Pamela Macaluso

Bright, stylish, and lovely, Pamela Frank's recordings of Mozart's five Violin Concertos with David Zinman conducting the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra are surely among the best since Arthur Grumiaux's classic recordings with Colin Davis and the London Symphony of half a century ago. Frank's tone is lean but supple, her intonation is warm but pure, and her technique is second to none. Better yet, Frank's interpretations are ideally balanced between controlled intensity and singing expressivity, the balance that is the essence of Mozart's art. Zinman's accompaniments are themselves ideally balanced between supporting Frank and challenging her.

The sax field becomes even more populous with another of the 1996's freshest new voices, ultra silky alto and soprano goddess Pamela Williams. On the aptly titled Saxtress, she carves her own niche in the rhythm and jazz annals with a rich mix of mellow and smokin', twisting her horn in the many directions that producer Martin Walters leads her. For a time, the surprisingly well done pop covers ("I Can Love You Like That," "The Secret Garden," "Natural Woman") may prompt you to think you've stumbled onto yet another John Tesh sax project. But soon, Williams slowly emerging vision takes over and originality wins out. While smooth and mid-tempo ultimately win out, the collections two real bass-soaked cookers "Ladies Night" and the title cut find her blowing damn the consequences…