Contents

R. Strauss Metamorphosen, AVI42. Smithson- ian Chamber Players! Kenneth Slowik. Deutsche Harmonia Mundi ® ® 05472 77343-2 (69 minutes: DDD). Also includes music examples.

Scriabin Le poème de l'extase, 0p 54d acdNew York Philharmonic Orchestra, bBBC Symphony Orchestra / Pierre Boulez.

There is much to admire here, not least the characteristically tough sonority of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra: resilient string choirs, lean (though occasionally rather nasal) winds, strident brass and vivid percussion. DG's recording keeps more or less every detail well within earshot,...

Tchaikovsky was as much a part of Stravinsky's creative consciousness as Mozart was of Tchaikovsky's. All three composers meet in Le baiser de lafCe ("The Fairy's Kiss"; 1928), where Tchaikovsky is at his most overtly Mozartian and Stravinsky at his most elegantly balletic. The score is based...

You might think it vaguely disturbing to have the chrysalis-stage left out entirely, the butterfly appearing fully formed. Certainly, if you were to hear this disc of Beethoven piano concertos on test pressings with no identifying marks whatsoever you would probably be wondering who, among the...