The latest releases reviewed

RICHARD STRAUSS: DIE FRAU OHNE SCHATTEN Soloists: Peter Seiffert, Luana DeVol, Alan Titus, Janis Martin, Marjana Lipovesk, Jan-Hendrik Rootering. Chor der Bayerischen Staatsoper. Bayerisches Staatorchester. Conductor: Wolfgang Sawallisch TDK *****

Strauss's opera of a fairytale Empress who loses her shadow and is therefore unable to have children is a paean to the sanctity of love and family. The composer has robed the fantastical plot in some of his most ravishing music. While not quite as readily accessible as the score of Der Rosenkavalier, the music is every bit as beautiful and glorious.

This production was prepared for a Japanese tour using Kabuki sets and staging, with wondrous results. The conductor's love of the beautiful, exotic score is evident throughout. The combination of wonderful playing and committed singing with the Kibuki staging makes for a performance to cherish. www.tdk-music.com COLMAN MORRISSEY

U2 PopMart Live from Mexico City Island/Universal ****

Ah, yes, this is the one where the biggest rock band in the world went out to promote an album that was never properly completed, where they were insufficiently rehearsed, and where the world's first (and last) 40-foot tall, self-propelled mirrorball lemon was unleashed to an unsuspecting public. Costing in the region of $250,000 per day, PopMart began as a shaky undertaking; as the tour rolled on, creases weren't so much ironed out as obliterated. While the in-house talking points amounted to little more than whether the lemon's hydraulics would malfunction (yet again), the audiences were treated (yet again) to a sensory overload similar to the Zoo and Achtung Baby tours. Pop (the album) gets a cursory plug through the likes of Mofo, Discotheque, Please and Last Night on Earth, but such is the strength of the back catalogue the audience doesn't have to wait long for a more classic selection. The operational shenanigans of PopMart (and the lack of foresight that went into Pop) meant that any- thing that followed had to be shorn of bombast and shored up with better planning. Cue All That you Can't Leave Behind. www.U2.com TONY CLAYTON-LEA