Classical

The latest CD releases reviewed

BRAHMS: PIANO CONCERTO NO 1: HAYDN VARIATIONS Cédric Tiberghien (piano), BBCSO/ Jiri Belohlavek Harmonia Mundi HMC 901977 ***

At the age of 19, Frenchman Cédric Tiberghien was beaten into second place in the Dublin International Piano Competition by the even younger Davide Franceschetti.

But it's Tiberghien who's had the more successful career, and, by curious coincidence, he plays with the RTÉ NSO this evening, in the same month his first concerto recording appears on CD.

He keeps a cool, reflective head through the storms and stresses of Brahms's First Piano Concerto, with an approach that's controlled, musicianly and suave.

Paradoxically, Tiberghien doesn't bring to this young man's piece the edge or excitement that many an older player has.

The orchestral playing under Belohlavek is somewhat variable and the handling of the Haydn Variations middle-of-the-road. www.uk.hmboutique.com  - MICHAEL DERVAN

ELIZABETH MACONCHY: MUSIC FOR VOICES Richard Pearce (piano), BBC Singers/Odaline de la Martinez Lorelt LNT 127 ***

Elizabeth Maconchy (1907-94) benefited from a kind of cultural dual citizenship, being English in England (where she was born and lived most of her long life) and Irish in Ireland.

Her parents were Irish, she spent part of her teens in Dublin, and she married an Irishman.

This choral survey includes a nicely varied range of music and texts (from anon and Donne to MacNeice and O'Casey) and the pieces always sound well-crafted and respectful of 20th-century choral conventions without actually being fully conventional.

This well-performed selection includes Prayer Before Birth, written for Dublin's Lindsay Singers in 1971; Nocturnal for the Cork International Choral Festival; and Propheta mendax for the Vienna Boys Choir (both 1965). www.lorelt.co.uk - MICHAEL DERVAN

JANE O'LEARY: IN THE STILLNESS OF TIME Garth Knox (viola d'amore), Jane O'Leary (piano), Paul Roe (bass clarinet), Concorde Ensemble, ConTempo Quartet, RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet Capstone Records CPS-8789 *** 

Connecticut-born, Galway-based Jane O'Leary, who turned 60 two years ago, has said of her music: "It's about shapes, sounds and textures, intermingling and creating their own resonant space."

There's often a quasi-improvisational air to the sequence of flurries and eddies through which she energises her work, with something of the natural variability of the wind.

Although O'Leary has been a consistent advocate of the string quartet (there are two included here), it's the pieces for strings and piano which seem to work best, O'Leary with the ConTempo Quartet in the Piano Quintet, and with the agile viola d'amore of Garth Knox in Why the Hill Sings. www.capstonerecords.org - MICHAEL DERVAN

MUSICA MEXICANA Various Orchestras/Enrique Bátiz Brilliant Classics 8771 (8 CDs) ***

Not a lot of Mexican music features in orchestral concerts, but what does get played usually goes down well with audiences.

You'll find those favourites by Silvestre Revueltas (the pounding Sensemayá) and José Pablo Moncayo (the foot-tapping Huapango) in this sizeable but modestly priced collection.

Carlos Chávez, the great mover and shaker of music in 20th-century Mexico, and Manuel Ponce (said not to have earned a penny from his most famous work, the song Estrellita) feature strongly and, unless you're already a dedicated fan of Mexican music, you'll find lots to surprise you here.

The recordings of this mostly extrovert music are vivid, and the music-making (with the great violinist Henryk Szeryng among the soloists) is full of enthusiasm. www.dreamlines.ie - MICHAEL DERVAN