Beach: Piano Quintet Op 67; Variations Op 80; Piano Trio Op 150. The Ambache (Chandos)
Mrs Amy Beach (1867-1944) was America's first important woman composer. Her musical style, formed well before the turn of the century, may have rendered her music old-fashioned to advanced ears in the 20th century. But the pieces here have a substance, and sometimes a grit - especially the F sharp minor Piano Quintet of 1908 - that many of the works being exhumed in the name of romantic revival lack. The quintet, with moments of Franckian darkness in a performance of exceptional grip and resolve by The Ambache, sounds the most impressive of the three. The Piano Trio of 1939 contains too much that is decorative to stir with the same passion. The 1916 Variations for flute and string quartet are quietly touching.
Michael Dervan
Mario Lanza: Opera arias and duets (BMG)
Subtle he ain't, but there are those who swear no other tenor will do - and as he storms his way through this collection of bodice-ripping standards, many of them never released on CD before, you'd almost be convinced. Lanza hurls himself with his famously open-throated abandon at O Soave Fanciulla, O Paradiso, Vesti la Giubba and - even his most devoted fans would surely concede - a surpassingly strange Flower Song from Carmen. French opera clearly wasn't his cup of tea. I have to confess that, unless accompanied by a bowl of pasta and an awful lot of Chianti, he's not really mine either - but if you want to hear more, tune in to Lyric FM at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, when Derek Mannering will present an hour-long tribute to the tenor on the 40th anniversary of his death.
Arminta Wallace