In the French Tradition
Russell: St. Lawrence Sketches
James: Méditation à Saint Clotilde
Tournemire (ed. Duruflé): Cing Improvisations
Vierne: Méditation
Wilma Jensen, organ.
Pro Organo CD 7186
Format: CD

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This disc contains a delightful, entertaining collection of music for organ that is seldom heard or recorded. The St. Lawrence Sketches by Alexander Russell (1880-1953) is an especially good find, a secular work that is constructed of four romantic tone poems: "The Citadel at Quebec," "The Bells of St. Anne de Beaupré," "Song of the Basket-Weaver" and "Up the Saguenay." Wilma Jensen provides a colorful virtuoso performance of this impressive piece, as well as the other imposing pieces on the disc. She plays a magnificent, reedy Casavant Frères organ at St. Georges Episcopal Church, Nashville, where she oversaw its design and installation. The recording is exemplary. Every sound is heard with absolute clarity, from rumbling 32’ pedal notes to dulcet 4’ flutes. The chimes in the Russell work are especially convincing. Whether you are an organ aficionado or just looking for a dynamite disc to show off some new speakers, this CD will fill the bill….Rad Bennett

Beethoven: Christ on the Mount of Olives
Luba Orgonasova, Placido Domingo, Andreas Schmidt; Rundfunkchor Berlin; Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin; Kent Nagano, conductor.
Harmonia Mundi 801802
Format: Hybrid Multichannel SACD

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This was Beethoven’s only oratorio composition. It was written around the time of the Eroica Symphony and Fidelio. Though the work contains excellent music, it is seldom performed or recorded. The final chorus is often given by church choirs and amateur choral societies, but the rest of the work involves some fiendishly written solo work that apparently puts many performers off. The superb soloists here all handle their assignments with seeming ease, and Kent Nagano leads an exciting and dramatic performance that makes one reassess the composition. The choral singing and orchestral playing are unusually attentive to detail, and the recorded sound is just right. The orchestra sounds spread to the outside edges of the front speakers with the chorus behind and the soloists near the front of the orchestra. The surrounds give just the correct amount of ambience for a realistic presentation. For my money, this is the best recording of this piece ever. Considering the results, it is good news to read in the notes that "This recording launches a new collaboration between Kent Nagano and Harmonia Mundi."…Rad Bennett

Norah Jones: Feels Like Home
Blue Note 84800
Format: CD

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Winner of five Grammy awards for her first album, young Norah Jones now has a second disc, and frankly, I like it a lot better than the first one. In that program, she seemed uncomfortable, trying to be a jazz singer, but not really being a jazz singer. This one finds her singing simple, straight-out blues, gospel, and country-tinged acoustic music, and the results are sweet and successful. No histrionics, or trying too hard, Jones and her tight performing band just sing and play to the best of everyone’s ability, which is considerable. The recorded sound is close and clean, with gentle presence and definition. It is one of the better-sounding CDs I have heard in a long time. One just knows this would be an SACD for all time, but when I contacted Blue Note, there were no current plans to release it in that format….Rad Bennett

Soundtrack: Hellboy
Varese Sarabande 066562
Format: CD

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A student of cinema maestro Jerry Goldsmith, Marco Beltrami made his mark scoring Wes Craven’s Scream films. The young composer’s knack for creating bold, yet diverse, scores on a budget has made him a staple for the horror-film genre. Hellboy marks Beltrami’s third collaboration with writer/director Guillermo del Toro. Rather than rely on the synthesizers he used in Blade II, Beltrami uses a full orchestra. "Main Title," or the Hellboy theme, gives weight and scale to the myth and character of Hellboy through a catchy arrangement of gyrating bass and Wagnerian strings. This soundtrack is not a collection of jump and scare cues. There is subtlety and beauty in cuts like "Father’s Funeral" and "Hellboy and Liz." The recording, like the majority of Hollywood soundtracks, compresses dynamics to a point where the orchestra’s texture and color are a bit bland. This does not detract from what is ultimately a very enjoyable soundtrack from a composer who may be the next Goldsmith….Anthony Di Marco

Seal: Seal IV
Warner Brothers 47947
Format: DVD-A

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I would be willing to give Seal’s latest effort a 5.0 if "Love’s Divine" was the only song on its play list. With swelling melodies giving flight to Seal’s desperate and catchy vocal inflections, it is one of the best pop songs I have heard this year. Unfortunately, the balance of this beautifully produced, wonderfully spacious, multichannel recording is average in terms of creativity. The grooving "Get It Together" starts things out on the right foot, and "Love’s Divine" follows, for an effective one-two punch. Then the arrangements get less interesting beginning with track three. Only the tight, funky bass and percussion of "Let Me Roll" stand out. "Loneliest Star," "Heavenly" and "Tinsel Town" are neither as involving nor as heartfelt as "Love’s Divine," still they have enough good ideas to be solid songs. Three video clips are included as a bonus….Anthony Di Marco

The Rolling Stones: The Singles, 1963-1965
ABKCO Records 711219
Format: CD

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If the Rolling Stones' The Singles, 1963-1965 is any indicator of music-buying habits, the collecting bug is alive and well among classic-rock fans. This set attempts to replicate the earliest Stones singles and EPs on a dozen CDs, down to the vinyl look of the discs and the printing of the sleeves. There is no doubt as to the great care with which this set was put together, including the remastering, which was done by Bob Ludwig, who did the same for the Stones hybrid SACDs. The choice of material shows care as well: early Stones hits ("It's All Over Now," "Time is on My Side," "I Just Want to Make Love to You") along with rarities (The Rolling Stones, Five by Five, and Got Live If You Want It EPs) that make their CD debuts. It is true that the 33 tracks could have fit onto two CDs (making play from beginning to end easier) and probably cost half as much, but the overall quality and completeness of this boxed set make it worthy of consideration, including an original essay by Stones-ologist Nigel Williamson in the liner notes. The sound is crisp and lacks warmth, but it is good overall given the source materials. If your interest is idling over this set, get ready for it to rev high when The Singles, 1965-1967 and The Singles, 1968-1971 appear later this year....Marc Mickelson

Big Brother and the Holding Company, with Janis Joplin: Nine Hundred Nights
Eagle Vision 30047
Format: DVD-Video

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With DVD material on Big Brother and the Holding Company being so scarce, this new documentary is very welcome. It was never your normal San Francisco hippie band. Big Brother and the Holding Company was composed of a bunch of wild, drunken people making feral music. By June 1966, someone decided Big Brother should hire a chick singer so they could compete with the Jefferson Airplane. The choice, of course, was Janis Joplin. The transition to having Janis at front was difficult for all of them. The band already had a fan base, and it should tell you a lot that when they added Janis, the word on the street was they had sold out and gone soft. The pressure on the band and on Janis was enough that the collaboration lasted only about 18 months. Less than two years after they split, Janis was dead. Nine Hundred Nights is the story of the whole band, not just your normal Joplin bio. The quality of the video ranges from clear to muddy, but given the provenance of the older material, that could hardly be helped. Ditto for the sound, which ranges all over the place. The DTS track and the Dolby Digital sound very similar. For fans of the Big Brother and the Holding Company, this is an absolute must....Wes Marshall