Latest CD releases reviewed

MENDELSSOHN DISCOVERIES

Roberto Prosseda (piano), Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra/Riccardo Chailly Decca 478 1525 ****

Riccardo Chailly, an inveterate explorer of rediscoveries and reconstructions, here turns his attention to Mendelssohn. Compared to the familiar versions, the 1842 "London" version of the ScottishSymphony has 39 bars of new music as well as various differences in orchestration. The 1830 Rome version of the HebridesOverture adds 43 bars and has a multitude of other differences. The Piano Concerto in E minor has had to be completed by Marcello Bufalini, its three movements needing progressively more editorial intervention. In these spirited performances, fans of Mendelssohn will revel in the minutiae of the symphony and Bufalini's gift of a totally unknown concerto. A far wider audience will marvel at unfamiliar turns in the HebridesOverture. www.decca classics.com

STRAVINSKY: APOLLON MUSAGÈTE; PULCINELLA SUITE

Chamber Orchestra of Europe/Alexander Janiczek Linn Records CKD 330 *****

Stravinsky's Pulcinella, a neo-classical reworking of music attributed to Pergolesi, was famously put down by Constant Lambert, who accused Stravinsky of confusing 18th-century expressive and formal content. "Like a savage standing in delighted awe," he wrote, "before those two symbols of an alien civilization the top and the pot de chambre, he is apt to confuse their functions." But it's long been the most popular of the ballets Stravinsky wrote after The Rite of Spring. Alexander Janicek goes for a light and deft, fat-free approach, which works a treat. And the later, strings-only Apollon musagète– "white on white," in Balanchine's memorable phrase – responds beautifully to the delicacy of his blandishments. www.linnrecords.com

SPOHR: DOUBLE QUARTETS VOL 1

Forde Ensemble Naxos 8.570963 ****

The teenage Mendelssohn's ground- breaking Octet of 1825 wasn't the only new venture for eight string players to surface in the 1820s. Two years earlier Louis Spohr had written the first of his four double quartets. He attributed the idea to fellow violinist and composer Andreas Romberg, saying it arose at a chamber music session when they played together. Spohr's double quartets eschew the quasi- orchestral richness of Mendelssohn's Octet in favour of a more conventionally oriented chamber music interplay. Spohr doesn't actually go for any really dramatic antiphonal effects. The musical manner is genial rather than profound. Think of Schubert in relaxed mode and you'll be on the right lines. The Forde Ensemble play the first two of these rarely heard double quartets with attractive spring and grace. www.naxosdirect.ie

WELSH DANCES

Various Orchestras and conductors Lyrita SRCD.334 ***

Composers worldwide have tried to emulate the success of Brahms and Dvorak at presenting folk dances in orchestral garb. In the later 20th century the style tended towards high orchestral gloss, emphasising bouncy rhythms with plenty of percussive fizz on the one hand, and slowed-down sentimentality on the other. The style is often as chirrupy and syrupy as a Hollywood teen comedy, very likeable if you like that sort of thing. Alan Hoddinott wrote his own tunes, rather than borrowed existing ones, for his first two sets of Welsh Dances. William Mathias reached beyond national borders for his Celtic Dances. Daniel Jones's freer Dance Fantasytrumps both for musical content. The bulk of the performances are by the National Youth Orchestra of Wales, for whom some of the works were written. www.wyastone.co.uk