Sydney Symphony's sudden burst of recording activity under new principal conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy began with a five-disc boxed set of Rachmaninov orchestral works last year. Now, under the same Japanese label, Exton, come three discs of Elgar recorded live and in session during its 2008 Elgar Festival. The less happy news is that just four works are presented: the two symphonies, Enigma Variations and, oddly, one of his minor orchestral pieces, This is in the South (Alassio), a vigorous but undistinguished concert overture indebted to Richard Strauss. So sadly there's no introduction and allegro for strings or the wonderful symphonic study Falstaff. For what one gets, however, these are absolutely superb recordings. Ashkenazy takes a distinctive approach with the composer, one that's elegantly restrained and dreamily poetic. The Enigma Variations are wistful rather than heroic. The famous Nimrod variation emerges slowly as if from the mist and, although not as climactic as other performances, it radiates great beauty. Ashkenazy shows equal delicacy in the symphonies. Symphony No 1 begins slowly but gains a majestic grandeur that emphasises the romantic rather than the stentorian. There's a wonderful roaming, free quality in the way ideas ebb and flow. He gives Symphony No 2 an exalted tone that suits its more stiffly upholstered but honest character. The slow movement is sublime. Throughout, the Sydney Symphony plays with exceptional refinement.
Graham Strahle

Despite his English-sounding name, George Onslow (1784-1853) was a French composer whose music is in the Austro-German tradition and a contemporary of Weber (though he lived longer). The three quartets here (from Onslow's total of 36) seem closest to Mendelssohn in their combination of classical form and the sense of awe that informed the new romantic spirit.

The quartet in E flat major, Opus 54, opens with a reflective passage that, like Mendelssohn's Second Quartet, seems to be a response to hearing Beethoven's epoch-making late quartets. The slow movement of the D minor quartet, Opus 55, is interrupted by a portentous section of tremolos evoking the dramatic romanticism of Weber, while the C minor quartet, Opus 56, has a surging first movement and a fine slow movement.

The Quatuor Diotima captures the style with vigour, though the intonation is not at the top rank of quartet playing.
Peter McCallum

During Chopin's life, the piano evolved into a stronger, more powerful instrument to fill out the bigger halls that were needed for the larger audiences that flocked to hear the great virtuosi of the day. Some argue this was at the expense of some of the distinctive timbres and this recording uses an excellently restored 1836 Pleyel piano, which was Chopin's preferred instrument.

Planes has reconstructed a program based on a concert in which Chopin participated (along with others) in 1842 and the instrument used gives some indication of the colours open to the composer, which are more delicate and within a narrower range than those of a modern instrument, and the singing style of the upper melody in the nocturnes has light sweetness.

I found the colour of the baritone range somewhat disappointing so that, for example, the inner voices in the Study in A flat, Opus 25, Number 1, lacked mellowness, and Planes' speeds in works like the Ballade, Opus 47 were somewhat laboured.
Peter McCallum

The Seven Last Words (or to be more accurate the seven last utterances) of Christ have long fascinated composers, starting with Heinrich Schutz in 1645, then of course Haydn‚s most famous setting in 1787, Cesar Franck‚s in 1859 and then in our time Sofia Gubaidulina‚s Seven Words in 1982 and James MacMillan‚s setting here in 1993. These seven sentences are immensely powerful statements with enormous dramatic potential.

MacMillan‚s setting is the most successful of all the above, and is rightly considered his masterpiece. His musical language straddles the modernist world and the holy minimalist world of Tavener and Pärt, but is drawn from the Celtic tradition rather than their Orthodox world. One striking feature of MacMillan‚s writing is his torn-off statements that hang in the air during unusually long silences, which he uses so effectively in both the second movement ŒWoman, behold thy Son‚ and the opening of the last movement, ŒFather, into thy hands I commend my Spirit‚. This is music that is truly heartbreaking. Most performances of it plunge the audience into floods of tears and if MacMillan had only written this work, his position in the lineage of English music would be assured (although he would remind people that indeed he was Scottish).

The Dmitri Ensemble under Graham Ross are simply magnificent, the singing and playing are utterly committed and cannot be more highly praised. This is a masterwork of our time perfectly captured by a profound performance.
Chris Latham

Since returning to Australia in 2000, after 15 years as a violist in the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Brett Dean has become one of the country‚s most influential musicians, whether as a performer, composer or artistic director of the Australian National Academy of Music. Recorded in Sweden in 2006 and 2007, this CD showcases works for chamber orchestra written during a 10-year period.

Dean‚s music is strongly atmospheric and texturally imaginative, his considerable technique never on display for its own sake but always subjugated to serve his musical intentions. Throughout this recording we witness Dean‚s unerring ear for finely judged, attention-grabbing sonorities and nowhere is this more apparent than in Water Music, a kind of concerto for saxophone quartet and chamber orchestra. The movement titles say it all: Bubbling, Coursing, Parched Earth, these attributes of water, or indeed its absence, caught vividly by Dean. The earliest work here is Carlo (1997), a homage to composer Carlo Gesualdo, who murdered his wife and her lover in 1590. Dean‚s compelling score has a haunting restlessness and, at times, a sense of deranged anguish as he quotes, distorts and transforms snippets of Gesualdo‚s madrigals. Pastoral Symphony and The Siduri Dances are virtuosic works, complex and energetic, and receive exciting performances here by solo flautist Sharon Bezaly.