BG 7 2009 Heat Pumps

This generously filled two-disc Harmonia Mundi release includes not only Handel's complete set of six organ concertos published after his death as his Opus 7, but also the organ concerto known as "The Cuckoo and the Nightingale," plus three works for solo harpsichord: a fugue in G minor and two chaconnes. The recording has transparent yet immediate super audio digital sound that puts the music in the room with the listener. These performances are as charming and engaging as the finest ever recorded. Organist and harpsichordist Richard Egarr is impressive in both roles. As the organ soloist, Egarr is strong and sensitive in the concertos, with a real talent for improvisation in the cadenzas.

David Zinman's audiophile series of Gustav Mahler's symphonies for RCA has garnered much critical praise, due mainly to the coherence of his musical interpretations and the marvelous clarity of the playing by the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra. Both qualities are vital to understanding Mahler, whose intensely varied music is never easily pinned down, and often just as easily muddled. The Symphony No. 7 in E minor, unofficially nicknamed "The Song of the Night," is one of Mahler's most complicated works because it contains a sprawling symphonic dirge, a haunted yet charmingly pastoral nocturne, a grim danse macabre, a humorously amorous serenade, and a rondo finale based on nineteenth century musical clichés, all designed to showcase the many moods and mood swings of Mahler, perhaps the most complicated composer of the twentieth century.