The latest CD releases reviewed

PROKOFIEV: SYMPHONY NO 5; LIEUTENANT KIJÉ SUITE
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra/ Paavo Järvi Telarc CD-80683 ****

Prokofiev's wartime Fifth Symphony is generally regarded as his finest. The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under Paavo Järvi here delivers it with impressive gravity and smoothly rounded tone. Järvi doesn't sidestep the effects of bombast that the symphony can tempt conductors into. He glories in the richness of sound that the composer's long-drawn lines can yield, and finds room for all kinds of nice detailing along the way. His dwell-in-the-moment style of music-making, and Telarc's sonically spectacular recording, yield altogether more engaging results in the gorgeously tuneful suite Prokofiev extracted from his music for Alexander Feinzimmer's 1934 film, Lieutenant Kijé.

SIBELIUS: SYMPHONY NO 7; PELLÉAS ET MÉLISANDE; TAPIOLA; THE OCEANIDES
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/ Thomas Beecham EMI Classics *****

Thomas Beecham was an oddity among professional conductors, a true amateur with rare interpretative insight and style to beat the band. As a longtime friend of Sibelius, Beecham made his highly charged 1955 recording of The Oceanides at the long-retired 90-year-old composer's request. His moody magic is no less potent in the late tone poem Tapiola, and he has a thoroughly winning way with the Pelléas et Mélisande incidental music. There is considerable sweep and grandeur, too, in his handling of the composer's final completed symphony, and the stereo recordings, all from 1955, have stood the test of time very well. www.emiclassics.com

SCHUBERT: ARPEGGIONE SONATA; STRING QUINTET
Nicolas Deletaille (arpeggione, cello), Paul Badura-Skoda (fortepiano), Quatuor Rosamonde Fuga Libera FUG 529 ****

The six-stringed arpeggione, invented around 1820, was a cross between a guitar (in body shape, tuning and in having frets) and a cello (in size and bowing technique). It's now remembered for the single work written for it by Schubert, which is usually performed on either viola or cello. On the arpeggione itself, and in the hands of Nicolas Deletaille (playing a 2001 replica), the piece sounds altogether better, lighter in tone than a cello, more agile than a viola, and more precise in tuning than either, due to the frets. With Paul Badura-Skoda on a Graf piano from the 1820s, this performance simply demands to be heard. The playing of the great String Quintet is too stressed and stressful to be recommended. www.uk.hmboutique.com

DVORAK: PIANO TRIOS IN B FLAT OP 21; IN G MINOR OP 26; SUK: ELEGY
Florestan Trio Hyperion CDA 56572 ***

The Dvorak who wrote the two trios Opp 21 and 26 was already in his mid-30. And these performances by the Florestan make sure that characteristic fingerprints of the mature composer can be readily identified in both works. Yet neither trio has won the hearts of listeners the way Dvorak's two later piano trios have done. Neither the sheer tunefulness of the Dumky Trio or the imposing character of the F minor Trio are found here. The best moments are in the two Scherzos, the one from the G minor Trio in particular offering harmonic sidesteps that delight the ear. The coupling with these nicely judged performances is especially apt: the chromatically yearning Elegy of 1902 by Dvorak's son-in-law, Josef Suk. www.hyperion-records.co.uk