual sound, the performances are miked at a slightly closer distance than we usually hear in a live setting (although closer than what might be normal in a studio), and the result is a highly realistic acoustic in terms of tonal balance and orchestral depth. The downside is that although the high treble is somewhat muted, there appears to be a small mid-treble rise; and there is also a very slight veil over the proceedings. Additionally, the dynamics are so wide that the softest notes are practically inaudible and the loudest can be overwhelming. Can't win.

Mahler: Symphony No. 5. Sakari Oramo, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Warner Classics 2564 62055-2.

What is with this sudden proliferation of live recordings? For the last few years, every other classical album I listen to seems to have been recorded live. Is it just that all the conductors in the world suddenly feel they can only do their best work in long takes, their spontaneity only ignited by the presence of a live audience? Or is it a financial thing? Are live recordings less expensive to produce than those in studios or empty concert halls?

In any case, with Sakari Oramo and his City of Birmingham players doing the Mahler Fifth, the sound is typically "live," meaning it doesn't have the definition or focus one would normally hear in a good studio production. Indeed, here the sound is slightly "off," appearing at times harsh, at times murky, at times strident, but never seeming absolutely right. Then, there's the audience, who are very quiet yet whose presence is always felt through subtle breathes and wheezes and paper rattling. And, really, when music ends I like to take a breath myself and relax and think about it for a moment; I do not need a thousand people clapping in my ears.

Insofar as the interpretation is concerned, Mahler's scores are so diverse and often so bizarre, they admit practically any reading. So Oramo's performance is no better and no worse than most I have heard, although it is perhaps a little less cohesive than many. The conductor comes into his own in the big, central Scherzo, and he follows it with a traditionally sweet-toned if long-winded Adagietto. Then he's back to a more disparate playing in the Finale. Oh, well....

This is not a recording I would recommend as a first choice in the repertoire, not with conductors like Barbirolli, Haitink, Solti, Karajan, Abbado, Bernstein, and Mackerras so readily available.

Mozart: Eine kleine Nachtmusik; Serenata notturna; Lodron Night Music No. 1. Petter Sundkvist, Swedish Chamber Orchestra. Naxos 8.557023.

How can anyone put the knock on Mozart, especially in something so familiar and so deservedly popular as Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (A Little Night Music), no matter what the orchestra or record company? But when the performance and sound come up as felicitously as these do, and at so low a price, there's nothing to do but sing the disc's praises.

Petter Sundkvist and his Swedish players give us a lovely, relaxed interpretation of Nachtmusik that makes a thankful contrast with many of the more hard-driven readings we've had in the last couple of decades, especially from the period-instruments crowd. The opening Allegro sets a proper tone by not trying to catch our attention as an overture might; and it's followed by the loveliest of Romances, tender and tranquil without ever being overly brooding, sentimental, or cloying. The Minuetto is sprightly, and the Finale is energetic. What more could we want from this string piece? Well, to answer my own question, perhaps Sundkvist could have used a touch more sparkle or wit, in the manner of Willi Boskovsky and the Vienna Mozart Ensemble on Decca, which is still my touchstone for this work. But Boskovsky, while more incisive, is less easygoing, and, frankly, Sundkvist's easygoing charm goes a long way with me.

Of the two accompanying works, I thought the Serenata notturna a bit too bass heavy in the timpani to do full justice to the work's allures; but except for some equally heavy and somewhat clouded horns in the hunting sections of the Lodron Night Music, this final piece comes off almost as well as the Nachtmusik.

The sound the Naxos engineers provide is as good as anything you'll find at any price. It is spread nicely across the front speakers, provides decent definition everywhere but in the aforementioned timpani and horns, and exhibits a remarkably realistic resonant glow, a hint of reverberation that gives the performances a most realistic feel. In all, this album is a hands-down easy recommendation.

Mozart: Horn Concertos; Rondos; Fragments. Barry Tuckwell, horn; English Chamber Orchestra. Decca B000573702.

