Album Reviews

There is much to admire in this intriguing new release from composer, bassist and singer Esperanza Spalding. She's brought together a conventional jazz trio with a classical strings group to create fusion characterised by a wistful quality. Spalding's light and spacious vocals suit the mood perfectly. The music is at its best when there is a core of steel below the often placid surface, as on Winter Sun and the beguiling ballad Apple Blossom. It's a different sort of CD, and often delightful. AV

Dick Sudhalter: Legacy 1967-2001 (Challenge) 12.99

This entertaining compilation brings together some very bright moments from the excellent cornettist, bandleader and scholar Dick Sudhalter, who died two years ago. He was an elegant player, and expert revivalist with a gift for bringing up older styles sounding brand new. And so there are bouncy performances of ancient material like In a Jam and Mississippi Mud, all performed with wit and verve, not least by Sudhalter himself, whose playing throughout is lovely. AV

Beethoven: Complete Piano Concertos Harmonia Mundi HMC 902053.55 (3CDs) 27.99

When we thought the myriad of recordings had said all that could be said of Beethoven's five piano concertos, along comes Paul Lewis to strip aware decades of performing tradition to reveal their pristine state. Quick tempos send the First bubbling with happiness and vitality; his Second moves into a more serious world and the Third gets quite volatile. I have never heard the BBC Symphony in such good form, the whole package today's number one choice. DD

Butterworth: Symphony No. 5/Three Nocturnes (Dutton Epoch CDLX 7253) 12.99

Composed in his 80th year, a powerful Fifth symphony is Arthur Butterworth's finest to date. That windswept North Yorkshire, where he has spent much of his life, blows an icy chill through the inventive orchestral scoring. Three Nocturnes are northern evenings, bracing and much different to southern warmth. Four short tone poems, ending with Gigues, the most beautiful The Quiet Tarn, a picture of Malham Tarn. The Royal Scottish Symphony play far beyond the call of duty. DD