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HANDEL: Messiah. Iestyn Davies (countertenor), Toby Spence (tenor), Eamonn Dougan (bass), Henry Jenkinson, Otta Jones, Robert Brooks (trebles), Choir of New College Oxford, Academy of Ancient Music, Edward Higginbottom (conductor). Naxos 8.570131-32 (2CDs). (142' 19"). 

A very different Messiah, and one that goes straight to my top recommendation. The work came so close to failure when first performed in London in 1743 that Handel kept the score in a state of flux for the next decade. It was eventually the male Italian alto, Gaetano Guadagni, who inspired the 1751 performance at Covent Garden Theatre, an evening that finally turned the work's fortunes. Why Handel replaced sopranos in the chorus with boy trebles, and used them in arias previously given to the soprano, is unclear, though it may have been an expedient as the Chapel Royal Choir was available to him. Now for the first time that score is placed on disc, and it works to perfection, sounding so wonderfully fresh and vital. Edward Higginbottom's brisk but unhurried tempos and the gorgeous singing of the countertenor, Iestyn Davies, hold the key to the success. Winner of the London Handel Singing Competition in 2004, he surely comes as close to the female voice as is humanly possible, and in his hands the feeling of utter sadness in He was despised and rejected is a new experience. Handel was to divide almost all of the arias between the alto and the tenor, Toby Spence offering a nice lyric and agile voice. The three trebles sing with uncommonly accurate intonation, the 11 year-old Henry Jenkinson offering I know my redeemer liveth as a profound statement of fact.  To this add a small and refreshing choir that, when required, pack more weight than groups four times their size, while the period orchestra reaps rich rewards with clean and lean sound. First class sound and the perfect Christmas present for those who think they have everything.

DONIZETTI:  La Figlia del Reggimento. Maria Costanza Nocentini (Marie), Casciarri (Tonio), Luciano Miotto (Sulpizio), Milijana Nikolic (Marchesa de Berkenfield), Eugenio Leggiadri-Gallani (Ortensio), Arturo Cauli (Corporal), Giulia Martella (La Duchessa), Franco Becconi (A Peasant), Alessandro Pento (Notary), Orchestra e Coro del Teatro Marrucino di Chieti, Marzio Conti (conductor). Naxos 8.660161-62 (2CDs). (101' 53").

The orphan Marie has been adopted and brought up by the 21st Regiment of the French Army, and has now fallen in love with the handsome Tonio. Their first hurdle comes when they discover an army regulation that means she has to marry a man from the regiment, causing the young man to enlist. When the old Marquise arrives claiming her to be their niece, the young girl has to leave the regiment and take up residence at the chateau without her soldier boyfriend. It ends, as with all Donizetti comedies, with everyone happy and the lovers reunited. The Daughter of the Regiment was an instant success when premiered in 1839, coming from the forty-two year old composer at the height of his popularity. Heavily laced with attractive arias, Marie's Saluta a la France attaining the status of a French patriotic song. He also made it a showpiece for the soprano, Maria Costanza Nocentini taking a little time to warm to the task ahead, but eventually, when the vocal gymnastics take over she turns on the virtuosity, agility and a most attractive personality. Giorgio Casciarri takes those high C's  - the ones that provided Pavarotti his first big recording success  - with the necessary tingle factor, and if elsewhere he is a little wayward, he is always pleasing. Milijana Nikolic is a wonderfully fruity mazzo, and the other members of the cast are admirable. Stylistically Marzio Conti creating Donizetti's bubbly atmosphere to the manner born, often taking the score precious close to operetta. He has a well-schooled orchestra and an enthusiastic chorus at his disposal. Without forgetting that famous studio recording with Sutherland and Pavarotti, it's good to have an alternative performance that really has come straight off the stage, everyone acting their part but without the 'live' recording drawbacks.

DAVIS: Aladdin. Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Carl Davis (conductor). Naxos 8.557898-99 (2CDs). (136' 09"). 

