Beethoven: Symphonyno3 (eroica); Smetana: Barteredbride Overture; Zarzuela Excerpts

Various orchestras/ Ataúlfo Argenta ICA Classics ICAC 5087 ****

The death of Ataúlfo Argenta at the age of 44, in 1958, robbed the world of a major talent. His recording career was already well underway, and he was due to record the Brahms symphonies with the Vienna Philharmonic later that year. The major work here is Beethoven's Eroica, taped in concert with the Orquesta Nacional de España in 1957 in an urgent reading whose vitality surmounts the rather muddy sound of the recording. There's real fizz in Smetana's Bartered Bride Overture, with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. And five short excerpts by the zarzuela composers Ruperto Chapí and Gerónimo Giménez are delightfully done, with a taut snap and irresistible wit. url.ie/e6sy