Classical/Opera

The Unknown Richard Strauss 3 (Koch Schwann)

Think of the exploits of the young Richard Strauss, and you'll probably turn to his tone poems. The third volume of Koch Schwann's Unknown Strauss series portrays, not the well-known programmatic composer of Don Juan and Also sprach Zarathustra, but a teenager flexing his muscles writing abstract symphonies. Among littleknown tyro-symphonists, Strauss is no match for the Mendelssohn of the string symphonies or the SaintSaens of the unnumbered symphonies. His efforts at the age of 16 and 19 served to bring home to him the fact that certain musical procedures were simply not for him. Karl Anton Rickenbacker and radio orchestras from Berlin and Munich give sturdy readings of pieces that ultimately confirm the wisdom of the composer's own conclusions.

By Michael Dervan

Michael Chance: The Art of Countertenor (Archiv)

Pop music embraced men with high voices years ago (remember Little Richard? Michael Jackson? Jimmy Somerville?), and now that the classical world is catching up at last, countertenors seem to be popping up all over the place. If you're curious about the species, don't buy this until you've heard the recent recital albums from David Daniels and Andreas Scholl, or you'll wonder what all the fuss is about, for the superb technical skills and interpretative abilities of those two divos make Chance, though undeniably tasteful, sound somewhat limp and languid by comparison. But if you've already got those and want more, this 2-CD set is good value at £15.99 - and the Vivaldi cantatas which make up the second CD are unusual and particularly charming.

By Arminta Wallace