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GRA MOPHONE with the recording, which lacks sparkle and tonal bloom, nor least where the piano is concerned. There are many good versions of this work in the catalogue, and some of real distinction, and in these circumstances this new one cannot be competitive.

With Sofia Gubaidulina's imposing Symphony Stimmen- Verstummen among several of her major works awaiting its first recording, and with each of the pieces on this new BIS disc already available in fine performances, I hope my feeling of slight frustration is understandable. The BIS artists measure...

It is only a short while since I reviewed another new recording of Handel's Op. 3, by Roy Goodman and the Brandenburg Consort. Here we have performances by the Canadian period instrument ensemble, Tafelmusik. Tafelmusik play only the six concertos of which Handel's authorship is undisputed....

Concerto for Cello and Orchestra. Curve with Plateaux. Ricercare una melodia'. Three Sketches. Philia's Dream'.

Messiah and Bach's Christmas Oratorio spring to mind, as do the divertimentos and serenades of Mozart. The first commissioned work of this type, though, appears to have been Haydn's Seven Last Words which was composed for the Good Friday liturgy of the Cathedral of Cadiz in 1785. The form of the...

The works on this latest disc in the Hanover Band's evolving cycle (now approaching the halfway mark) show Haydn's symphonic style c. 1770 at its furthest extremes. Nos. 48 and 50 belong to a line of glittering, extrovert C major symphonies, with high horns and, in No. 50, trumpets and timpani...