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WAGNER: Die Walkure. Robert Gambill (Sigmund), Attila Jun (Hunding), Jan-Hendrik Rootering (Wotan), Angela Denoke (Sieglinde), Renate Behle (Brunnhilde), Tichina Vaughn (Fricka), Staatsorchester Stuttgart, Lothar Zagrosek (conductor). Naxos 8.660172-74 (3CDs). (224' 01").

As we discovered in Das Rheingold, the first instalment of Stuttgart's Ring Cycle, the sense of a theatrical experience is the dominating factor, the choice of cast concentrating on actor-singers so that we view the whole music drama rather than individual voices. That largely continues into Die Walkure, though in Robert Gambill we have a singer whose vocal presence is so imposing that he rather stands apart. He creates a virile Sigmund as opposed to the heroic posturing of so many singers who have placed this role on disc, though the sadness as he is prepared for inevitable death in battle is deeply moving. In the opening act the discovery of his sister, Sieglinde, finds him suitably passionate and dismissive of her husband, Hunding, sung here with suitable menace by Attila Jun. Stuttgart has sensibly changed their Wotan after Rheingold, the highly experienced Wagnerian, Jan-Hendrik Rootering, having the massive presence to stamp his authority on his erring daughter, Brunnhilde, and her band or maiden warriors. Even in that moment of compassion, when encircling her in a ring of fire, his softening is more implied than explicit. The female roles are vocally well taken, Tichina Vaughn probably pushing just a little too hard in creating her characterisation of the aggrieved Fricka. Angela Denoke, already in the catalogue with an outstanding Marie in EMI's recording of Berg's Wozzeck, is such a positive Sieglinde you would hardly expect her to be the fragile character willing to do as Renate Behle's rather petulant Brunnhilde demands. Yet for all the vocal achievements, it is Lothar Zagrosek who is the dominant presence. Taking the music forward with urgency, he never allows over-heating in the most highly charged moments, and only at the end of the second act did I feel that I wanted more malevolent impact. His orchestra is magnificent for much of the performance, though you are reminded that this is a 'live' recording when the brass rather run out of steam in the scores final Magic Fire scene. Taken from the sound track of TDK's DVD presentation of the cycle, it has captured a very realistic theatre balance between singers and orchestra, the stage noises only tending to plot out the course of the action. Thus far a major Wagnerian achievement and I wait impatiently for the remainder.

ADAMS: Violin Concerto. CORIGLIANO: Red Violin ‘Chaconne’. ENESCU (arr. WAXMAN): Romanian Rhapsody No. 1. WAXMAN: Tristan and Isolde Fantasia

Chloe Hanslip (violin), Charles Owen (piano), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin (conductor). Naxos 8.559302. (63' 49").

Chloe Hanslip is the most charismatic violinist the UK has produced in recent years. A brilliant young product of the Yehudi Menuhin School who has the appearance of a fashion model, she has, like so many others, had little time to adjust to a presence on the international music scene. So it is a welcome decision to take up the challenge of recording a programme of 20th century American music rather than continue with her previous and more readily marketable 'pop' classic option. Those who know John Adams through such scores as Shaker Loops and Short Ride on a Fast Machine will be surprised that the parentage of the Violin Concerto resides in the music of Alban Berg. Atonal and using Adams trademark minimalism as the vehicle rather than simply its motivating factor for the music, the long opening movement plays around shifting colours, the soloist constantly active in fast chattering passages that fly high on the instrument. The second movement is in the shape of a sombre Chaconne, a moody bass line against a slowly moving solo, with a fast and hectic finale returning us to the Adams we instantly recognise. A catchy tune and insistent rhythmic patterns drive the score to a pulsating conclusion. It has been an unqualified success for Hanslip, the technical demands played with that ease the work needs. From The Red Violin, winner of the Academy Award for the best film score in 1997, John Corigliano fashioned two works, the Red Violin 'Chaconne' being completed in the same year. It offers a massive virtuoso test for both soloist and orchestra, Hanslip producing all of the dexterity required. Loving every minute of Enescu's First Romanian Rhapsody I simply hate Waxman's cut and paste arrangement, and I cannot say much in favour of his Hollywood's view of Tristan and Isolde scored for sugary violin and piano duo with orchestral backing. The Royal Philharmonic's playing throughout the disc is superb, with ample pungency when required and as sweet as honey in Waxman. The sound quality is suitably stunning.

SACCHINI: Oedipe a Colone. Francois Loup (Oedipe), Nathalie Paulin (Antigone), Robert Getchell (Polinice), Tony Boutte (Thesee), Kirsten Blaise (Eriphile), Opera Lafayette Orchestra and Chorus, Ryan Brown (conductor). Naxos 8.660196-97 (2CDs). (112' 48").