Horn virtuosos understandably have a hard time finding enough concertos written specifically for their instrument to fill up a very large stock of recordings, so it's understandable that Barry Tuckwell, one of the best horn virtuosos, would record Mozart's popular Horn Concertos over and over. By my count, he's recorded them at least four times, and this one, performed with the English Chamber Orchestra in 1983, is among the very best he's done.

It was the first of several recordings of the works that he would do digitally, and he leads the orchestra as well as plays the instrument. The performance finds him as his most easygoing, genial best, the horn sounding like melted butter, and the sprightly hunting melodies coming out as pleasingly as one could want. They perhaps lack the ultimate elegance and distinction that marked Dennis Brain's famous mono set with Karajan (EMI), but Tuckwell has charms all his own, not the least of which is the generally excellent support of the ECO, the sound Decca provide, and the accompanying Rondos and Fragments.

I don't usually like to tell people what to buy, it's not business, but I should think that anyone interested in classical music would own at least three accounts of the Horn Concertos: a recording on period instruments, one on modern instruments, and the one with Dennis Brain. For period instruments, my own favorite is Greer and McGegan on Harmonia Mundi; for modern instruments, my favorites are this one reviewed, plus Civil and Kempe on EMI and Ruske and Mackerras on Telarc. Actually, I probably prefer the Telarc best of all for its sound, which is fuller and smoother than the others.

In any case, it's nice of Decca to reissue Tuckwell and the ECO at mid price; it makes a tempting buy.

Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 17 and 20. Piotr Anderszewski, piano and direction; Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Virgin Classics 0946 344696 2.

I had never heard anything from pianist Piotr Anderszewski before, but he is certainly a force to be reckoned with. He's been making acclaimed piano recordings for the past eight or ten years, and this is his second, I believe, with Mozart. He is not entirely disappointing.

While the man appears to play with complete precision and forethought, the melodies appear to come out in a semi-improvisatory way. They seem perfectly well ordered, yet there is nothing cold or calculating about the performances. For my tastes, I suppose they were a tad rushed in the outer movements and also in the great Romance of No. 20, but that is a simple matter of personal taste.

What may also be a matter of taste is Virgin's sound, which is rather soft, warm, and shrouded in resonant fog. Perhaps to some ears, the acoustic will seem to flatter the music, but I found it a bit too vague for the exactitude of the piano playing. It's an odd circumstance, this. The soft-focus sonics would seem to complement the dreaminess of Mozart's slow movements, yet it only made me wish for greater clarity.

Mozart: String Quartets K465 "Dissonance" and K499 "Hoffmeister." Belcea Quartet. EMI 0946 3 44455 2.

I could listen to this stuff all day. In fact, I have. Mostly, though, I remember listening to light, Mozartian music almost every day after work for almost forty years until I retired from teaching. I would look forward to that hour or so after I got home and before my wife returned from her job as a time of utter relaxation and contentment, a momentary world apart. The Belcea Quartet's new recording of two of Mozart's best-love chamber works fits right in, even if I now have any and all parts of the day to listen to it.

The first of the two works, the "Dissonance," is so named because of its slow introduction, not because it is cacophonous or inharmonious but because, as the dictionary defines it, because of its "combination of tones conventionally accepted as being in a state of unrest and needing completion." In other words, we're waiting for the real joy of Mozart to kick in. When it does, which is within a few minutes, the piece is almost as joyous and delightful as the even more tuneful "Hoffmeister" quartet that follows it, so named more simply because the composer/publisher Franz Anton Hoffmeister first printed it up.

The booklet note says that the young members of the Belcea Quartet were coached by, among others, the Alban Berg Quartet, so I thought it appropriate to play the Alban Berg group's rendition of K465 (Teldec) for comparison. The performances are remarkably alike, aside from the matter of repeats. Both ensembles take the work at moderate tempos, never too fast or awkward, never too broadly expansive; and the slow movement is equally lovely and enchanting in both recordings. The biggest differences are in matters of dynamics, where the Belcea players prefer stronger contrasts, and in the recording quality, where the EMI disc sounds marginally smoother and fuller than the brighter Teldec disc. In any case, wonderful music; wonderful playing.

