CLASSICAL

Michael Dervanreviews the latest releases

BEETHOVEN: SYMPHONIES 1-9

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra/ Claudio Abbado ****

Deutsche Grammophon 477 5864 (5 CDs)

Didn't Claudio Abbado already record the complete Beethoven symphonies live with the Berlin Philharmonic? And for Deutsche Grammophon as well? Yes. But these are different recordings (with the exception of the Ninth), made in Rome in 2001; the earlier set was recorded in Berlin 1999 and 2000. Abbado argues that the music- making actually got better over the years, and it's hard to disagree. The later recordings, made at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (and already available on DVD), have the edge in terms of musical and sonic focus. The touch seems lighter, the rhythms better sprung, the energy more minutely responsive to the demands of the moment. www.tinyurl.com/5b9s4r

THE NORDHEIM TAPES

electronic ***

Aurora ACD 5051 (2 CDs)

This set offers a kind of pre-history of the electronic music of Norwegian composer Arne Nordheim. A pioneer in the field in Scandinavia, Nordheim worked at studios in Warsaw in the 1960s, but before that he had provided background music for radio theatre pieces, some using instruments, some mixing instruments and electronics, and some purely electronic.

The tapes, which have a kind of workshop lucidity, have lain in Norwegian radio archives labelled "sound effects" for more than 40 years, and even the composer was not aware that they had survived. They now provide an intensely nostalgic journey for anyone interested in the early days of electronic composition.

Along with the original pieces, Aurora's two-disc set includes four collages created from Nordheim's material by composer Risto Holopainen. www.aurorarecords.no

DAVID OISTRAKH: THE COMPLETE EMI RECORDINGS

David Oistrakh (violin) ****

EMI Classics 214 7122 (17 CDs)

To mark the centenary of the birth of the great Ukrainian violinist David Oistrakh, EMI has issued a special-priced set of all the recordings this gentle bear of a musician made for the label.

Oistrakh's association with EMI extended from 1953 to 1972, and included repertoire by living composers he knew and worked with (Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Khachaturian); a set of the Mozart concertos which he directed from the violin; chamber music (trios, sonatas and the Schubert Octet); and collaborations with his violin playing son, Igor.

Some works appear in multiple versions (Beethoven's solo and triple concertos, Brahms's solo and double concertos, Mozart's Third Concerto), while the rarities include Szymanowski's D minor Violin Sonata and Taneyev's Suite de concert.

It's a snip at the price. www.emiclassics.com

CONCERTOS AND ENCORES

David Oistrakh (violin) ***

Deutsche Grammophon 477 7479 (3 CDs)

Two composer associations missing from EMI's David Oistrakh set are to be found in a three-disc set from Deutsche Grammophon, mostly sourced from Russian recordings of the late 1940s and eary 1950s.

There's the late romanticism of Glazunov, whose Violin Concerto Oistrakh played under the composer as a teenager in 1927, and the busily folksy Concerto in C by Kabalevsky, with the composer himself conducting.

The recorded sound is not always of the best, but the violin playing is, especially in Mendelssohn, where Oistrakh simply beams with youthful vigour.

There's a single stereo recording included, of Bruch's G minor Concerto, with the great man choosing in 1961 to cast his violin aside to conductor for his son Igor. www.tinyurl.com/5b9s4r