Schubert: Symphony No 10; symphonic fragments. Scottish CO / Charles Mackerras. Hyperion. Schubert's Unfinished was by no means the composer's only unfinished symphony. The industrious scholar, Brian Newbould, has prepared completions of the Unfinished and two other full symphonies. It's the later of these, No 10 in D, which is recorded here, along with fragments of two earlier works in the same key.
Charles Mackerras's new performance of No. 10 is leanly sculpted, often orienting the piece with the earlier symphonies rather than the Unfinished or Great C major. The result is a bit straitlaced, but the music is still well worth getting to know. If you want a warmer view in a freer orchestral realisation, keep your eye out for the deleted recording under Pierre Bartholomee on Ricercar. Michael Dervan
Schubert: Piano Duets. Christoph Eschenbach, Justus Frantz. EMI Forte (two mid-price, two-disc sets). The 19th century was the great era of the piano duet . For instance, both Brahms's Hungarian Dances and Dvorak's Slavonic Dances began life as four-handed piano pieces. However, no great composer wrote more for this domestic medium than Schubert, whose output runs to some 600 printed pages, in the most readily available modern edition. In the late 1970s, Christoph Eschenbach and Justus Frantz recorded a five-hour-plus selection, now presented on two, two-disc sets, mostly marches on the first, the great masterpieces (including the Grand Duo and the Fantasy in F minor) on the second. Their affability of manner suits the music well, and their spacious gravitas in Grand Duo is particularly interesting. Michael Dervan
Lesley Garrett: "The Soprano's Greatest Hits" (Silva Records) Whoever dreamed up the title for this easy-listening collection presumably had her tongue firmly in her cheek, since many of the arias were written for mezzo or, in the case of Handel's Lascia ch'io pianga from Rinaldo, castrato voice. They are eminently suited, though, to the voice of Lesley Garrett, which is not big or commanding but is vivacious and charming. Besides the usual lollipops - Mimi, O mio babbino caro, etc., - she includes a lovely Solveig's Song from Grieg's Peer Gynt and the Berceuse from Rimsky-Korsakov's Sadko; in a curious bit of hi-tech showing off, which actually works surprisingly well, she also sings both soprano and mezzo parts in the flower duet from Lakme and the Barcarolle from the Tales of Hoffman. Arminta Wallace