Schubert: Symphony No. 9 "The Great." Sir Simon Rattle, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. EMI 0946 3 39382 2.

New recordings of Schubert's music are always welcome, especially from so accomplished a conductor as Sir Simon Rattle and so refined an orchestra as the Berlin Philharmonic. But in the Schubert Ninth Sir Simon has his work cut out for him with the competition so tough.

The Ninth, a wonderful symphony filled with one memorable tune after another, has the double advantage of being open to varied interpretations. Like much of Schubert's music, the Ninth can be viewed lightly and cheerfully, and such conductors as George Szell (Sony) and George Solti (Decca) have provided us with delightfully buoyant performances. Yet the exceptional length of the work--the longest non-choral symphony until Bruckner and Mahler years later--encourages a more serious reading, too, and people like Otto Klemperer (EMI) and Jeffrey Tate (EMI) have given us just such recordings.

Rattle takes the former course, his Ninth being full of sparkling high spirits. For purposes of this review I compared it to both a heavier and a lighter-weight performance, those of Tate and Solti. Not surprisingly in this comparison, Tate seems not just heavier but almost heavy-handed. Not that I dislike what Tate does, but it's a performance that should be listened to entirely on its own rather in comparison with anything else; otherwise, you lose track of what Tate is trying to do. However, compared to Solti, Rattle is not quite so sprightly or festive, either. Solti may not seem like the kind of conductor who would provide a thoroughly joyous Ninth, but he actually outshines Rattle in this regard, Solti's rhythms springier and bouncier, with Rattle a tad more calculated and conservative. So we've got Rattle sort of in the middle here; but it's only in direct comparison that the differences are noticeable. On its own, Rattle's rendering of the symphony is quite charming.

In terms of sound, EMI's recording for Rattle is more than acceptable, if a touch fuzzy around the edges. Tate's recording, for instance, displays a bit more ambient bloom while also being better focused; Solti's recording is a little harder and less warm but is also more sharply focused. Still, no one is going to complain about the sound of the BPO. Nothing can mask the sheer, radiant beauty of the noises they make.

Spyro Gyra: Wrapped in a Dream. Heads Up SACD HUSA 9107.

Spyro Gyra has been around playing their brand of smooth jazz for the past three decades, starting with their first album in 1978. Judging by this new one, Wrapped in a Dream, they haven't changed much, which may be part of the problem I have with them. But the SACD sound makes a difference.

With only one exception, a Spanish-inflected number called "Impressions of Madrid," I don't believe I could tell you when one track ended and the next began. Maybe that's the point with this kind of jazz; it's supposed to appear like one, long, semi-improvisational set. If so, they succeeded beyond my wildest expectations. The personnel--Scott Ambush (bass), Jay Beckenstein (sax, voice, percussion), Julio Fernandez (guitar), Ludwig Alfonso (drums), and Tom Schuman (keyboards)--are joined by various other artists along the way (although drummer Joel Rosenblatt has gone missing) to produce mostly upbeat, harmonious rhythms.

But it's not just about the music; it's the SACD audio. It's very impressive. The disc is, by my count, their twenty-eighth album, and the fourth with Heads Up (a division of Telarc International) on Super Audio Compact Disc. The sound is very dynamic, very wide spread, and very wide ranging, with an especially nice bass line. On the SACD track you'll hear surround channels, of course, unless you just play the CD and SACD layers in two-channel stereo as I did. There, the differences are subtle but present. In SACD, there is a touch more resonance, slightly more reverberation around the instruments, which may or may not please everyone. The high definition SACD layer should, theoretically, produce a greater dynamic range (and it might, I couldn't really tell), but it does reproduce a more airy ambience around the players, something the dedicated audiophile might not prefer. The CD layer sounds cleaner, although not quite so realistic.