Though the name of Antonio Sacchini has long fallen into oblivion, he was one of the most prolific and leading composers of Italian opera in the second half of the 18th century. Born in Florence in 1730, he was so gifted that he was studying violin, singing, harpsichord, organ and composition at the age of four. Originally famed as a teacher, he later devoted his time to composition, many of his forty operas coming from ten productive years spent in London. He would have continued to bask in the English adoration, but left hurriedly when his debts became so great he was facing imprisonment. Arriving in Paris he was to enjoy Royal patronage and there completed his penultimate opera, Oedipe a Colone, dying at the age of 56 before he could enjoy its enormous success. In the next fifty years it received over 500 performances at the Paris Opera alone, and was staged at most of Europe's major opera houses. It was roughly contemporary with Mozart's Idomeneo and in achievement they would be comparable. Sacchini was certainly assured in his vocal writing, with the orchestra providing more than a simple backdrop. There has apparently been a previous recording in the early 1970's, but this is now the only one available, and it could hardly ever hope for a more ideal performance. The libretto takes one part of Oedipus's life, and calls for lyric singers with the story passing through much sadness. Without seeing a score I can only presume that we are hearing the complete work without modern adaptation, the performance gaining authenticity by using a period orchestra. I am much taken by Robert Getchell's light tenor voice that moves in such a relaxed way and with impeccable intonation, while Nathalie Paulin is a quite superb Antigone. Oedipus is given to a bass, here taken by Francois Loup, his mature voice suggesting an ageing character. Above all the singers are at comfort with their parts vocally and dramatically. The orchestra is generally excellent, the tart violin sound evidencing their period credentials. The balance between singers and orchestra is well judged and the overall sound is most enjoyable. Fervently recommended to opera buffs looking for something different.

LILBURN: Aotearoa Overture. A Birthday Offering. Drysdale Overture. Forest. A Song of Islands. Festival Overture. Processional Fanfare. New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, James Judd (conductor). Naxos 8.557697. (75' 15").

As young students we passed through a period of buying discs by unknown composers so as to impress those around us with our knowledge of music. That is how I came to buy a disc by the New Zealand composer, Douglas Lilburn, and made a very stimulating discovery. Born in 1915 it was through his perseverance that composition in his homeland began to be taken seriously. His major education had taken place at the Royal Academy in London where he became a pupil of Vaughan Williams, and it was to be his influence, and that of Sibelius, that lasted through much of his music. He did, as the years progressed, dabble in the changes that were taking place in composition, and for a period become much taken by the dictates of the Second Viennese School. There was also a quirky period as we hear in A Birthday Offering from 1956, but throughout he has remained a scene painter, this disc containing many of his finest 'tone poems', Aotearoa, premiered in 1940, picturing his homeland and regarded as one of the finest scores. Drysdale Overture goes back to the start of his studies in London, and in many ways continues where Elgar left off. Forest is straight from Sibelius with a direct quote in the pizzicato passage at the outset, and I think the Finnish composer would have been pleased to have included it among his works. From 1946 the extensive A Song of the Islands started life as A Song of the Antipodes, equally owing much to Sibelius as it works in subtle colours that shift gently. It here acts as a foil to the disc's more outgoing final tracks. Throughout the New Zealand orchestra play the works splendidly, while the engineers are on top form. So take my advice and hear this composer.

PART: Triodion: Introduction: ad libitum. – Ode I: ‘O Jesus the Son of God, Have Mercy upon Us’; Ode II: ‘O Most Holy Birth-giver of God, Save Us’; Ode III: ‘O Holy Saint Nicholas, Pray to God for Us’; Coda: ad libitum. Tribute to Caesar (St Matthew 22, 15-22); Nunc dimittis (St Luke 2, 29-32); Ode VII (Memento) from Kanon Pokajanen. I Am the True Vine. The Woman with the Alabaster Box (St Matthew 26, 6-13). Dopo la vittoria (After the Victory). Bogoroditse Djevo (Mother of God and Virgin). Elora Festival Singers, Noel Edison (conductor). Naxos 8.570239. (57' 26"). .