Celebrating the 70th birthday of Carl Davis, one of today's most prolific composers working in a wide spectrum of music from film and TV scores to major ballets and orchestral works. Aladdin was the result of a suggestion from the American choreographer, Robert Cohan, who thought it was time for a score to fill the Christmas slot in place of the customary Nutcracker. The result was an extensive two-act ballet that avoids the humorous knockabout aspects of Aladdin associated with UK pantomimes. There is Tchaikovsky, Khachaturian, Shostakovich and a hint of Lalo among the many influences, the orient finding its way into the music at the appropriate moments. The result is a very tuneful, pleasing and colourful score that must make a most effective ballet. The fingerprints of Davis's gift of effective scoring are much in evidence with a large battery of percussion used to create imposing moments, though it is the score's subtlety that I enjoy most. Davis has equally enjoyed a conducting career and has the fabulous Malaysian Philharmonic at his disposal. Under the guidance of Naxos recording artist, Kees Bakels, the orchestra has been created from the world's leading musicians, the superb quality of their playing shining through every moment of the performance, the woodwind being a particular joy. Sound quality is excellent.

PENDERECKI: Symphony No. 7, 'Seven Gates of Jerusalem'. Olga Pasichnyk (soprano), Aga Mikolaj (soprano), Ewa Marciniec (alto), Wieslaw Ochman (tenor), Romuald Tesarowicz (bass), Boris Carmeli (narrator), Warsaw National Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra, Antoni Wit (conductor). Naxos 8.557766. (60' 46"). 

It came as a catastrophe to modernists when Krzysztof Penderecki turned his back on all their aspirations and returned to the realms of tonality. Born in Poland in 1933, he shot to international fame when at the age of 26 three of his works won major Polish composition prizes. It was a position confirmed by the success of the Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima and St. Luke Passion, both works offering totally new aspects of sound. But in the 1980's the first signs of a major change began to appear, so that by the time of he wrote Seven Gates of Jerusalem he was working in tonality and continuing where Mahler had left off in his choral writing. At first the score was conceived as a cantata, but was later brought into his cycle of symphonies. Fervently religious, and with references to Britten's War Requiem in the fifth section, the words are reflected in bold orchestral colours. The soloists are used sparingly, the major part taken by the massed choral forces from Warsaw who are magnificent in the sheer weight created. The score is admirably paced by Antoni Wit, his orchestra playing as if their lives depended upon it. The sound quality is equally striking, with ideal balance between singers and instrumentalists, the whole package adding up to the finest Penderecki release I have encountered.

IVES: String Quartet No. 1 'From the Salvation Army'. String Quartet No. 2. A set of three short pieces, - Scherzo. Blair String Quartet. Naxos 8.559178. (50' 19"). 

With works that were often bizarre and quirky as they explored new avenues of sound, Charles Ives, more than any other composer, drew the world's attention to the abundance of Contemporary music being created in the United States. Born in 1874, the son of a versatile bandmaster who provided Charles with his early musical training, he found himself too shy for a stage career and settled for the safe anonymity of a church organist. Yale University brought him into contact with the composer Horatio Parker who encouraged the young man's aspirations, though he admitted that he had no leaning towards the music Ives was creating. He eventually found employment with an insurance company, and was to enjoy such financial success he was able to spend a lifetime composing as a leisure pursuit. The two quartets amply illustrate the enormous change that took place in his style of writing, the First, dating from 1896 being tonal, folksy and drawing much on the music he heard in his youth played by Salvation Army Bands. Seventeen years later the Second was moved to an acerbic, atonal and at times ruggedly disjointed world. Even now it sounds modern, and needs a performance with the commitment and impact that we have from the Blair String Quartet.  Taking its name from the Blair College, Vanderbilt University, which is the ensemble's home, they lavish considerable beauty on the First, and highlight the modernity of the Second. Technical hurdles simply disappear, the intonation and clarity exemplary throughout. As an additional track, the brief Scherzo is a study in diatonic complexity. I prefer this disc to the much-recommended Emerson Quartet on DG, both versions enjoying a realistic sound quality.

STRAVINSKY: Symphony of Psalms. Mass. Cantata. Babel. Three Russian Sacred Choruses. Mary Ann Hart (mezzo), Thomas Bogdan (tenor), David Wilson-Johnson (narrator), The Gregg Smith Singers, Orchestra of St. Luke's, The Simon Joly Chorale, Philharmonia Orchestra, Robert Craft (conductor). Naxos 8.557504. (72' 58"). 