In any case, the music should please Gyra fans if not all jazz afficionados, and the sound is up to par for the best in SACD releases. It's a welcome combination.

Twilight of the Romantics: Chamber Music by Walter Rabl and Josef Labor. Orion Ensemble. Cedille CDR 90000 088.

For those listeners longing for the strains of serious Romantic, lyrical, tuneful, melodious music that they don't already have many times over in their collections, there is still hope. Cedille Records offer this disc of premiere recordings by composers Walter Rabl (1873-1940) and Josef Labor (1842-1924). Obviously, neither man is well known, but that's the point, and they are both worth a listen.

Rabl is represented here by his Quartet in E-fiat major for Clarinet, Violin, Cello, and Piano. It's a piece written in 1896 by the young composer for a competition of the Vienna Musicians' Society, whose honorary president was Johannes Brahms. The Quartet won first prize, was greatly admired by Brahms, and was then quickly forgotten, possibly because Rabl himself quit composing music shortly thereafter and turned his attentions to conducting and vocal coaching. In any case, the Quartet is a lovely piece, reminiscent of the work of Schumann and Brahms. It's fairly simple in its traditional four-movement execution, but the melodies spill forth in abundance and the serenity and good cheer are in abundance.

Labor is represented by his Quintet in D major for Clarinet, Violin, Viola, Cello, and Piano, from around 1900. It, too, sounds as though it has a strong connection to Brahms, and it is, if anything, even more dreamily Romantic than Rabl's piece. Why it was so neglected by the public is anybody's guess. The booklet note suggests that perhaps Labor's "blindness may have limited his ability to disseminate and promote his works." Anyway, like Rabl's Quartet, Labor's Quintet is dominated by the clarinet, a wistful, sometimes mournful instrument if ever there was one, and in both pieces it works its magic in still, quiet, longing Adagio movements and energetic, rhythmic Allegros.

The Orion Ensemble, consisting of five accomplished women musicians, play with refinement and grace; and, as always, Orion's chief engineer, Bill Maylone, captures the sound in a wholly natural and realistic setting. The delineation is a tad on the soft side, but it only serves to emphasize the Romantic nature of the music.

Vivaldi: Gloria; Bach: Magnificat. Martin Pearlman, Boston Baroque. Telarc CD-80651.

The most striking thing one notices almost immediately about this new Telarc release is the clean transparency of the vocals. Voices are notoriously hard to record, especially massed voices in choral presentations, which often sound either too bright and forward or too recessed and dull. Here the voices don't approach either extreme. The choir seems perfectly natural and remarkably clear, one of the best recordings of its kind I've heard. If there is any hesitation about the sonics, it's that the choir is pictured in the booklet insert as standing on an elevated stage some ten feet behind the orchestra, whereas in the recording the singers often appear to occupy the same space as their accompaniment. In other words, the recording could have used a tad more depth. However, Telarc simultaneously released an SACD hybrid recording, which in its SACD modes restores some of the lost depth.

Pearlman's Boston Baroque ensemble, about two dozen or so strong, play on period instruments, but they never sound harsh or strident, and their tempos do not plunge headstrong into the realms of the frenetic. Like the chorus they attend, the instruments sound perfectly realistic, and the players perform both works on the disc with grace and decorum.

Although the interpretations are not entirely what we think of in terms of period readings, they retain an energy and vigor that one often associates with such performance practices, Vivaldi's Gloria, especially, moving forward with a delicate gusto. However, Pearlman chooses to play Bach's revised Magnificat in D-major rather than the earlier one in E-flat. Many other period conductors prefer the original as somehow being more authentic, but it was Bach himself who revised the piece about ten years after its premiere, supposedly in order to remove some Christmas hymns that tended to limit its value year round and to lower the key to make it more comfortable for several of the instruments. In any case, it, too, comes off as well as any Magnificat I've heard, thanks to the refined liveliness of the performers. An excellent issue.

