THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Sunday, January 15, 1995               TAG: 9501140034
SECTION: DAILY BREAK              PAGE: E10  EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Album review
                                             LENGTH: Medium:   52 lines

VIRTUOSO LUTE MUSIC FROM 16TH CENTURY

``Dolcissima et Amorosa: Early Italian Renaissance Lute Music,'' Paul O'Dette (Harmonia Mundi) - With more then 50 recordings to his credit, virtuoso lutenist Paul O'Dette is completely at home in his repertoire. This disc explores early Italian Renaissance compositions and transcriptions by Francesco da Milano, Pietro Paolo Barrono, Marco da L'Aquila and Alberto da Ripa.

Sixteenth-century lute music was closely linked with vocal literature, as lutenists both accompanied solo singers and performed instrumental versions of vocal works. O'Dette highlights the subtle interplay of lines in Jannequin's ``La battaglia'' and ``Nous bergiers'' and Gentian's ``L'Eccho.''

``Sixteenth century listeners considered loud sounds vulgar and unrefined,'' O'Dette writes in the liner notes. This is gentle music, and his restrained playing demonstrates that the small, vulnerable sounds of his instrument do not hinder musicality. He handles chords, scales and contrapuntal textures with equal aplomb, notably in Milano's ``Fantasia dolcissima et amorosa,'' a newly rediscovered work recorded here for the first time.

- Terry Joy

Prokofiev, Violin Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 (Denon) - Boris Belkin offers well-played, solid accounts of these concertos. The scherzo of No. 1 is especially engaging in its sense of momentum and fantasy. Conductor Michael Stern (a former Virginia Symphony guest conductor) and the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra provide colorful accompaniment.

- Paul Sayegh

Tchaikovsky, Serenade for Strings and ``Children's Album'' (RCA) - Vladimir Spivakov and the Moscow Virtuosi, an excellent chamber orchestra, are elegant in the lovely string serenade, which includes the famous Waltz. The charming Children's Album, originally for piano solo, is heard in an orchestration by Spivakov and Vladimir Milman.

- Paul Sayegh

Stravinsky, ``The Firebird'' and Symphonies of Wind Instruments (Virgin Classics) - American conductor Kent Nagano and the London Symphony Orchestra take a cool, analytical approach to Stravinsky's lush ballet. This view emphasizes the connection to the composer's subsequent, more radical works, but the performance is too pale to succeed. The coupling with the neo-classic Symphonies of Wind Instruments helps make the link even clearer.

- Paul Sayegh MEMO: To hear excerpts from these recordings, call Infoline at 640-5555 and

punch category 6275. by CNB