Reasa

Violin Concerto, Op 24. Cello Concerto, Op 32b Tema con variazioni, Op 29ac 'eltobert McDuffie vu bcLynn Harrell cc Atlanta Symphony Orchestra / Yoel Levi Telarc CD80518 (72 minutes: DDD)

Budapest-born MiklOs ROzsa (1907-95) made his name scoring big-screen epics. Here's a welcome new collection — suPerbly performed and recorded — featuring three of his finest works for the concert hall

Cello Concerto — cm/Taint ire 1.:C7510111,:

Rtjto, Pecs Hungarian SO, Williams (9/96) (SILO SILKD6011 Smith, New Zealand SO, Sedares (4/98) (KOCH) 37402-2 Violin Concerto/Tema eon varicrzioni — selected comparison: Heifitz, Dallas SO, Hendl/Heifetz, Piatigorsky, CO (4/89) (RC4) GD87963

This is the third version to have come my way in the last few years of the dashingly eloquent Cello Concerto that MiklOs ROzsa completed in 1968 for Janos Starker, and I can report straight away that it's also the strongest. Not only is Telarc's engineering incomparably more vivid and realistic than that of its predecessors, the actual performance is the most irreproachably stylish and urgently impassioned of the bunch. Lynn Harrell brings all his commanding presence, customary swagger and cast-iron technique to ROzsa's strikingly idiomatic solo writing. Add to the mix a polished and enthusiastic response from the Atlanta Symphony under Yoel Levi's eagleeyed direction, and the results are exhilarating. Written in 1953-54 for Jascha Heifetz, the irresistibly colourful and sublimely lyrical Violin Concerto remains perhaps the most popular of all ROzsa's 'serious' compositions. Of course, Heifetz's inimitable 1956 recording surely enshrines one of the most treasurable specimens of his )aw-dropping virtuosity. None the less, this newcomer possesses many sterling strengths of its own. Robert McDuffle makes a dauntingly accurate, sweet-toned soloist, producing the most radiant sonorities in the ravishing, Kodaly-esque slow movement, while Levi and his Atlanta band once again prove model partners.

Last but not least, McDuffle joins forces with