The sacred spirituality of the Estonian-born composer, Arvo Part, has taken his music to cult status, the slow moving harmonies that embrace minimalism possessing a hypnotic effect. He had come through years of complex serialism before discovering in the 1970's that he could say all that he wanted in a simplified tonality linked with Gregorian chant. That is particularly true of the unaccompanied choral works forming a sizeable part of his output. He increasingly turned to the scriptures to provide the texts, his beliefs rooted in orthodox Christianity. On paper the music looks quite simple, yet often that simplicity presents its greatest performing challenge. It is not simply a question of maintaining pitch, which is difficult enough, but equally creating a tonal quality that will prove attractive. This new release contains works composed between 1990 and 2001, the large-scale Triodion, and an extract from the extensive Kanon Pokajanen, is coupled with a number of shorter pieces including the intensely beautiful Bogoroditse Djevo. In the singing of the Canadian choir there is a feeling of spiritual empathy, each strand holding firm through long phrases, with a depth of sensitivity as they pass through Triodion. For the final track, Mother of God and Virgin, the sudden change to activity is superbly handled. Add to this a nice sense of space around the sound, and you have a new benchmark in recorded performances of these works, and just look at the ridiculous price.

HOLST (arr. LANE): A Moorside Suite. PURCELL (ed. BRITTEN): Chacony in G minor. LEWIS: Rosa Mundi. CARSE: The Winton Suite. WARLOCK (arr. LANE): Bethlehem Down. CARR: A Very English Music. WEBBER: Waltz in E minor. SAINSBURY: Two Nocturnes. LIPKIN: From Across La Manche. Royal Ballet Sinfonia,, Gavin Sutherland (conductor). Naxos 8.557753. (74' 15").

We have arrived at the sixth volume of 'English String Miniatures' with the usual mix of well-known and totally forgotten works, the latter rather predominating. Philip Lane, who is responsible for the series, has provided a beautiful string arrangement of Holst's Moorside Suite though we do lose some of the pungency of the original wind instruments in the final March. To all violin students Adam Carse's The Winton Suite will come as a real surprise, the pure charm of the five sections in complete contrast to his series of Studies that are as dry as old biscuits. Born in 1961 Paul Carr will be a little known name. A Very English Music is a beautifully crafted pastiche of English light music from the first half of the century, its final jaunty The Hunt Gathering an event now condemned to English antiquity. As an English equivalent to Richard Strauss, the Waltz comes from the distinguished music academic William Lloyd Webber father of Andrew the creator of countless musicals. Lionel Sainsbury and Malcolm Limpkin more or less carry on from Webber's era with meaty and most effectively scored works. With each new release we find the Royal Ballet Sinfonia raising their own level, the present release so assured in music they will never have seen before; the intonation admirable, colours and dynamics used to good effect. Added reverberation does expand the size and weight of the Sinfonia's real string sound, but it makes for a most attractive disc.

GOUNOD: Symphony No.1 in D. Symphony No. 2 in E flat. Sinfonia Finlandia Jyvaskyla, Patrick Gallois (conductor). Naxos 8.557463. (68' 14").

Though Charles Gounod is regarded as a popular composer, his reputation rests almost entirely on his opera, Faust, and the fact that he wrote two symphonies will take many by surprise, as both are rarities in the concert hall. Having spent his younger years closely linked with the church - for which most of his early works were composed - he was forty before the opera house that provided his first commercial success. Faust followed soon after in 1859, four years after completion of the First Symphony, the two symphonies following each other in quick succession. In style they were straightforward clones from Schumann who had completed his four symphonies. The texture, style and melodic content are Germanic, often using that brooding quality Schumann had developed, yet without the wealth of thematic material Schumann enjoyed. He did add an extra dimension with his own personal touch of humour in the finale of the First, and if you enjoy Schumann don't hesitate in purchasing this inexpensive disc. The playing from the Sinfonia Finlandia is of excellent quality, though tempos a few notches faster would have served the music well, particularly in the Second symphony's third movement and finale. Sound quality is exemplary.

BACH (arr. STOKOWSKI): Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV 608. Cantata No 208, BWV 208 - Sheep may safely graze. Fugue in G minor BWV 578. Komm susser Tod, BWV 478. Cantata No. 4, BWV4, 'Easter' - Chorale. St. John Passion, BWV 245 - Es ist vollbracht!. Clavier-Ubung III - Wir glauben all’ an einen Gott. BWV680. Nun komm’ der Heiden Heiland, BWV599. Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor BWV582. STOKOWSKI: Two Ancient Liturgical Melodies. HANDEL (arr. STOKOWSKI): Messiah - Pastoral Symphony. PURCELL (arr. STOKOWSKI): Dido’s Lament from Dido and Aeneas - Dido's Lament. Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Jose Serebrier (conductor). Naxos 8.557883. (67' 51").

