Album Reviews

Norma Winstone: Stories Yet to Tell (ECM) £12.99

There isn't a more imaginative singer in jazz than Norma Winstone, and she demonstrates once again on this lovely new release what an intelligent and innovative vocalist she is. Accompanied by just piano and bass clarinet or soprano saxophone, Winstone makes her way sinuously and affectingly through a programme of her own lyrics set to an eclectic bunch of melodies from jazz, folk and the classical world. It's spacious, daring music that underlines Winstone's impeccable credentials as an improvising musician. AV

Scott Hamilton/Alan Barnes: Hi-Ya (Woodville) 12.99

A prime slice of mainstream from two masters of the genre, whose enthusiasm for melodic, swinging jazz makes for some wonderfully happy colllaborations. The chemistry between Hamilton on tenor and Branes on either alto or baritone gives every track plenty of fizz and spontaneity. The programme is drawn from the repertoire of Johnny Hodges's small bands from the 30s to the 50s and offers both principals plenty to get their teeth into, aided by a very fine rhythm section featuring the splendid David Newton on piano. AV

Mahler: Lieder aus Knaben Wunderhorn. Oehms. OC 657. 13.99

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For many Mahlerians, the benchmark recording of these songs was made in 1968 by Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau with the LSO under George Szell. Time for a rethink? This recording by Michael Volle and Christiane Oelze with the Gurzenich-Orchester Koln under conductor Markus Stenz is sung with intelligence, superbly played and recorded with the sort of clarity that could only be dreamed of in 1968. The singers characterise the folk texts with verve and a palpable sense of enjoyment. RC

Saint-Saens: Works for Organ. Calliope, CAL 9753. 13.99

Organist Mathieu Freyburger's programme comprises pieces for organ by Saint-Saens and transcriptions of his orchestral music by the composer and his friend Alexandre Guilmant. The 1928 Rinckenbach organ of Cernay is an ideal vehicle for this music with its lovely flutes and pungent reeds. The Fantasie in E flat unwinds with effortless grace and it's good to hear two of his prelude and fugues from the op 99 set. Of the transcriptions, the Prelude du Deluge is the most successful. The famous swan contrives to sound like a duck. RC