Continuing Robert Craft's invaluable Stravinsky survey, we have material previously issued as part of several discs newly gathered together on this very useful compendium of choral works. Though I would have welcomed a more incisive tone from The Simon Joly Chorale in the Symphony of Psalms, Craft here offers a perfect facsimile of the composer's tempo and dynamic indications - more definitive than the composer's own recording. The remainder comes from Craft's American sessions, the Gregg Smith Singers so secure in the Mass both rhythmically and in pitch, while the Orchestra of St. Luke's provides a pungent backdrop. The chorus also bring a vibrant and perfectly focused tone to the unaccompanied Three Russian Sacred Choruses, a score where the composer returns to his musical roots. Babel opens with a reminder of the initial passage from The Firebird, the five minute score for narrator, chorus and orchestra hardly adding up to much. The recorded sound is very different to the smooth and finely honed UK quality, having more bite and up-front quality.

TURINA: Sevilla (Suite pintoresca), Op.2. Mujeres espanolas (Primera serie), Op. 17. Mujeres espanolas (Segunda serie), Op. 73. Mujeres de Sevilla, Op. 89. Jordi Maso (piano). Naxos 8.557684. (62' 46").

If you have yet to discover the delights of Joaquin Turina's piano music, a Spanish version of Debussy would be your buying guide and point you in the right direction. That is not surprising for having made such little headway as a musician in Spain, Turina decided to spend time in Paris studying both piano and composition. By the age of thirty-one he had become so famous in France that his homeland welcomed him back as one of the nation's leading composers. A rather shy person, he preferred the intimacy of piano music, and here we find him in his most charming and lightweight mood, picturing the delights and beauty of Spanish women in three extensive suites, together with a tourist's guide to Seville. It makes for a disc that charms the ear with the most attractive soft-grained melodies, the music oozing with happiness. I don't suppose these performances from Jordi Maso will ever be surpassed, his instinctive feel for the idiom, with every phrase lovingly shaped, is a pure joy from beginning to end. Indeed, though it may not hit the headlines, this is the most pleasurable piano disc I have heard this year by a large margin. Fervently recommended and the engineers have provided gorgeous sound.

RODRIGO: Concierto serenata. Concierto de Aranjuez. Sones en la Giralda (Fantasia Sevillana). Gwyneth Wentink (harp), Asturias Symphony Orchestra, Maximiano Valdes (conductor). Naxos 8.555843. (58' 10"). 

Two of the great Spanish harpists, Nicanor Zabaleta and Marisa Robles, provided the inspiration for two of Rodrigo's most charming though seldom performed scores. With the poverty and depravation suffered by the blind composer in the first forty years of his life, when he and his wife often had to live in charitable institutions, his music continued to be happy and optimistic. The tide was to turn in 1939 with the completion of the work for guitar, Concierto de Aranjuez, and with help from Manuel De Falla, he was at last able to secure a permanent position in education. The years that followed were to be very industrious with over two hundred compositions in every genre. By the 1940's the guitar concerto was to establish an international reputation, and he become the main Spanish composer in the second half of the 20th century. So popular, in fact, that many adaptations were made for other solo instruments including this for harp and orchestra completed in 1974. Twenty-two years earlier the same harpist, Nicanor Zabaleta, had inspired the Concierto serenata, a work intended to convey the joy of fiestas and the customs of previous generations. Of a younger generation, the outgoing Marisa Robles - who made much of her career in the UK - was the dedicatee of the short one-movement piece, Sons en la Giralda (Sound of the Giralda), the 'Giralda' being the tower of the great cathedral in Seville. That creates bell-like pictures, the whole disc colourful in orchestration and pleasing in melodic inspiration. The three works are stunningly played by the Dutch-born soloist, Gwyneth Wentink, winner of many prizes and the first harpist to become the prestigious winner of New York's Young Concert Artists International Auditions. The orchestra - as we have already said many times in this Rodrigo series - is first class in every way, and has the benefit of very good sound quality, balance between harp and orchestra absolutely ideal. A Spanish music disc not to be missed.

VANHAL: Violin Concertos in G major, IIb:G3; B flat major, IIb:Bb1; and G major, IIb:G1. Takako Nishizaki (violin), Cologne Chamber Orchestra, Helmut Muller-Bruhl (conductor). Naxos 8.557815. (70' 33"). 