By the first half of the 20th century the music of the great Baroque composers had largely fallen silent, and those who still felt kindly disposed towards them set about making arrangements to revive and provide public awareness. The distinguished conductor, Leopold Stokowski, whose musical career had first taken him to the organ loft featured among the most successful. His task was to orchestrate a wide spectrum of Bach's organ and vocal scores, dressing them in modern terms yet essentially retaining the spirit of the original. He did at times let his imagination run riot, and in a display of rich orchestral sonorities recreated the massive sound of a large organ as we hear in the Passacaglia and Fugue. But those moments were the exception rather than the rule, and with the sound of a large orchestra at his disposal, it will be his restraint that you admire when you hear this superbly played disc. Jose Serebrier worked for many years as Stokowski's Assistant Conductor, but in the notes with this disc, he refers to Stokowski's very differing approach to the scores over the years, and now feels it is time to take a fresh and uninfluenced view. Certainly the Bournemouth orchestra respond with a wonderfully smooth quality, the engineers complementing with a warm and comforting sound spectrum. Of its genre this could be the album to win a few awards over the next year.

ELGAR: Sonatina in G major. Dream Children, Op. 43. Une Idylle, Op. 4, No. 1. Carissima. May Song. Douce Pensee (Rosemary). Echo’s Dance (adapted and transcribed from The Sanguine Fan, Op. 81, No. 7). Three Characteristic Pieces, Op. 10, No. 2 - Serenade Mauresque. Enigma Variations, Op. 36. Ashley Wass (piano). Naxos 8.570166. (66' 58").

Elgar seldom turned his attention to piano compositions, his rare entry into the genre coming in the shape of short salon pieces that were sold as sheet music with the amateur pianist in mind. So until we reach the composer's own arrangement of Enigma Variations there is not a great deal to test Ashley Wass's superb technique. Even there you feel the version was for home amusement rather than concert performance. So it much comes down to Wass as a pianist who can charm our ears with the most innocuous music. Certainly he is the most thoughtful young exponent of the keyboard that the UK has produced for many years. Just try track 3, the first section of Dream Children, to find him weaving his magic spell, or the lyrical May Song on track 7. You will certainly find some of his tempi in Enigma more spacious than we have come to expect in orchestral versions, yet in piano terms they work very well. I wonder what Elgar would have made of them? The recording is good, and Anglophiles should not hesitate.

CASCARINO: Pygmalion. Portrait of Galatea. Blades of Grass. Prospice. Meditation and Elegy. The Acadian Land. Philadelphia Philharmonia, JoAnn Falletta (conductor). Naxos 8.559266. (76' 02").

This may well be your first meeting with the music of Romeo Cascarino, a largely self-taught composer born in the States in 1922 and whose catalogue of works is substantial in 20th century terms. He was to join that ever-growing group of composers who had thrown atonality out as a bad idea, returning to and developing the principles of tonality the vast majority of audiences wish to hear. On the evidence of this disc he could be described as Vaughan Williams orchestrated by a French Impressionist working in Hollywood. His use of the orchestra is assured and imaginative, at home in primary colours but most effective when working in pastel shades. The disc contains three major tone poems, Pygmalion, Prospice and The Arcadian Land, all composed between 1948 and 1960, Cascarino almost tossing aside good melodic ideas in his quest for picture painting. All three are imposing and fall easily on the ear in a big and bold romantic way, though I confess I love even more his two miniatures, Meditation and Elegy. Both are beautifully crafted cameos to set beside the larger canvass on which Cascarino obviously enjoys working. Apart from a couple of miscued horn notes, the playing of the Philadelphia Philharmonia is assured and proves a worthy champion for the music. The sound engineers have achieved a most realistic sound.

SHOSTAKOVICH: Piano Sonata No. 2 in B minor, Op. 61. Three Pieces. A Child’s Exercise Book, Op. 69. Murzilka. Five Preludes. The Limpid Stream, Op. 39 - Four excerpts. Konstantin Scherbakov (piano). Naxos 8.570092. (56' 59").

Apart from the Twenty-four Preludes and Fugues the piano music of Shostakovich is not well known, the decidedly private nature of the Second Piano Sonata, dating from 1943, representative of much that he composed for the keyboard. It is a work that you admire for its skilful construction, but one that soon evaporates from memory. After such weighty introspection the disc is given to his lightweight pieces whose style turns the clock back a few decades. A Child’s Exercise Book was written for his daughter, Galina, the tunes simple and short, with a final Birthday Waltz. Brevity is also the hallmark of the Five Preludes, while the four movements from the rarely performed ballet, The Limpid Stream, come in the composer's own transcriptions and are here receiving the first recording. Quirky and pleasing music that harks back to Tchaikovsky, some of the melodies you will recognise from the orchestral Ballet Suites. There is nothing here to test the virtuosity of Konstantin Scherbakov, the very differing pieces all performed with the utmost dedication. Very good sound.

