Jay Greenberg: Symphony No.5; String Quintet
London Symphony Orchestra; José Serebrier conductor; Juilliard Quartet with Darrett Adkins, cello.
Sony Classical 82876-81804-2
Format: Hybrid Multichannel SACD

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The composer Jay Greenberg, not yet 15, has been showcased on 60 Minutes and in The New York Times. He has been a student at Juilliard since age ten, completed his fifth large-scale symphony more than a year ago, and orchestrates with a sure hand and a good deal of imagination. Both works here are music of substance and very much worth hearing, irrespective of the composer’s age. If they sound derivative to a certain degree, that takes nothing away from their remarkable substance or their still more remarkable originality. José Serebrier, himself a recognized composer when he was in his teens, draws playing of real conviction from the LSO. The Juilliard Quartet and the added cellist perform the Quintet (composed at age 12) with similar commitment, and Sony has come through with first-rate sonics for both works….Richard Freed

Highlights from Russian Operas
Music of Glinka, Dargomizhski, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, and Borodin.
Soloists, Chorus, and Orchestra of the Bolshoi Theater Moscow; Alexander Vedernikov, conductor.
PentaTone 5186 089
Format: CD

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Overall Enjoyment

This recording, a coproduction of the Bolshoi Theater and PentaTone Music, features idiomatic performances of arias and scenes from operas well-known in Russia, though the only ones likely to be household names in the US are Borodin’s Prince Igor and Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades. The male soloists do better in the unfamiliar arias than does the lone woman, Elena Zelenskaya, the rapidity of whose vibrato borders on fluttering. The Russians have been better known for their baritones and basses, and Vladimir Matorin, Alexander Naumenko, and Yuri Nechaev contribute greatly to that tradition, and Vsevolod Grivnov scores points with his solid, expressive, lyric tenor. The last piece on the disc is a knockout, a no-holds-barred, no-prisoners-taken version of the famous Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor. Conductor Alexander Vedernikov’s tempos are faster than any others I have heard in these dances, but because his players are first-class, this creates excitement, not chaos. The swirling woodwind solos are breathtaking. Unfortunately, too often the engineers let the chorus overpower the orchestra, so some of the detail is lost. In the other selections, the balances of soloist and orchestra are fine. The rear channels provide enough reverb to presumably give one a sense of the Bolshoi acoustic. Whatever you think of the rest of the music, this disc is required listening to hear the amazing, dynamic Polovtsian Dances….Rad Bennett

Theatre of Voices, Fretwork: The Cries of London
Paul Hillier, conductor.
Harmonia Mundi HMU 807214
Format: Hybrid Multichannel SACD

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Long before MSN, the Internet, radio, and television, news was shouted out by town criers. Long before 20-, 30-, and 60-second TV commercials, street vendors and tradesmen hawked their wares by shouting or singing out their hype. These "cries" were such constant parts of everyday town and city life in the early 1600s that well-known composers often incorporated them into pieces of concert music. This engaging SACD presents many of them -- works by Orlando Gibbons, William Cobbold, Thomas Weelkes, and Richard Dering -- along with several fantasias for viols interspersed for the sake of variety. The fantasias are played with charm and finesse by the six musicians of Fretwork, and the cries themselves are sung by the five-member Theatre of Voices, who bring to life the various vendors and hucksters of 17th-century London, who often act out as well as sing their parts. Theatre of Voices gets an a cappella spot of their own in the charming "echo" pastorals of Michael East. The two-channel CD sound is excellent, but the five-channel SACD mix puts the merchants all around the listener to provide some charming echo effects in the East pieces….Rad Bennett 

Morning 40 Federation: Ticonderoga
M80
Format: CD

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It’s Sunday; for the present purposes, call it morning. You pry open a crusted eyelid and begin to assess your current situation. Last night’s debauch is a bit of a blur, but three hours of stone-cold slumber have got you feeling dangerously close to sober. Coffee? No, it’s time to get your 40oz on. This lifestyle is not for the faint of liver. In short, welcome to the Morning 40 Federation. While this group has evolved into a quasi-reputable six-piece band, they began in 1997 as a posse of drinking buddies who, on a dare, began performing in front of audiences. Hailing from the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, they stuck with the act and have since successfully taught themselves how to play, and their fans how to keep up (chug!). The 40’s style is a cocktail of swanky punk guitar, whorehouse horns, and Mardi Gras parade percussion. Judging from the song titles ("Gin Instead of Whiskey," "White Powder," "Corkscrew"), you’d think these guys might have a slight problem or two, but they don’t let mixing heavy narcotics and obscene quantities of liquor stand in the way of making a fine album. In fact, it’s the songs about controlled substances that hold the most substance. Check these guys out and hear for yourself. The edgy two-channel sound will make you think a brass band is parading through your living room. Just be thankful, when the CD ends, that this rowdy Krewe aren’t your latest houseguests….Shannon Holliday

Tarzan: The Broadway Musical
Walt Disney 61541-7
Format: CD

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It’s hard to believe that Phil Collins was once part of a progressive rock band. I was never a fan of Genesis, especially after Peter Gabriel left, but at least, for a while, its music retained some edge. Increasingly, however, Collins began moving the band toward the middle of the road, where his solo career was already on cruise control. When, in 1999, Collins contributed five songs to the soundtrack of Disney’s animated version of Tarzan, he officially joined the growing list of aristocratic rock stars who have found a way to pick up a few bucks so they can pay the guys who clean their pools. When Disney asked Collins to write the music for a Broadway musical based on Tarzan, he added nine more songs to the tunes he’d written for the film. "Two Worlds," "You’ll Be In My Heart," and "Son of Man" benefit from the strong Broadway singing styles of Josh Strickland, Jenn Gambatese, and others, but most of Collins’ songs are so generic they fall apart in your ears. One, "Who Better Than Me," sounds like an outtake from Disney TV’s High School Musical. That was a huge hit, so who knows? Maybe Tarzan: The Broadway Musical will be, too….Joseph Taylor