Naxos has already embarked on a series of recordings of Vanhal's Sinfonias and has now turned its attention to the Violin Concertos, the composer being prolific in both genres. Born in 1739 to a Czech peasant family, Johann Baptist Vanhal had received sufficient training from a local musician to enable him to earn a living as a village organist and choirmaster. Onto the scene came a wealthy patron who arranged for composition lessons in Vienna with the great Dittersdorf, and with further patronage Vanhal travelled around Europe moving in exalted musical circles. Though we cannot be certain, he was probably the first person to earn a living entirely from composing. In addition to more than sixty concertos for different instruments - sixteen of which were for violin - his fame was such that within a few years of his symphonies being written, they were being performed around Europe and as far distant as North America. Maybe they were not earth-shattering masterpieces, but as we hear from these concertos he was a consummate composer who knew full well how to structure effective scores. Their date of writing is unknown but are thought to have come before 1772, which places them contemporary with early Haydn, and while they may not possess his immediately memorable melodic material, they certainly stand favourable comparison. Today they would be classed as technically undemanding, and with her elegant tone Takako Nishizaki is a most persuasive advocate, a good sampling point coming with her charming approach to the second movement of the IIb:G3. It is lovingly shaped and she resists dashing through the Allegro finales, articulation immaculate and intonation spotless. The accompaniment remains glued to her, and though on modern instruments it shows a good sense of period style. Though the disc makes no claim, I think these are world premiere recordings.     

OHKI: Japanese Rhapsody. Symphony No.5 'Hiroshima'. New Japan Philharmonic, Takuo Yuasa (conductor). Naxos 8.557839. (52' 05"). 

Six paintings by Iri and Toschi Maruki, 'The Hiroshima Panels', were the catalyst and inspiration for Masao Ohki's Fifth Symphony, one of the first major scores to capture the horror of the atomic bomb dropped on the city. There are influences of Shostakovich throughout the piece, but it is a story communicated in a very direct and personal way, the orchestration both graphic and immensely skilful. Though there are moments where the sheer impact of the event is portrayed, it is the stillness, desolation and the hopelessness of those who survived that make the work so deeply moving. The movement depicting the beautiful rainbow that appeared after the black rain had poured down on the city is a magical achievement of sound, while the innocence of the scene depicting the dead children who had never known the joy of life is disturbing. To this graphic scene painting, Okhi added a Prelude and deeply moving Elegy, this ending also containing much anger. For a time the emotive title of the symphony found world attention, with Arvid Jansons and Leopold Stokowski premiering the score in Russia and the United States. It is good now to be reminded of it in this exceptionally fine account from the New Japan Philharmonic, Takuo Yuasa creating those long passages of naked stillness with a chilling reality. It seems almost wrong to disturb the impact by including the Japanese Rhapsody, a colourful and happy score in three highly contrasting parts. First class sound.

BUSONI: Zwei Lieder, Op.27. Album Vocale, Op. 30. Zwei altdeutsche Lieder, Op. 18 No. 1. Hebraische Lieder, Op. 15. Zwei Lieder, Op.24. Des Sangers Fluch, Op. 39a. Goether-Lieder. Reminiscenza Rossiniana. Martin Bruns (baritone), Ulrich Eisenlohr (piano). Naxos 8.557245. (69' 16"). 

Ferruccio Busoni lived through those musically turbulent years at the beginning of the 20th century and fell under so many influences you never quite know which Busoni you about to hear. So let me put your mind at rest that this disc contains songs much in the style of Schubert with a hint of Mahler. He was born in 1866 to the mixed parentage of an Italian father and German mother, his first appearances at the age of eight being as a prodigy pianist. Two years later he began taking composition lessons, at first passing through a period of musical purity that looked back to Bach before embracing the era of Brahms and Schubert. Eventually he toyed rather unsuccessfully with the style of the Second Viennese School. His songs are little known and seldom performed with much of the disc given to world premiere recordings. The settings are brief  - few pass the four minute mark - and they fall easily on the ear with piano writing that is highly effective in mirroring the words. Des Sangers Fluch, comes in marked contrast as a miniature song-cycle (Naxos have got the opus number mixed up with the Piano Concerto, and also the number for the opening Zwei Lieder). Martin Bruns proves a most persuasive advocate, so passionate in places that he pushes too hard on his voice. In Ulrich Eisenlohr he has an admirable partner who never holds back in the dramatic moments. Good sound quality, and though they may not be newly discovered masterpieces, they surpass much of Schubert's much vaunted output.