HAYASAKA : Piano Concerto. Ancient Dances on the Left and on the Right. Overture in D. Hiromi Okada (piano), Russian Philharmonic Orchestra, Dmitry Yablonsky (conductor). Naxos 8.557819. (52' 51").

Born in Japan in 1914, Humiswo Hayasaka (as described on the label but called Fumio Hayasaka in the usually correct Groves Music and Musicians) was a self-taught composer who combined with others in a similar position to promote their music in Tokyo during the 1930's. He was to make a major career in the film industry, the score for The Seven Samurai being generally acknowledged as one of the finest in the genre, but he sadly died at the early age of 41. A purely tonal composer, absorbing so many Western influences that the first movement of the Piano Concerto - dating from 1946 - comes with a background as diverse as Wagner and Rachmaninov. To that blend he added moments of traditional Japanese folk harmonies to colour the score. So it comes as a surprise to find a second movement that is akin to Kabalevsky in his most jovial and light-hearted mood. Technically it places a major challenge to the virtuosity of Hiromi Okada who plays with a red-blooded commitment and suitable dexterity in the finale. Ancient Dances on the Left and on the Right, completed in 1942, is, despite its title, pure film music that falls easily on the ear, while the Overture in D, from early in his life, is really a dressed-up march. The Russian orchestra cannot always hide their unfamiliarity with the music, but are perfectly satisfying. Regular quality studio sound.

PHILIPS: Fantasia in F major. Amarilli, mia bella (after Caccini). Chi fara fed al cielo (after Striggio). Pavan in G major. Deggio dunque partire (after Marenzio). Io partiro (after Marenzio). Ma voi, caro ben mio (after Marenzio). Paget Pavan and Galliard in C minor. Bonjour mon Coeur (after Lassus). Le Rossignuol (after Lassus). Margot, labourez les vignes (after Lassus). Fantasia in D minor. Fece da voi partita. Passamezzo Pavan and Galliard in G minor. Elizabeth Farr (harpsichord). Naxos 8.557864. (78' 04").

Peter Philips, known by many variants on that name, was probably born in London in 1560, though details of his early years are sketchy. His musical education was certainly in the church and he was always to describe himself as an English composer, though in reality he fled the country in his early twenties due to his strongly held Roman Catholic beliefs. He spent much of the remainder of his life in the Spanish Netherlands, though it appears he did travel to many European destinations. As a vocal composer he was prolific, and together with Byrd dominated 'English' music of the era. His keyboard works were more modest in number and, as you will gather from the heading, were often arrangements of music by others or adaptations of vocal pieces. Most came early in his life and were preserved in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book. For their time they were elaborate in ornate decoration to an extent that thematic melody disappears. That said, Philips did not enter any new musical ground and it would be equally true to say that the music shows no special relation to the country of his birth. The works call for nimble fingers to achieve clarity, Elizabeth Farr a persuasive advocate who shapes the music in a most interesting way. To sample turn to track 12 with the rhythmically attractive Margot, labourez les vignes. She plays an Italian harpsichord built in 1658 by Jerome de Zentis of Rome, a nice instrument that has been faithfully restored by Keith Hill. The engineers have gone in as close as possible to extract impact without capturing mechanical noise.

RYBA: Flute Quartet in C major. String Quartet in A minor. Flute Quartet in F major. String Quartet in D minor. Jan Ostry (flute), Nostitz Quartet. Naxos 8.557729 (50' 54").

Jakub Jan Ryba was born in 1765, the son of a Czech church musician, his education taking place in Prague though he remained largely a self-taught composer. He returned at the age of 19 to his local town to help his ailing father with his duties, and while he was never to hold a major appointment, Ryba spent the rest of his life as a church musician and teacher. He was diligent in both tasks but also found time to write an enormous amount of music, most of its now lost. He was said to have composed over seventy quartets, though the four on this disc are all that are known to have survived. Taking their inspiration from Haydn these are well-crafted scores at times finding an attractive melody, but mainly content to produce an affable experience that would have been within the scope of local musicians. Turn to the opening movement of the F major Flute Quartet to experience the composer at his most engaging, while the quartet also shows that he was following Haydn in emancipating the cello from its accompanying role. The silvery flute of Jan Ostry suits the music well, the performances well prepared and nicely presented. The engineer has placed the flute in a solo position, so that the two quartets emerge as a flute concerto. These are the only available recordings.

