Classical

The latest releases reviewed.

ASTURIANA Kim Kashkashian (viola), Robert Levin (piano) ECM New Series 476 6149 ****

Manuel de Falla's Canciones populares españolas are probably heard today more often in transcription than in the original versions for voice and piano. They're at the heart of this new collection,

in which Kim Kashkashian and Robert Levin play 72 minutes of their own transcriptions of Spanish- language songs. The dominant style is popular and folksy, and the grainy huskiness of Kashkashian's viola is atmospherically supported by Levin's often soft-toned piano playing in songs by Granados, Guastavino, Ginastera, Montsalvatge and Buchardo, as well as Falla. Though not a single word is sung, the booklet, in true ECM style, includes translations of the song texts. www.ecmrecords.com

BACH: TWO-PART INVENTIONS; PARTITA IN D MINOR FOR SOLO VIOLIN; THREE-PART INVENTIONS Janine Jansen (violin), Maxim Rysanov (viola), Torleif Thedéen (cello) Decca 475 9081 ***

The young Dutch violinist Janine Jansen has chosen a most unusual coupling for her recording of Bach's Partita in D minor. She's offering string arrangements of the Two- and Three-Part Inventions for keyboard. Her playing of the Partita, with its famous Chaconne, is lithe, outgoing, and technically impressive. And the partnership with Rysanov and Thedéen in the two sets of Inventions is light and deft. But the special magic that attaches to Dmitry Sitkovetsky's string trio arrangement of the Goldberg Variations is simply not available from the music itself. www.deccaclassics.com

STRAVINSKY: JEU DE CARTES; DANSES CONCERTANTES; SCÈNES DE BALLET; VARIATIONS; CAPRICCIO Various orchestras/Robert Craft Naxos 8.557506 ****

This latest Naxos reissue of Robert Craft's Stravinsky recordings from the 1990s brings together five of the composer's less frequently heard works, including the Scènes de Ballet, written for Broadway in 1944, and the Variations of 1964, the most thoroughgoing example of the composer's engagement with serial composition. Craft, who was Stravinsky's long-time assistant, is well attuned to the special dryness and wit of the earlier pieces. He gets the most out of their colours, juxtapositions, gestures, references, and does it in a way that's almost sure to raise a gentle smile. He also casts a clear light on the late Variations, which were dedicated to the memory of Aldous Huxley. www.naxos.com