Vivaldi: Flute Concertos. Emmanuel Pahud, flute; Richard Tognetti, Australian Chamber Orchestra. EMI 0946 3 47212 2.

Emmanuel Pahud proves his worth as a world-class flautist in these flute concertos by Antonio Vivaldi. As always, the composer wrote too many such pieces for a single album to cover, so this disc contains just the six Op. 10 concertos and two miscellaneous ones.

If some of the music seems familiar even though you have never heard the flute concertos, remember that Vivaldi notoriously borrowed from his own earlier material. In any case, Pahud presents the concertos in a most sprightly, animated style, with a good number of trills and flourishes. It makes for a pleasant, enlivening experience, but it may also leave the listener a bit exhausted if taken all at once. Each three-movement concerto lasts from six to nine minutes, so picking and choosing a favorite or two makes for the easiest listening.

Now, the "howevers." I said that Pahud adopts a lively manner in his presentation, and to these ears the tempos can be too quick. I much prefer the more relaxed approach taken by Janet See and the period-instruments group Philharmonia Baroque, lead by Nicholas McGegan. Maybe it's because I can listen to more of the music without tiring of the pace so quickly. A second matter is EMI's sound, which is slightly on the bright, light, hard side. It tends to add to the fatigue factor when attending to such spirited performances.

Finally, I noticed two possible discrepancies in the program booklet. The writer, Michael Talbot, tells us that the "last track on this CD is the slow movement of the D major concerto RV 226, originally written for violin. The lyrical character of its slow movement, however, with pizzicato accompaniment, makes it particularly effective on the flute." All well and good and something to look forward to, except that it isn't on the disc. The album ends with the third and final movement of the Concerto in D, RV 429, and there isn't any more. I suspect Mr. Talbot was misinformed, but I wonder why EMI left it in the notes. Moreover, the booklet tells us that "This is the ACO's first disc for EMI." Well, as I recall, Stephen Kovacevich did the Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 with the Australian Chamber Orchestra on EMI Eminence. OK, maybe the mid-price Eminence label somehow doesn't count, but it's still EMI. Oh, well....

The Basic Classical Collection

on Compact Disc--Part II

by John J. Puccio

BRITTEN, Benjamin (1913-1976)

Spring Symphony and Four Sea Interludes:

Previn/LSO (EMI)

Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra:

Britten/LSO (JVC)

Hickox/Bournemouth SO

(Chandos)

BRUCH, Max (1838-1920)

Violin Concerto No. 1:

Perlman/Previn/LSO (EMI)

Heifetz/Sargent/NSOL (RCA)

Chung/Tennstedt/LPO (EMI)

Lin/Slatkin/CSO (Sony)

BRUCKNER, Anton (1824-1896)

Symphony No. 4, "Romantic":

Klemperer/Philh. O. (EMI)

Bohm/VPO (Decca)

Jochum/BPO (DG)

Jochum/Dresden St. O. (EMI)

Symphony No. 5:

Welser-Most/LPO (EMI)

Haitink/Concg. O. (Philips)

Sinopoli/Dresden (DG)

Symphony No. 6:

Klemperer/Philh. O. (EMI)

Symphony No. 7:

Haitink/Concg. O. (Philips)

Blomstedt/Dresden St. O. (Denon)

Chailly/Berlin RSO (Decca)

Symphony No. 8:

Haitink/Concg. O. (Philips)

Karajan/VPO (DG)

Wand/NDRSO (RCA)

Symphony No. 9:

Jochum/Dresden St. O. (EMI)

Walter/Columbia SO (Sony)

Haitink/Concg. O. (Philips)

Karajan/BPO (DG)

CHABRIER, Emanuel (1841-1894)

Espana, etc.:

Jordan/French Nat'l O. (Erato)

Jacquillat/paris O. (EMI-Pathe)

Argenta/LSO (Classic CD)

CHOPIN, Frederic (1810-1849)

Piano Concerto No. 1:

Pollini/Kletzski/Philh. O. (EMI)

Argerich/Dutoit/Montreal SO

(EMI)