DUNNE: Appalachian Summer. HETU: Suite, Op. 41. MANEN: Fantasie-Sonata, Op. A22. RODRIGO: Tres piezas espanolas. GINASTERA: Sonata, Op. 47. FALLA: Homenaje pour ‘Le Tombeau de Claude Debussy’. Jerome Ducharme (guitar). Naxos 8.570189. (68' 33").

I am going to jump straight on my hobbyhorse, Jerome Ducharme helping to prove my point that most young guitarists I review expect their listeners to suffer sandpaper fingers scratching up and down the strings without taking the trouble to master the art of playing. This winner of the first prize in the 2005 Guitar Foundation of America moves around the instrument quietly whether in fast or slow music, his crystalline playing dealing superbly with some extremely demanding music. I also praise his adventurous choice of music, his programme containing little known composers. The five-movement Suite by the French-born Jacques Hetu flirts with atonality ending with a spiky dash around the instrument. The Fantasia by the Spanish composer, Juan Manen, is an extensive single movement, often brooding, at times lyric, it's complexity requiring the soloist to colour with subtle use of dynamics. I would have liked more right hand panache in his technically safe approach to the Rodrigo, the Ginastera Sonata nicely paced and well-shaped with the finale full of brio, while the Falla is suitably sad. Excellent sound engineering.

HAYDN: Piano Concertino in C major, Hob.XIV:12. String Trio in D major, Hob.XI:11. Piano Concertino in F major, Hob.XVIII:F2. Piano Concertino in G major, Hob.XIV:13. String Trio in C major, Hob.V:16. Piano Concertino in C major, Hob.XIV:11. Sabine Vatin (fortepiano), Ensemble d’arco. Naxos 8.557660. (73' 30").

There is not the slightest hint in these early works by Haydn that he would one day become a great composer. Yet come a long way down in your expectations and the Concertinos are affable and pleasing scores. Haydn obviously intended them for home performance, the accompanying two violins and cello of quite elementary demands. The keyboard does present more challenges, particularly if you take the Presto finales as fast as the mercurial fingers of Sabine Vatin. She obviously relishes the pieces and transmits that enjoyment to the listener. For reasons that totally escape me - as Haydn would never have known such an instrument - she plays a beautifully preserved Erard Fortepiano of 1893, the tone as captured in this recording being not far removed from a modern concert grand. Nice clean accompaniment from the Ensemble d'arco who enjoy the two String Trios, and though the C major may not have been by Haydn, the style and quality here fit into its surroundings. Nicely balanced playing that is well recorded, but do go well below your normal volume setting, while the gap between the F and G major Concertinos is a little too short.

WUORINEN: String Sextet. Second String Quartet. Divertimento. Piano Quintet.

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, The Group for Contemporary Music. Naxos 8.559288. (75' 45").

Though I admire Charles Wuorinen's unflinching belief in atonality and his trust that this is the way music will progress, I find it hard to like his works. A student at Columbia University, he was a convert from tonality, his career teaching and working as an outstanding pianist occupying his early life. He was to become a prolific composer, this disc typical of his chamber music, the writing complex and often dense in texture, usually busy and extremely demanding on the players. If I were introducing someone to his music I would go straight to the last movement of the Piano Quintet dating from 1994, where the busyness and immediately recognisable rhythmic patterns do give those wedded to melodic invention something to hang on to. Then progress to the equally active String Sextet and follow the intertwining tonal stands as Wuorinen creates a mosaic of sound, finally to the astringency of the Quartet. They all present tremendous difficulties for the performers, and here we can admire the carefully prepared performances, The Lincoln Center group is quite superb in the Sextet, with Ursula Oppens the agile pianist in the Piano Quintet. The engineers have obtained a very realistic balance between the performers, the sound being a typical studio product. The disc was at one time available on the Koch label.

EL-KHOURY: New York, Tears and Hope. Op.65. Les Fleuves engloutis, Op.64. Sextour pour violons, Op. 58. Waves, Op. 60, Fragments oublies, Op.66. Hideki Nagano (piano), Dimitri Vassilakis (piano), London Symphony Orchestra, Daniel Harding (conductor), Martyn Brabbins Conductor). Naxos 8.570134. (52' 10").