SHOSTAKOVICH: Cello Sonata in D minor, Op. 40. Violin Sonata, Op 134. Romance and Nocturne from The Gadfly (trans. Yablonsky). Dmitry Yablonsky (cello), Maxim Fedotov (violin), Ekaterina Saranceva (piano), Galina Petrova (piano), Russian Philharmonic Orchestra, DmitryYablonsky (conductor). Naxos 8.557722. (67' 03"). 

Critics are rapidly drowning under the deluge of Shostakovich releases being made to mark the centenary of his birth. This adds to the torrent, though I am surprised to find that such a well-endowed Naxos catalogue was previously devoid of the Cello Sonata, one of the most popular and frequently performed works. In style it looks back to the Romantic era, Rachmaninov in particular, the outer movements adorned with big sweeping melodies that pass readily between the two players. The virile and acerbic Allegro reminds us of the composer's modern credentials before the slow beauty of the Largo takes over. It dates from 1935, before the angst that later invaded his output, though by the time of the Violin Sonata in 1968 his style was very different, atonality having partially taken over. It is often aggressive with jagged and punchy rhythms, and at times fiendishly difficult. In three movements, the hard-hitting and pro-active central Allegretto gives way to an extended final Largo, the work's many challenges finding it seldom programmed. To complete the disc Dmitry Yablonsky has transcribed two sections form The Gadly for cello and orchestra. His account of the Cello Sonata is lean and deft in structure, technically sound and nicely shaped. By comparison the violin has been rewarded with a more forward balance, Maxim Fedotov admirable in every respect and bringing clarity to the most complex passages. The two short works with orchestra make lightweight additions.

REGER: Symphonic Fantasia and Fugue, Op. 57. Seven Organ Pieces, Op. 145. Edgar Krapp (organ). Naxos 8.557891. (69' 09"). 

As a young teenager Max Reger joined his father in rebuilding a discarded and decrepit church organ and became fascinated with the instrument. He was to fall under the spell of Bach and Wagner, the unusual combination bringing a strict academic framework into which he could mould his romantic scores. Sadly the obligatory year in the army brought about a cycle of ill health that was to persist and blight his life, bringing about his early death at the age of 43. He had been prodigious in his output, his legacy including some highly effective orchestral and chamber music, though today he is best known for his organ works, most of which were originally intended for his own performance. They represent the peak of composition for the instrument in the late-Romantic era, often challenging the organist by the complexity and density of the score. The Seven Pieces were completed in 1916, the year of his death, and in time scope lasts almost fifty minutes. The Symphonic Fantasia and Fugue came much earlier in 1901, the same year as his outstanding Second Sonata. There are some mighty powerful moments on this disc, but it is the meditative aspects of the religious Seven Pieces that dominate. They present a challenge to the soloist in shaping and keeping alive slow moving music, Franz Krapp being remarkably successful, though in the Cathedral at Passau he enjoys a venue that keeps the most intricate quiet passages wonderfully clear. There is not a great deal to demonstrate his virtuosity, the fast running figuration in the second of the Seven Pieces being a rare moment. The seventh volume in the complete Reger cycle and Naxos has our deep gratitude.

BACH Brandenburg Concertos, BWV 1046 - 56. Musical Offering: Trio Sonata in C minor, BWV 1079. Flute Concerto in G minor, BWV 1056. Niklas Eklund (trumpet), Swiss Baroque Soloists, Andres Gabetta (violin/violino piccolo/director). Naxos 8.557755-56 (2CDs). (114' 32"). 

