Latest CD releases reviewed

SONGS BY STRAUSS, DUPARC, BERG, POULENC
Sine Bundgaard (soprano), Danish Radio Sinfonietta/Matthias Pintscher EMI Classics Début 586 5002
****

Some singers seem to have the gift of simply opening their mouths and issuing a stream of lovely sound. The Danish soprano Sine Bundgaard is one of those, and the bulk of her new disc in EMI's Début series is devoted to Richard Strauss, a composer whose work responds well to the beauty she can sustain. She can do Straussian acrobatics, too, as she shows in Zerbinetta's show-stopping number from Ariadne auf Naxos. Also featured on this attractive disc are Berg's Seven Early Songs, two songs by Duparc, and Poulenc's La Dame de Monte-Carlo. There's good support from the Danish Radio Sinfonietta under Matthias Pintscher, but neither texts not translations in the booklet. www.emiclassics.com Michael Dervan

TCHAIKOVSKY: SYMPHONY NO 4
Vienna Philharmonic/Valery Gergiev Philips 457 6196
****

Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony, written in the wake of his disastrous marriage, and with an avowed programme about Fate ("that ominous power which hinders our striving after happiness"), is often taken as a pessimistic musical autobiography. Valery Gergiev delivers it as a work of such heavy emotional burden that care needs to be taken lest the message be overshadowed by instrumental brilliance in the playing - the fire in this performance is often made to burn with a black heat. The recording, made at concerts in Vienna's Musikverein in October 2002, captures the virtuosity of the Vienna Philharmonic from a distanced perspective that is fully in keeping with Gergiev's approach. Be warned, however, that, without a coupling, the disc offers a playing time of just 43 minutes. www.philipsclassics.com Michael Dervan

MICHAEL HAYDN: REQUIEM; MISSA IN HONOREM SANCTAE URSULAE
Carolyn Sampson (soprano), Hilary Summers (alto), James Gilchrist (tenor), Peter Harvey (bass), Choir of the King's Consort, The King's Consort/Robert King Hyperion CDA 67510 (2 CDs for the price of 1)
****

The music of Michael Haydn (1737-1806) lives in a double shadow, one cast by his older and more famous brother, Joseph, the other by Mozart, who left the Salzburg court where Michael was employed in successful pursuit of greater fortune. But Mozart had enough regard for the younger Haydn to help him out by writing two duos under his name, and the many correspondences between Mozart's Requiem of 1791 and Haydn's of 20 years earlier are pointed out by Robert King in his sleeve note. It was Michael Haydn's sacred music which his contemporaries seem to have valued most highly, and the expressively probing recordings of the two works here support that judgement, especially the imposing Requiem. www.hyperion-records.co.uk Michael Dervan

MENDELSSOHN: OCTET; VARIATIONS CONCERTANTES OP 17; SONG WITHOUT WORDS; ALBUMBLATT
Ensemble Explorations, Roel Dieltiens (cello), Frank Braley (piano) Harmonia Mundi HMC 901868
***

TheEmerson Quartet's recent recording of Mendelssohn's Octet is very much a document of the studio -the double-tracking involved is impeccable, and not a musical hair is allowed to be out of place. It is, of course, the tiny discrepancies between players which help make the numbers count in orchestral string sections, and the sonorities of minuscule misalignments found in Ensemble Explorations's new account guarantee an orchestral dimension to the sound that the Emersons cleaned out in their pursuit of perfect blend. Ensemble Explorations also favour what you might call an open-eyed spontaneity to contrast with the Emerson's unflappable composure. The two approaches serve the music well in entirely different ways. Dieltens and Braley try to make rather too much out of the couplings for cello and piano, though these have the interest of using an 1874 Steinway concert grand. www.harmoniamundi.com Michael Dervan