This is by far the most persuasive disc we have in the Naxos series of music by the Bachara El-Khoury, its main attribute being the splendid playing of the London Symphony. The Lebanese-born composer has worked as a pianist, conductor and journalist, and having completed his studies in France adopted it as his homeland. He is basically a composer working within his own version of tonality, the shimmering sounds of French Impressionism being the starting point. The quiet opening to New York, Tears and Hope was begun in 2001, the score completed in 2005 and dedicated 'In memory of the victims of 9/11'. There are here hints of Gorecki in its slow moving harmonies of the opening section, peace shattered by events in massive blocks of sound, the work ending with rays of light breaking through gloom. Les Fleuves engloutis (The Rivers Engulfed) is described in the words of the composer as "speaking of the love between people and of peace in our world". The music, despite those thoughts from the composer, becomes very turbulent after the restraint of the opening, the percussion and brass heavily involved. The Sextet here played by 24 violins is a short traditional string piece, the thematic material fashioning an interesting web of sound. Waves and Forgotten Fragments are for solo piano and here El-Khoury dabbles in pure atonality, the scores calling for a mix of agility and sheer power. The recordings are derived from various sources and are all of good quality, the rather dry acoustic for The Rivers Engulfed coming from a recording made in the tight acoustic of London's Barbican. Though the whole package makes a good taster of the composer's output it comes in Naxos's 'Limited Edition' range.

LORENZINO DEL LIUTO: Praeludiums, Fantasias and Galliardas. Vestiva I colli. Cosi le chiome. Branle. Passomezo. Susanne un jour. Ancor che col partire. Marco Pesci (Renaissance Lute). Naxos 8.570165. (55' 07").

The many names by which the 17th century Italian lutenist appears in manuscripts has led to speculation that his sizeable output was the work of at least two composers. Casting aside those question marks, the disc conveys music that delights the ear in a nice relaxed mode. Apart from the extensive Passomezo, the twenty tracks are all short, many just containing a delightful melodic invention that is hardly expanded. Technically it is not demanding music, Marco Pesci presenting it in an uncomplicated manner. A church was used as the recording venue, though the sound is close and quite dry. I cannot find any other disc of this composer in the international catalogue, Naxos restricting it to one of the 'Limited Release' category mainly aimed at Italy.

WILLIAMS: Star Wars - Main Title Theme; Princess Leia’s Theme; The Battle; Cantina Band; The Little People; The Throne Room; Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Main Theme). ROSENTHAL: Meteor (Main Theme). GOLDSMITH: Alien (Main Theme). STRAUSS (arr. HAYMAN): 2001: A Space Odyssey (Main Theme). LARSON & PHILLIPS: Battlestar Galactica (Main Themes). Richard Hayman and His Orchestra. Naxos 8.555020.

A compilation of music from Hollywood's view of outer space presented in Richard Hayman's inimitable orchestrations. It's punchy, colourful and very commercial, the orchestra providing that feeling of epic events unfolding together with big romantic gestures. The disc has been around for quite some time on the Naxos International label, and now issued on regular Naxos. Good sound.

BACH: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I, BWV846-869. Wanda Landowska (harpsichord). Naxos Historical .8.110314-15. (2CDs). (133' 07").

By the time music reached the onset of the 20th century the harpsichord had practically disappeared from the concert stage, its weak tonal quality offering nothing that the public needed in life. That was to change when the Polish born pianist, Wanda Landowska, came to realise that her piano playing of 17th and 18th century music was stylistically incorrect and required to be performed on the harpsichord for which it was composed. Accepting that instruments available would not win popular audience approval, she commissioned Pleyel to make her a large two-manual instrument whose tone would fill a modern concert venue. That in turn brought a backlash from purists who thought she was selling out to the unthinking public, but it was her motivation that proved largely responsible for bringing the harpsichord back to popularity. That places us much in her debt, though, as we hear from this disc, she could not entirely throw off the mannered approach to music that was fashionable at the time. Phrasing was commercially inclined and tempos more geared to a demonstration of her immense technique than the overall shape of the work. So don't be surprised to find her Well-Tempered Clavier coming more from the heart than the head, but defer the knowledge we have today of period style and accept the performance on its own terms. At times she seems to have persuaded the recording people to help by adding a few dynamics, though the Naxos people should have balanced better the volume between tracks. The sound is pungent, but there is 'wow' from the originals that cannot be corrected.

WAGNER: Der Fliegende Hollander - Overture. Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg - Overture; Prelude to Act III; Dance of the Apprentices (Act III). Die Walkure - Ride of the Valkyries (Act III). Gotterdammerung - Siegfried’s Rhine Journey (Act I); Siegfried’s Funeral March (Act III); Brunnhilde’s Immolation (Act III). Kirsten Flagstad (soprano), Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Wilhelm Furtwangler (conductor). Naxos Historical 8.110997. (75' 47").