This is the second version of the complete Brandenburg Concertos on Naxos, the decision obviously taken to add a period instrument performance to their catalogue. The Swiss Baroque takes us back to the pioneering days of period instrument performances in the 1950's, and before they became sanitised for wider public consumption. Here we have pithy woodwind, horns with an 'out of tune' rustic quality, and slightly acidic strings, which probably adds up to something like the sound Bach would have heard in his lifetime. Andres Gabetta does have some recklessly fast moments, but that apart the performance is generally one of comforting familiarity, while retaining a sense of spontaneity. Gabetta has equally resisted the temptation to over-edit the performance so that a few less than perfect moments do remain. Having the great Swedish trumpet virtuoso, Niklas Eklund, brings an added brilliance to the release, and we have two 'encores' to fill out the discs. The engineers balance the instruments in a realistic concert hall perspective and avoid that frequent overstatement of the horns.  

SAMMARTINI: Della Passione di Gesu Cristo, J-C 124. L'addolorata Divina Madre J-C 123. Silvia Mapelli (soprano), Miroslava Yordanova (mezzo), Giorgio Tiboni (tenor), Symphonica Ensemble, Daniele Ferrari (conductor). Naxos 8.570254. (72' 47"). 

Giovanni Battista Saint-Martin was the younger of two musically gifted brothers, his early career following in his father's footsteps as an orchestral oboist in Milan. He was probably born in 1700, and by the age of 26 was established as Milan's leading composer, taking the name of Sammartini. His appointments were mainly linked with the church allowing him time to create an immense catalogue of works, including a substantial output of orchestral music. Little of his music has survived, though by the time of his death in 1775 his fame had spread throughout Europe, and his influence was not only to shape the next generation of composers, but to provide the basis of Mozart's symphonic output. His cantatas were more related to opera than church music of the time, the texts in the form of libretti with music assembled from a linked group of arias and recitatives proceeded by a Sinfonia. The two cantatas included on this disc have the exact date of 1759 as the first performance, both intended for Fridays in Lent, Sammartini perfectly capturing the mood of The Sorrowing Divine Mother. In this recording the Della Passione has the two female voices taking male roles with the tenor singing Mary Magdelene. Silvia Mapelli has that silvery soprano voice much loved in provincial Italy, contrasting with the fulsome mezzo of Miroslava Yordanova. Giorgio Tiboni's tenor is both attractive and unusual in having light opera as its usual use. Naxos claims this to be the world premiere of Della Passione di Gesu Cristo, and no other version of L'addolorata currently appears available on disc.  

GRANADOS (arr. DEJOUR): Goyescas. El Pelele. Trio Campanella. Naxos 8.557709. (61' 47"). 

A real odd-ball release, but one that will delight and fascinate guitar enthusiasts, the leader of the Trio Campanella, Christophe Dejour, arranging for guitar trio Granados's most extensive and famous piano score, Goyescas. Anyone just coming to the piece would be delighted to discover such an effectively scored work, ideally sitting on this combination of instruments. But arriving from the opposite direction, those who know the original piano writing will find the guitar's percussive aspects and the inability to sustain notes very much at odds with Granados's concept. So taken at face value the Danish-based trio are outstanding, the melodic threads passing seamlessly around the instruments, intonation as clean as a new pin, with those usually irritating left hand slides around the instrument kept to a minimum. The bell-like texture they produce is particularly attractive in the Goyescas Epilogue, and the basic sound of guitars is well suited to El Pelele (The Straw Man) where Granados was obviously influenced by the harpsichord music of Scarlatti. Sound quality from Denmark is most kindly disposed to the instruments.

VERDI: Aida - Triumphal March. STRAVINSKY: Symphonies of Wind Instruments. PERSICHETTI: Symphony for Band, Op. 69. WEINBERGER: Schwanda the Bagpiper - Polka and Fugue. COPLAND: Emblems. GRAINGER: Over the Hills and Far Away. WALTON: Crown Imperial. 'The President's Own' United States Marine Band, Michael Colburn (conductor). Naxos 8.570243. (64' 16"). 