Piano Concerto No. 2:

Argerich/Dutoit/Montreal SO

(EMI)

Etudes:

Pollini (DG)

Nocturnes:

Pollini (DG)

Polonaises:

Pollini (DG)

Waltzes:

Rubinstein (RCA)

COPLAND, Aaron (1900-1990)

Appalachian Spring, original version:

Copland/Chamber Ens. (Sony)

Schenck/Atlantic Sinf. (Koch)

Appalachian Spring, complete:

Slatkin/St. Louis SO (EMI)

Appalachian Spring, suite:

Copland/LSO (Sony)

Dorati/Detroit SO (Decca)

Billy the Kid:

Copland/LSO (Sony)

Berstein/NYPO (Sony)

Thomas/SFSO (RCA)

Dorati/Minn. SO (Mercury)

Fanfare for the Common Man:

Copland/LSO (Sony)

Dorati/Detroit SO (Decca)

Rodeo: Bernstein/NYPO (Sony)

Copland/LSO (Sony)

Thomas/SFSO (RCA)

Third Symphony:

Bernstein/NYPO (DG)

Levi/Atlanta SO (Telarc)

DEBUSSY, Claude (1862-1918)

Orchestral music:

Simon/Philh. O. (Cala)

Haitink/Concg. O. (Philips)

Martinon/O. I'ORTF (EMI)

Images:

Haitink/Concg. O. (Philips)

Argenta/O. Suisse Romande

(Classic CD)

Previn/LSO (EMI)

La Mer:

Previn/LSO (EMI)

Reiner/CSO (RCA)

Karajan/BPO (DG)

Simon/Philh. O. (Cala)

Baudo/LPO (EMI)

Stokowski/LSO (Decca)

Nocturnes:

Haitink/Concg. O. (Philips)

Misc. piano music:

Kocsis (Philips)

Roge (Decca)

Michelangeli (DG)

Ciccolini (EMI)

DELIBES, Leo (1836-1891)

Coppela & Sylvia, highlights:

Mari/Paris Opera O. (EMI)

Coppela, complete:

Dorati/Minneapolis SO (Mercury)

Bonynge/Nat'l PO (Decca)

Sylvia, complete:

Bonynge/New Philh. O. (Decca)

Fistoulari/LSO (Mercury)

DELIUS, Frederick (1862-1934)

Orchestral music:

Beecham/RPO (EMI)

Del Mar/Bournemouth Sinf.

(Chandos)

DONIZETTI, Gaetano (1797-1848)

L'Elisir d'Amore:

Sutherland/Pavarotti/Bonynge/

ECO (Decca)

La Fille du Regiment:

Sutherland/Pavarotti/Bonynge/

ROH, CG (Decca)

Lucia di Lammermoor:

Sutherland/Pavarotti/

Bonynge/ROH, CG (Decca)

DUKAS, Paul (1865-1935)

The Sorcerer's Apprentice:

Jacquillat/Paris O. (EMI-Pathe)

Previn/LSO (EMI)

DVORAK, Antonin (1841-1904)

Overtures and Symphonic Poems:

Rattle/BPO (EMI)

Kertesz/LSO (Decca)

Kubelik/Bavarian RSO (DG)

Serenade for Strings:

Leppard/ECO (Philips)

Violin Concerto:

Perlman/Barenboim/LPO (EMI)

Cello Concerto:

Starker/Dorati/LSO (Mercury)

Wallfisch/Mackerras/LSO

(Chandos)

Rostropovich/Karajan/BPO (DG)

Ma/Masur/NYPO (Sony)

Slavonic Dances:

V. Neumann/Czech PO (Teldec)

Symphonies Nos. 1-9:

Kertesz/LSO (Decca)

Symphony No. 5:

Jansons/Oslo PO (EMI)

Symphony No. 7:

C. Davis/Concg. O. (Philips)

Kertesz/LSO (Decca)

Paita/Philharmonic SO (Lodia)

Symphony No. 8:

