THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 8, 1995 TAG: 9510060061
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E9 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Album reviews
SOURCE: BY PAUL SAYEGH, SPECIAL TO THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
SEVERAL CURRENT CDs highlight works recently performed by the Virginia Symphony. Tchaikovsky's ``Romeo and Juliet'' is the featured work on a new RCA release by Leonard Slatkin and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, along with the over-recorded 1812 Overture and the wonderful Second Symphony. All the performances are good, especially that of the symphony, one of Tchaikovsky's most inventive and least melodramatic scores.
The Berlioz ``Romeo et Juliette'' excerpts are featured on a budget-priced Naxos release by the San Diego Symphony under Yoav Talmi. This is part of a project to record all of Berlioz's orchestral music; an excellent disc of overtures preceded this release.
There is some solid playing, but the interpretations are a bit cautious. The disc is filled out with ``The Royal Hunt'' and ``Storm'' from ``Les Troyens,'' complete with choral parts. With its budget price, this release is a good introduction to the composer.
Sibelius' Symphony No. 2 receives a slow, epic reading by the London Symphony under Sir Colin Davis (RCA). Davis' rhythmic control is excellent, while the orchestra's playing is able to sustain the slow tempos so that the work does not drag. The offbeat Symphony No. 6, quite different from its companion, is also outstandingly performed.
Among CDs of related interest, Sibelius' Violin Concerto is performed by Russian violinist Boris Belkin on a Denon release which also includes Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1. Belkin emphasizes color and lyricism over fireworks in these appealing performances.
Another noteworthy disc comes from the Philadelphia Orchestra under Mariss Jansons on EMI, featuring music by Shostakovich (Symphony No. 10) and Mussorgsky (``Songs and Dances of Death''). The latter work features English bass Robert Lloyd, who uses his smooth voice to haunting effect in these grim vignettes.
More Russian music comes via a Naxos release from the National Orchestra of Ukraine under Theodore Kuchar. The dissonant Symphony No. 3 is paired with the sprightly and melodic Symphony No. 7, in performances that are expressive but find the orchestra struggling, especially in the earlier work. The sound is too reverberant, but this is still an inexpensive and good way to explore some of Prokofiev's lesser known music.
Finally, EMI has reissued its 1977 recording of Hindemith's 1938 opera ``Mathis der Mahler'' (Mathias the Painter). The opera was given a well-received staging by the New York City Opera last month, with Chesapeake native Robynne Redmon in the cast.
On this release, German baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau sings the lead, and American tenor James King is Cardinal Albrecht.
The opera, about an artist's struggle to express himself in an era that is full of violence and suffering, seems particularly appropriate today.
Rafael Kubelik leads a moving performance of music that is perhaps more familiar as the symphony by the same name, which Hindemith extracted from the larger work. by CNB