You would hardly expect a disc with the title 'Monumental Works for Winds' to be hiding some very serious music. There are a few band arrangements to spice the package, though I cannot recall ever hearing a more vivacious and happy performance of the Polka and Fugue from Weinberger's opera Schwanda the Bagpiper. The major inclusion is the only available version of Vincent Persichetti's Symphony for Band, a typically attractive score from one of my favourite American composers. Born in Philadelphia in 1915, his compositional mentors included Roy Harris, and much of his subsequent life has been spent teaching in top music colleges in the States. As a composer he has not followed trends, but has remained tonally based, his catalogue including a number for wind band including this four-movement symphony. It does owe some allegiance to Copland, whose extensive band piece, Emblems, also makes a rare appearance on disc. Maybe a more theatrical approach to the Walton march was called for, but otherwise the performances are smooth, perfectly tuned and if some top-end frequencies are lost, the sound is very pleasing. 

HARBISON: North and South - Ballad for Billy I & II. Six American Painters. The Three Wise Men. Book of Hours and Seasons. Lorraine Hunt Lieberson (mezzo), Emily Lodine (mezzo), Bill Kurtis (narrator), The Chicago Chamber Players. Naxos 8.559188. (66' 22"). 

The music of John Harbison has not achieved the same level of popularity on the international scene as of many of his contemporaries. So I hope this readily attractive release will make some amends. He is one of that era who use tonality and atonality as the mood requires, a cross-section of this unusual mix represented in a disc sampling his chamber and vocal works. Born in 1938, he first became a composition pupil of Walter Piston, with Roger Sessions and Earl Kim completing his education. His career has been much dedicated to teaching, while his compositions have become more widely known with the Pultzer Prize winning cantata, The Flight into Egypt. Scored for mezzo and chamber ensemble, North and South often borders on cabaret in its outgoing pleasures. Fabulously sung by Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, who moves around the work's changing moods to perfection, her recent death being a blow to American music. Using a small ensemble, with a prominent role for flute played by Mathieu Dufour, Six American Painters, composed in 2002, pictures on music the work of famous artists. Each movement offers a contrast, Eakins providing a punchy movement with the happy and vivacious ending picturing Diebenkorn. The Three Wise Men is a religious score for brass group, each of the movements prefaced with a reading of the events that took place. We have now reached atonality, which continues through the Book of Hours and Seasons for vocalist (the very fine Emely Lodine), piano and chamber group. Much of my considerable enjoyment is certainly derived from the high quality performance and vivid recording, but as a whole this is the type of American music the world must know about. So I do hope Naxos extend its availability past its 'Limited Edition' status. In the meantime Internet is a marvellous way to buy.

WAGNER:  Die Walkure. Martha Modl (Brunnhilde), Leonie Rysanek (Sieglinde), Ferdinand Frantz (Wotan), Ludwig Suthaus (Siegmund), Margarete Klose (Fricka), Gottlob Frick (Hunding), Gerda Schreyer, Hudith Hellwig, Dagmar Schmedes, Ruth Siewert, Erika Koth, Hertha Topper, Johanna Blatter, Dagmar Hermann (Valkyries), Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Wilhelm Furtwangler (conductor). Naxos 8.111056-58 (3CDs). (228' 02").

Recorded in 1954, it was in every respect Furtwangler's Walkure, and became the final great document made only few weeks before his death. He coaxed from the Vienna Philharmonic some of the most radiant playing they had placed on disc, the strings ravishing and brass that was by turns mellow and dramatic. The singing was a more mixed blessing, though today we would find it strange that criticism at the time was levelled at Ludwig Suthaus, for his Siegmund is one of the most human portrayals on disc. Technically he was as accurate as any tenor, and the passage when Brunnhilde tells him that the Gods have decreed he falls on Hunding's sword is more deeply moving than any on disc. Leonie Rysanek - a voice I so love - was in very patchy shape, and never suggests in the first act a passionate Sieglinde. Martha Modl is typical Modl, one minute thrilling with her dramatic attack, and the next sounding so unreasonable stretched. Ferdinand Franz, a singer who pushed his voice up to the range required for Wotan, too often shows that strain, at times barking out passages. Gottlob Frick was curiously restrained as Hunding, but I love Margaret Klose's fulsome voice when she verbally attacks her husband. Strangely the singers all sound in better voice in the final act, but whatever the vocal drawbacks, Furtwangler so draws us into the unfolding drama that we soon forget them. Though Naxos point to drawbacks inherent in the original recording, it was a beautifully balanced sound that wears its years lightly. Absolutely invaluable for Wagnerians. .