Barbirolli/Halle O. (EMI)

C. Davis/Concg. O. (Philips)

Kertesz/LSO (Decca)

Previn/LAPO (Telarc)

Kubelik/BPO (DG)

Symphony No. 9, "New World":

Kertesz/LSO (Decca)

Reiner/CSO (JVC)

Horenstein/RPO (Chesky)

Macal/LPO (EMI CfP)

Neumann/Czech PO (Denon)

Kubelik/BPO (DG)

ELGAR, Sir Edward (1857-1934)

Violin Concerto:

Kennedy/Rattle/CBSO (EMI)

Cello Concerto:

Du Pre/Barbirolli/LSO (EMI)

Enigma Variations:

Barbirolli/Philh. O. (EMI)

Boult/LPO (EMI)

Jochum/LSO (DG)

Pomp and Circumstance marches:

Boult/LPO (EMI)

Barbirolli/Philh. O. (EMI)

Introduction and Allegro for Strings:

Barbirolli/Sinfonia of Decca (EMI)

Symphony No. 1:

Boult/LPO (EMI)

Handley/LPO (EMI CfP)

Previn/RPO (Philips)

Symphony No. 2:

Boult/LPO (EMI)

Handley/LPO (EMI CfP)

Downes/BBC PO (Naxos)

ENESCO, Georges (1881-1955)

Roumanian Rhapsody No. 1:

Stokowski/RCA Victor SO (JVC)

Dorati/LSO (Mercury)

Mata/Dallas SO (RCA)

FALLA, Manuel de (1876-1946)

Nights in the Gardens of Spain:

de Burgos/Philh. O. (EMI)

Larrocha/de Burgos/LPO (Decca)

The Three-Cornered Hat:

Dutoit/Montreal SO (Decca)

El amor brujo:

Dutoit/Montreal SO (Decca)

Burgos/New Philh. O. (Decca)

FAURE, Gabriel (1845-1924)

Requiem:

Willcocks/New Philh. O. (EMI)

Rutter/Decca Sinfonia (Conifer)

Herreweghe/Musique OE

(Harmonia Mundi)

FRANCK, Cesar (1822-1890)

Symphony in D:

Monteux/CSO (RCA)

Beecham/FNRO (EMI)

Dutoit/Montreal SO (Decca)

GERSHWIN, George (1898-1937)

An American in Paris:

Previn/Pittsburgh SO (Philips)

Previn/LSO (EMI)

Piano Concerto in F:

Previn/LSO (EMI)

Rhapsody in Blue:

Previn/LSO (EMI)

Bernstein/NYPO (Sony)

Porgy and Bess, complete:

White/Maazel/Cleveland O.

(Decca)

Porgy and Bess, orch. suite:

Previn/LSO (EMI)

GOUNOD, Charles (1818-1893)

Faust:

Domingo/Freni/Pretre/Paris

Opera O. (EMI)

Leech/Plasson/Toulouse O. (EMI)

Ballet music from "Faust":

Paray/Detroit SO (Mercury)

GRIEG, Edvard (1843-1907)

Peer Gynt, complete:

Dreier/LSO (Unicorn)

Peer Gynt, highlights:

Fjeldstad/LSO (Classic CD)

Beecham/RPO (EMI)

Peer Gynt, suites 1 & 2:

Leppard/ECO (Philips)

Piano Concerto in A:

Kovacevich/C. Davis/BBC SO

(Philips)

GROFE, Ferde (1892-1972)

Grand Canyon Suite:

Dorati/Detroit SO (Decca)

HANDEL, George Frederic (1685-1759)

Royal Fireworks Music (original version):

Pinnock/Eng. Concert (DG Archiv)

Royal Fireworks Music (string version):

Pinnock/Eng. Concert (DG Archiv)

Water Music, complete:

McGegan/Philh. Baroque

(Harmonia Mundi)

Pinnock/Eng. Concert (DG Archiv)

Mackerras/O. of St. Luke's (Telarc)

