Stravinsky: Le Sacre du Printemps
Bartók: The Miraculous Mandarin
Mussorgksy: Night on Bald Mountain
Esa-Pekka Salonen, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.
Deutsche Grammophon 477 617 8
Format: Hybrid Multichannel SACD

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This was the first recording to be made in the new Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. That might be the big news for some, but for me it’s the incredibly alert, alive, and adrenaline-pumping performances that take the day. Esa-Pekka Salonen has led the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra for some time now, and has completely bonded with his musicians. There are no gaps or seams. The LAPO sounds like a single instrument with an exceptional range of timbres, played by a single virtuoso musician. Le Sacre du Printemps is exceptional. Without neglecting any of its savage nature or jagged rhythms, Salonen uses carefully placed accents to remind the listener that this popular showpiece was written to be danced to. Salonen makes such a good case for Mussorgsky’s wild, woolly, and dissonant original version of Night on Bald Mountain that it will now be difficult for me to enjoy the better-known and somewhat sanitized arrangement by Rimsky-Korsakov. The recording is big and bold, with amazing percussion sounds, including bass-drum thwacks that rattle the ashtrays. It’s also very transparent -- each delicate woodwind solo comes through with ease. In the multichannel mix, the rear channels provide just the right reflected sounds. The only miscalculation is the overly loud pipe organ in Bartók’s The Miraculous Mandarin….Rad Bennett

Malcolm Arnold: The Complete Brass Chamber Music
Fine Arts Brass: Simon Lenton, Angela Whelan, trumpet; Tim Thorpe, horn; Katy Pryce, trombone; Sam Elliott, tuba.
Nimbus NI 5804
Format: CD

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Sir Malcolm Arnold died in September, just weeks before his 85th birthday. When he was younger, Arnold studied the trumpet, and eventually played in the London Philharmonic Orchestra. It’s not surprising, then, to find the brass scoring in his larger compositions to be brilliant and showy, or that he wrote a number of chamber works for brass, here collected for the first time on an exhilarating CD. Louis Armstrong was an early influence on Arnold, and Fanfare for Louis was written to honor the jazz great. Jazz figures prominently in Arnold’s music; references both sly and obvious can be heard in the Brass Quintets 1 and 2 and the three Little Suites. Arnold also wrote a solo fantasy for every instrument of the orchestra; those for brass are included here. Last but not least is the grim and unrelenting Symphony for Brass, Op.123, composed in 1978 as the composer made a comeback from a complete breakdown. The Fine Arts Brass had a long working association with Arnold, and their brilliant performances must be considered definitive. The recording’s midhall perspective is very good for the mellower instruments and conveys the bite of the upper brass crisply, without harshness. The stereo spread is wide and the soundstage deep….Rad Bennett

Nanci Griffith: Ruby’s Torch
Rounder 11661-3265-2
Format: CD

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In Ruby’s Torch, singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith ventures away from her traditional roots in folk and country and toward the realm of cabaret. This diverse set includes reworkings of her own "Brave Companion of the Road" and "Late Night Grand Hotel" as well as numerous ballads written by others, and the result is an ambitious album of performances of tunes not usually considered torch songs, but which Griffith is admirably able to sing. In a nod to gravel-voiced piano man Tom Waits, Griffith adapts three of his songs with a masterful ear and deft understanding of their suitability for such a setting; one of them, "Ruby’s Arms," is the inspiration for the album’s title. The remaining covers include country, blues, and Irish ballads, each infused with Griffith’s evocative idea that they could have originated in a smoky saloon after closing time -- the "Wee Small Hours of the Morning," as Sinatra sang in the only genuine torch song included here. In Ruby’s Torch, Griffith has made an album she’s always dreamed of making, and one that she’s entirely capable of proudly presenting….Shannon Holliday

The Brubeck Brothers Quartet: Intuition
Chris Brubeck, trombone, bass; Mike DeMicco, guitar; Taylor Eigsti, piano; Dan Brubeck, drums.
Koch International Classics KIC-CD-7689
Format: CD

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Dan, Chris, and Darius Brubeck have been playing jazz for more than 30 years. They began performing in the 1970s with their very popular father, pianist Dave Brubeck, and even then were solid, well-trained musicians. Darius lives and teaches in South Africa and records infrequently, but Chris and Dan have continued to tour and record extensively over the years and have developed into two of jazz’s most distinctive instrumentalists. Intuition is the second disc by the Brubeck Brothers Quartet, which is co-led by Chris and Dan and includes the formidable guitarist Mike DeMicco and the equally impressive young pianist Taylor Eigsti. All four excel as soloists, and while they frequently throw sparks, they never lose sight of melody or descend into mere pyrotechnics. Dan Brubeck is a remarkably subtle drummer who shares his father’s ease with the occasional odd time signature. Bassist-trombonist Chris Brubeck wrote seven of the nine tunes, DeMicco the remaining two, and they’re all delightfully swinging and joyous. The recording is energetic and immediate, the instruments arrayed precisely across the soundstage. It’s been five years since the Brubeck Brothers Quartet released its first disc, Second Nature, and that’s been far too long….Joseph Taylor

Sean Noonan Brewed by Noon: Stories to Tell
Songlines 1563
Format: CD

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In the genres of jazz and world music, Sean Noonan’s Brewed by Noon lineup is an all-star affair: In addition to the six other musicians who adeptly round out the roster, Noonan recruited guitarist Marc Ribot, violist Mat Maneri, and singers Abdoulaye Diabate (from Mali) and Susan McKeown (from Ireland). Stories to Tell begins with the memorable "Massana Cissé," whose infectious, deceptively simple rhythm is omnipresent: the electric-guitar riff is difficult to escape during the song’s nine-minute trek. The other tracks vary among African beats, postmodern jazz, and Gaelic melodies. There’s always a vague thread that keeps the diverse tracks together, but at times it seems a bit too diverse, not cohesive enough. Stories to Tell is a noble effort that’s well worth a listen for its invention and artistic quality alone, but in the end it falls just short of expectations….Katherine Silkaitis