Furtwangler has been accused of leisurely speeds in his Wagnerian performances, but here he blazes through the music almost in a hurry to send the Gods to their watery grave in Gotterdammerung. His Flying Dutchman is full of vibrant life, while he misses none of the fun in the excerpts from Die Meistersingers. The Ride of the Valkyries flies onto the scene, while the agony of Siegfried's Funeral March is taken in one long unbroken span, the Vienna Philharmonic here in superb form. Kirsten Flagstad and the Philharmonia come onto the scene for Brunnhilde's Immolation, the great soprano taking the opening section at a rather slow pulse. The strange part of the performance comes around two-thirds through when the ambience changes to such an extent it sounds as if another soprano had taken over. The recordings span the years 1940-1950 and are not of the best even for that era, the Naxos team for once unable to extract anything new from them. Still, for great Wagner conducting it is a hard act to follow.

BACH: Mass in B Minor BWV 232. Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (soprano), Marga Hoffgen (alto), Nicolai Gedda (tenor), Heinz Rehfuss (bass), Choral Society of the Friends of Music Vienna, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan (conductor). Naxos Historical 8.111053-54 (2CDs). (153' 40").

By pure coincidence the release comes at the same time as we are saddened by the news of the death of the great soprano, Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, this recording made in the early 1950's coming while she was at the prime of her career. The voice was used with the utmost purity and musically in tune with Bach's demands. It blended perfectly with Marga Hoffgen in the duets, and it is their combined participation by which this recording will be remembered. As for the remainder it was a performance of its time, the chorus rather heavy and the orchestra of sizeable proportions. Gedda was elegant, but Rehfuss's intonation was suspect and wavered around the vocal line. If the heading looks rather confusing, the big choral sections were recorded in Vienna while the solos and duets took place in London, the engineers somehow convincingly knitting it together. Yet even in our more stylistically aware times, many thousands are listening and taking part in performances of a similar ilk, and it is highly recommended to those who like comfortably padded Bach.

BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G, Op. 58. Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat, Op. 73 ‘Emperor’. Walter Gieseking (piano), Saxon State Orchestra, Karl Bohm (conductor), Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Bruno Walter (conductor). Naxos Historical 8.111112. (64' 05").

Born in France in 1895, Walter Gieseking is now largely remembered for his performances of the 19th century German piano repertoire, though he was an ardent champion of Contemporary music and of the French Impressionists. Without the aura of an outgoing virtuoso, Gieseking's technique was superb, the crystalline quality of his playing in fast passages one of the joys of these recordings. Though he could fascinate with insights below the printed page, we can also admire him for his exactitude to the composer's wishes, dynamics carefully observed, and his choice of tempos never going to extremes. Indeed any young pianist could well use these performances - but not the dreadful cadenza in the first movement of the Fourth - as the benchmark for their studies. Sadly the Saxon State were not having a good day, and Walter obtains more reverential than inspired playing from the Vienna Philharmonic. Ears do soon adjust to the dated sound - from 1939 and 1935 respectively - the piano tone very agreeable in both recordings.

JOHANN STRAUSS I: Gedankenstriche Walzer, Op. 79. Galopp on themes from Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots, Op.93. Huldigungs Walzer, Op. 80. Indianer Galopp, Op. 111. Grazien Tanze, Op. 81. Furioso Galopp on themes by Liszt, Op. 114. Philomelen Walzer, Op. 82. Gibellinen Galopp, Op. 117. Merkurs Flugel Walzer, Op. 83. Musikalischer Telegraph Potpourri, Op. 106. Slovak Sinfonietta of Zilina, Christian Pollack (conductor). Marco Polo 8.225285. (67' 52").

The year is 1835, Johann was 31, and he had begun to make a mark on Vienna's musical world. He had already cut the umbilical chord with Josef Lanner who had provided him with his first conducting engagements, and he was now the musical attraction at the Sperl, one of Vienna's most fashionable beer-gardens and dance halls. We have reached volume 9 on Marco Polo's ongoing series of his complete works, and by now he was regularly producing melodies that linger in the memory, though he was still not averse to borrowing a few. His waltzes were becoming more expansive as he expanded the use of his thematic material, while his galopps had brio in abundance. Just turn to track 4, the Indianer Galopp, to sample Johann at his most inspired. He had developed the Potpourri into the eighteen-minute extravaganza of the Musikalischer Telegraph using recognisable melodies ending with Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. The Slovak Sinfonietta are in urgent need of a xylophone that is remotely in tune with the rest of the orchestra, but it soon passes and otherwise the playing is alert, spirited and with real and unexaggerated Viennese style. With Christian Pollock it hardly needs saying that the music is in the hands of a world authority of the Strauss family. The sound quality is excellent.