Max Steiner: The Adventures of Mark Twain
William Stromberg, Moscow Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.
Naxos 5.110087
Format: DVD-Audio

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Though Frederic March did his best, the 1944 biopic of the famous author was not very successful. Thanks to the interference of Samuel Clemens’ (aka Mark Twain) daughter, then still living, it failed to show the darker side of his complex character, and stretched the truth in favor of folk-legend impressions. Max Steiner’s score, however, has survived as one of his best. Though born in Vienna, Steiner had picked up a real feeling for the music of his new home, and this score’s tunes and motifs ring with Americana. The writing is colorful -- the big orchestra is augmented with many "folk" instruments, such as banjo, guitar, and Hawaiian steel guitar, and with a full chorus for the finale. The "Frogs" cue is particularly fun, with its use of the contrabassoon in a solo role. William Stromberg and the Moscow Symphony have become synonymous with the spirited, authentic performance of classic film scores, and they do not disappoint here. The multichannel sound is rich and robust, with excellent presence. The recording is also available on hybrid multichannel SACD….Rad Bennett

Claire Martin: Secret Love
Linn AKD 246
Format: Hybrid Multichannel SACD

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My introduction to Claire Martin was her Too Darn Hot! SACD, reviewed very positively here some months ago. Hearing Secret Love causes me to pronounce her one of the two or three finest jazz vocalists working today. Martin’s sultry, smoky voice goes where she wants and does what she asks it to do. She chooses her songs with impeccable taste, creating an exciting, engaging blend of new and classic tunes. And she has some of the best backup musicians in the world. She knows how to get inside a lyric, then present it simply with unmistakable meaning. Here she swings through such upbeat songs as "Get Happy" and "Jive" while fully emoting the heaviest blues songs, weepers such as "The Meaning of the Blues" and "God Give Me the Strength." And, accompanied by Sir Richard Rodney Bennett at the piano, she closes the album with the most intimate version of "Something Cool" that I’ve heard since June Christy’s. The sound is warm and intimate, curiously constrained to the center channel a bit too often, but not nearly as rooted there as was Too Darned Hot!…Rad Bennett

Leonard Bernstein: Mass
Jerry Hadley, tenor; Pacific Mozart Ensemble, Rundfunkerchor Berlin, Staats- und Domchor Berlin, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester; Ken Nagano, conductor.
Harmonia Mundi 801840.41
Format: Hybrid Multichannel SACD

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I attended the premiere of this work, held in 1971 during the opening week of the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC -- I still remember the sense of awe, longing, and beauty I felt on leaving the Center’s Opera House. Bernstein’s work, listed as a "theater piece," blends with great skill the venues of cathedral and Broadway theater. The text of the Roman mass is broken up with additional lyrics by Stephen Schwarz and Bernstein, and the music ranges from reverential chorales to bawdy, jazz-inspired dance music. Critics in 1971 were polarized. Some hated the work; others, such as myself, proclaimed it a masterpiece. I’m happy to see that the latter opinion has won out, so much so that we are now offered this magnificent new recording. The forces seem ideal. Tenor Jerry Hadley is just right as the celebrant, projecting the texts with clarity and understanding. His "mad scene" at the end of the work is riveting. The choruses and orchestra are first-rate, and Kent Nagano conducts with enthusiasm and finesse. He obviously has great affection for the work, and it shows in a reading worthy of Bernstein’s own. The Mass opens with a quadraphonic tape of four solo performers singing from the four corners of the auditorium -- a natural for multichannel recording. Once that section is over, the sound is up-front, rich, and detailed, with excellent dynamic and frequency ranges….Rad Bennett

Seal: Best: 1991-2004
Warner Bros. 48776
Format: CD

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Seal’s music mixes equal parts simmering passion and excellent production values. Each album’s beautifully layered recordings are the work of producer, ex-"Video Killed the Radio Star" Buggle, Trevor Horn. A self-proclaimed perfectionist, Horn raises Seal’s introspective, highly theatrical approach from the level of cheap bubblegum to that of delectable, long-lasting treat. Strings, synthesizers, and Seal’s tender crooning join in grand harmonies mixed with desperately flowing melodies. Seal’s lyrics are not mere clichés, but genuine observations about how we all inhabit life and how life tests us. "Crazy" was only the start; this compilation does a great job of highlighting Seal’s considerable yet accessible gravitas. Give a listen to "Prayer for the Dying," "Love’s Divine," and "Human Beings"; you’ll experience some of the most emotionally satisfying pop to come out of the last decade….Anthony Di Marco

Dolly Parton: Live and Well
Sugar Hill 3998
Format: DVD-Video

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Overall Enjoyment

No matter how much you think you know about music, there will always come a day that you’ll realize how completely clueless you were about a specific genre. My humbling experience came when I was asked to review Dolly Parton’s Live and Well. I balked, citing my disdain for anything having to do with country music. "Never liked it, never will," I said. Boy, was I wrong. Live and Well bears zero resemblance to the saccharine, overwrought stuff I’ve heard the likes of Garth Brooks belt out, and Parton has more talent and charisma than her period of bad film roles and commercialized tunes had led me to believe. This woman is a bona-fide talent in possession of a voice both sweet and controlled. Songs such as "Little Sparrow," "My Tennessee Mountain Home," and "We Irish" are driven by a collection of consummate musicians and some truly lovely lyrics, all of them written by Parton. The production is equally impressive. The video quality is sharp and nicely saturated, and the DTS and Dolby Digital mixes are lively and clean. The concert is also available on a great-sounding two-CD set [Sugar Hill CD-3998]….Anthony Di Marco