Royal Fireworks Music & Water Music,

complete:

Savall/Les Concert des Nations

(Astree)

Pearlman/Boston Baroque (Telarc)

Orpheus CO (DG)

Leppard/ECO (Philips)

Messiah, complete:

Christie/Les Arts Florissants

(Harmonia Mundi)

Pinnock/Eng. Concert (DG Archiv)

Gardiner/Eng. Baroque Soloists

(Philips)

C. Davis/LSO (Philips)

Messiah, highlights:

Pearlman/Boston Baroque (Telarc)

HAYDN, Josef (1732-1809)

Trumpet Concerto in E:

Berinbaum/Somary/ECO

(Vanguard)

Hardenberger/Marriner/ASMF

(Philips)

Schwarz/Y CO (Delos)

Marsalis/Leppard/Nat'l PO

(Sony)

Symphony No. 45, "Farewell:

Orpheus CO (DG)

Paris Symphonies, Nos. 82-87:

Bruggen/O. of the 18th Century

(Philips)

Symphony No. 88:

Klemperer/Philh. O. (EMI)

Symphony No. 94, "Surprise":

Jochum/LPO (DG)

Beecham/RPO (EMI)

Kuijken/La Petite Bande (DHM)

Symphony No. 96, "Miracle":

Jochum/LPO (DG)

Beecham/RPO (EMI)

Kuijken/La Petite Bande (DHM)

C. Davis/Concg. O. (Philips)

Symphony No. 100, "Military":

Jochum/LPO (DG)

Kuijken/La Petite Bande (DHM)

Beecham/RPO (EMI)

Mackerras/O. of St. Luke's (Telarc)

C. Davis/Concg. O. (Philips)

Symphony No. 101, "Clock":

Klemperer/Philh. O. (EMI)

Beecham/RPO (EMI)

Kuijken/La Petite Bande (DHM)

Jochum/LPO (DG)

Symphony No. 103, "Drum Roll":

Kuijken/La Petite Bande (DHM)

Jochum/LPO (DG)

Mackerras/O. of St. Luke's (Telarc)

Beecham/RPO (EMI)

Symphony No. 104, "London":

Beecham/RPO (EMI)

Klemperer/Philh. O. (EMI)

Kuijken/La Petite Bande (DHM)

Jochum/LPO (DG)

C. Davis/Concg. O. (Philips)

HINDEMITH, Paul (1895-1964)

Symphony "Mathis der Maler":

Blomstedt/SFSO (Decca)

Horenstein/LSO (Chandos)

HOLST, Gustav (1874-1934)

The Planets:

Previn/LSO (EMI)

Boult/LPO (EMI)

Dutoit/Montreal SO (Decca)

HUMPERDINCK, Engelbert (1854-1921)

Hansel und Gretel, complete

Schwarzkopf/Karajan/Phil. O.

(EMI, mono)

Murray/C. Davis/Staatskapelle

(Philips)

Von Otter/Tate/Bav. RSO (EMI)

IVES, Charles (1874-1954)

Symphonies Nos. 1 & 4:

Thomas/CSO (Sony)

Symphony No. 2:

Bernstein/NYPO (DG)

Thomas/Concg. O. (Sony)

Symphony No. 3:

Thomas/Concg. O. (Sony)

Bernstein/NYPO (Sony)

Three Places in New England:

Hanson/Eastman-Rochester O.

(Mercury)

Holidays Symphony:

Thomas/Concg. O. (Sony)

The Unanswered Question:

Bernstein/NYPO (DG)

Thomas/Concg. O. (Sony)

JANACEK, Leos (1854-1928)

Sinfonietta and Taras Bulba:

Mackerras/VPO (Decca)

V. Neumann/Czech PO

(Supraphon)

KHACHATURIAN, Aram (1903-1978)

Gayaneh and Spartacus, excerpts:

Khachaturian/LPO (EMI)

Wolin Concerto:

Oistrakh/Khachaturian/MRSO

(Mobile Fidelity)