KEY POINTS:
iPOD culture may be threatening to take over the younger generation earplugged into its Top 2000, but it is cheering to know that some still search out CDs and enjoy their music in a more ambient environment.
On the classical front, the major labels have been as unpredictable as ever.
Deutsche Grammophon has the cream of the soprano market, from Dawn Upshaw at her earthiest in Osvaldo Golijov's Ayre to Renee Fleming's camper-than-camp Homage: The Age of the Diva.
But there have been miscalculations. Sting's vulgar and chummy assassination of John Dowland's music on Songs from the Labyrinth almost took my personal award for horror of the year, if our own Dame Kiri Te Kanawa hadn't seized the prize from him.
EMI's Kiri sings Karl may appeal to the budget-conscious with myriad Kiris for your dollar (it's the first time the Dame has been multi-tracked). But this is small compensation for killer tracks like Allegretango, with Beethoven's Seventh Symphony dragged through the slowest tango parlour in town.
Yet EMI has come up with a winner in Horizons, a very personal selection of encores by the Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes.
And, a few weeks ago, Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic's splendid reading of Holst's The Planets included complementary musical asteroids from Kaija Saariaho, Matthias Pintscher, Marc-Anthony Turnage and Brett Dean. Dean's edgy tribute to Vladimir Komarov, the first person to die in space, grips the soul and reminds me that the Australian composer plays his viola concerto with the Auckland Philharmonia in April.
EMI have also made one of the most enterprising DVDs of the year available locally. The Miracle of a Voice has French coloratura Natalie Dessay in operatic highlights, many presented in more than one production (there are three radically different versions of The Doll Song from i). Ode Records handles labels like ASV, Harmonia Mundi and Hyperion, allowing us to hear the NZSO in fine form behind violist Helen Callus, Piers Lane triumphant in piano concertos by John Ireland and Delius and Robert King's virtuoso account of the Monteverdi Vespers.
Elite Imports gives us the BIS, Naive and Channel Classics catalogues, with access to a more recherche trail. It is Elite one has to thank for one of the most rewarding joys of the Mozart year - the third instalment of Rachel Podger and Gary Cooper playing the violin and fortepiano piano sonatas.
Naxos continues to stagger expectations, most recently when Chloe Hanslip paired the streaming song of John Adams' Violin Concerto with Waxman's juicy Tristan and Isolde Fantasie. Peter Maxwell Davies' Naxos Quartets (5 and 6 are imminent) restore one's faith in the eternal dialogue of chamber music. Most importantly, Naxos has also showcased the NZSO magnificently in the orchestral works of Liszt, Elgar and - especially welcome - a selection of Lilburn, with some pieces receiving their CD premiere.
Homegrown recordings get better and better. Rattle Records may claim centre stage for View from Olympus, its generous and spectacular CD/DVD John Psathas release, but there are more intimate pleasures to be savoured on Trust Records' Taurangi featuring Bridget Douglas and Rachel Thomson in New Zealand music for flute and piano.
In a busy year of releases that have ranged from Robert Costin playing Herbert Howells' organ music to a studio recording of Michael Williams' engrossing opera The Prodigal Child, Atoll's latest disc, Sesquialtera, has James Tibbles playing the liquid-toned 18th-century Avery organ in Ponsonby Baptist Church. It is a revelation and perfect music to induce calm in these frenetic weeks leading to Christmas.