DELIUS: Eventyr (Once upon a time). Summer Night on the River. Summer Evening. A Song before Sunrise. Violin Concerto. Piano Concerto. Jean Pougnet (violin), Betty Humby Beecham (piano), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Thomas Beecham (conductor). Naxos 8.111006. (78' 47"). 

Beecham was not alone in championing Frederick Delius in the concert hall, but it was his recordings that became the motivating factor in establishing the British-born composer among the most important in the 20th century. Much has been written about the Englishness in Delius's music, but he spent little time in his homeland, selecting Germany for a musical education and spending his mature life spent in France. The result was a personal musical voice derived from a cosmopolitan background, Nordic influences among the more important. That it appeals to English ears comes from the feeling of nostalgia for time past, a similar input that made Elgar so popular, and which we find in abundance in Summer Night on the River and Summer Evening. Beecham's performances did not always find favour with the composer, yet you would have a stony heart not to appreciate the love and affection he lavished on the music, the birds pictured by the woodwind in A Song before Sunrise never having sounded quite so magical. Those who came after Beecham have given more assertive accounts of the two concertos, Jean Pougnet's soft-grained tone just a little lightweight to totally capture the changing moods of the violin score. That contrasts with Betty Humby Beecham's lovely account of the Piano Concerto, the more outgoing passages given their fair share of virtuosity. In the 1920's and 30's Beecham placed memorable Delius performances on disc, but with the improved sound quality in the late 1940's and his own superb Royal Philharmonic he was able to encapsulate the subtleties in the orchestration. Good transfers to CD, and to Delius fans it is quite indispensable.

CALDARA: La Costanza in amor vince l'inganno - Sebben crudele, Act 1. MARCELLO: Il mio bel foco….Quella fiamma che m'accende. CARISSIMI: Vittoria, vittoria! Mio core. BASSANI: Ah, se tu dormi ancora …Posate, dormite.

DI VEROLI: Casarella. GIORDANO: Marcella - Non conosciuto vo'con gli amici, Act 1. DONIZETTI: L'elisir d'amore - Quanto e bella, Act 1. Chiedi al rio perche gemente, Act 1. PUCCINI: Turandot - Nessun dorma, Act 3. DANZA: Funiculi, funicula. VERDI: Otello - Gia nella notte densa, Act 1. Ed io vedea fra le tue temple, Act 1. MASCAGNI: L'amico Fritz - Ah! ditela per me quella parola, Act 3. BOITO: Mefistofele - Lontano, lontano, Act 3. BIZET: Les Pecheurs de Perles - Ton coeur n'a pas compris, Act 2. GOMES: Lo Schiavo - All'istante partir, Act 2. Il Guarany - Ma piu di tutto…Vanto io pur, Act 2. FROES: Mimosa. TRAD: A casinha pequenina. MASCAGNI: Cavalleria rusticana - No, no Turridu. Beniamino Gigli (tenor), Rina Gigli (soprano), Dusolina Giannini (soprano), Various orchestras and conductors. Naxos 8.111103. (76' 01"). 

By the time of these recordings over the period 1949 - 1951, the Italian tenor, Beniamino Gigli, had been singing professionally for over thirty-five years, and his career was coming to a close. Acting often had to cover threadbare parts of the vocal range, though in many ways that brought a new thrill to his opera performances. Now mainly appearing in the concert hall, often with piano accompaniment, he filled out programmes with pieces that would not tax his vocal resources. Among those items were the 17th century arias that appear at the beginning of this disc - where Gigli was stylistically totally out of his depth - and Neapolitan songs where he was unrivalled. Latterly he recorded with his daughter, Rina Gigli, a soprano with one of those girlish voices much enjoyed in post-war Italy but already fast disappearing. She was better than often described, but probably would never have recorded had it not been for her father. One wishes he had been partnered by a more likeable Desdemona in the Otello extracts, a role he never sang on stage. Elsewhere his Donizetti solo is pleasing, and his two Gomes arias the pick of the disc. As an interesting addition there is a brief extract from a rather worn disc of Cavalleria rusticana that seems to have been rejected and unissued when recorded in 1931. The sound in the 1949 sessions at London's Abbey Road studio was good, and throughout the transfers by Mark Obert-Thorn are outstanding.