The latest releases reviewed.

ROSSINI: IL VIAGGIO A REIMS Soloists: Academy of Young Singers of the St Petersburg Mariinsky Theatre. St Petersburg Mariinsky Theatre Chorus & Orchestra. Musical Director: Valery Gergiev Opus Arte **** *

Commissioned for the coronation of Charles X, Il Viaggio a Reims was designed by Gioachino Rossini as a showcase for Italian opera. The threadbare plot finds a number of guests, who had been bound for the coronation, stranded in a Reims Inn. Realising that they will miss the coronation itself, impromptu performances develop among the guests, and the final scene is a tribute to the glory of France from the full assembly. This is a costumed concert production developed as a co-production by the Chatelet (where it is staged) and the Mariinsky, which use it as a showcase for the young singers being nurtured in the academy. The result is a delightful combination of Rossini's irrepressible music, singers full of energy and joie de vivre in a stylish French staging with colourful haute-couture costumes. www.opusarte.com COLMAN MORRISSEY

ARCTIC MONKEYS Behind the Music Edgehill Publishing **

There is a good DVD to be made of the Arctic Monkeys' sudden ascent to the top of the indie firmament, but this isn't it. This covers most of the bases (their early days in Sheffield, the massive breakthrough of their first album, where they find themselves now, etc). What's missing is a sense of real perspective. It doesn't help that the band aren't the most media-friendly musicians you could hope to meet, and that they're still at an early stage of their career. For a band who proved on their most current album, Favourite Worst Nightmare, that there's a lot more to them than their latest "indie whizz-kids" status, this does them a bit of a disservice. BRIAN BOYD