Four new relases reviewed by Michael Dervan.

GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS

Pamela Thorby (recorder), Andrew Lawrence-King (harp, psaltery)

Linn CKC 291

****

The recorder must now share a place with the piano and the guitar as the most tried-out instruments. But the sheer joie-de-vivre with which Pamela Thorby and her harpist partner, Andrew Lawrence-King, open this new disc in Diego Ortiz's mundanely titled Recercada secunda de tenore sets down a marker for the air of high-spirited celebration which is to follow, and which is a world away from what most budding recorder players ever imagine their instrument to be capable of. If you like free-as-a-bird recorder playing, this is for you. The always-invigorating selection includes virtuoso pieces by Jacob van Eyck, fantastical works by Castello and Fontana, and familiar heart-stirrers by Dowland.

[ www.linnrecords.comOpens in new window ]

MICHAEL DERVAN

MESSIAEN: LIVRE DU SAINT SACREMENT

Michael Bonaventure (organ)

Delphian DCD 34076 (2 CDs)

****

Given the high standing of its composer, Messiaen's Livre du Saint Sacrementis probably guaranteed to fare better in concert than most works of its type. But, even in the best of circumstances, a two-hour organ work dominated by slow movements and conceived as "acts of adoration before Christ, who though unseen is truly present in the Blessed Sacrament" is bound to remain a rarity.

On disc, the situation has long been rewarding. And here, Michael Bonaventure, playing the Rieger organ of St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh (which is softer in finish and fuller in tone than the same company's instrument at St Michael's, Dún Laoghaire) adds to the list of successes. His playing has the right suggestion of incense in its mixture of the implacable and the sensuous.

[ www.tinyurl.com/6qsg6wOpens in new window ]

MICHAEL DERVAN

MUSIC FOR EUPHONIUM AND ORCHESTRA

Roland Fröscher (euphonium), Cappella Istropolitana/Dominique Roggen

Naxos 8.570725

***

Music for euphonium and orchestra: now there's most musicians' idea of a limited subject. The young Swiss virtuoso Roland Fröscher poaches other instruments' repertoire, bassoon concertos by Mozart and Weber, and a Tchaikovsky Andante cantabilethat everyone else borrows anyway.

He has also come up with two original works, an amusing pastiche concerto in baroque style by his conductor Dominique Roggen (one of a series of "anachronistic concertos" which match baroque practice with later instruments), and Jean Balissat's rather more contemporary sounding but nondescript Capriccio of 2005. This is one of those discs that invites you to sit back and smile at the display of youthful virtuosity in some occasionally diverting minor music.

[ www.naxos.comOpens in new window ]

MICHAEL DERVAN

MAHLER: SYMPHONY NO 10

Vienna Philharmonicm Orchestra/Daniel Harding

Deutsche Grammophon 477 7347

****

Daniel Harding is an advocate of the performing version of Mahler's uncompleted 10th Symphony, initially prepared by Deryck Cooke in the 1960s, and since modified by various hands. Harding's account with the Vienna Philharmonic is at the extremity of orchestral lusciousness.

This is late Mahler in a mode that can sound almost hyper-civilised. The bucolic in it is filtered, tamed, domesticated, the effect often genteel rather than rustic. This is a performance that never loses its composure, preferring at times what seems like the calm of resignation rather than a struggle with sinew and surge.

But don't be put off. There are moments which certainly pack a punch, and playing of such sheer and consistent beauty has rewards of its own.

[ www.tinyurl.com/5b9s4rOpens in new window ]

MICHAEL DERVAN