Finest offerings come from low-key Elgar listings

Most punters will be drawn to the NZSO's new Elgar disc by the inevitable Pomp and Circumstance Marches, but the ear-catchers are the lesser-known works that comprise the other two-thirds of the CD.

Perhaps even those stalwart pieces of Edwardianism may not be so familiar, apart from the first march's Land of Hope and Glory. James Judd and his players certainly play them as if they weren't, giving a sinewy twitch to the second and making the fifth sound as if it had strayed from a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta.

If the spirit is spot-on, the sound, alas, is not always so. Too often it is bass heavy, when a more incisive cutting-edge would have served the music better.

Among the curiosities are a grand, solemn Coronation March for George V and the quaint March of the Mogul Emperors, written for an Imperial Pageant, low on local colour but high on Elgarian swagger.

Polonia, running at 14'25", is a full symphonic prelude, with various Polish melodies being fed through Sir Edward's march machine.

An innocent Chopin Nocturne is even conscripted for service, admittedly in a subdued episode. It is here that the orchestra is at its most telling, with some particularly graceful violin from Vesa-Matti Leppanen.

Another Naxos release, Canteloube's Chants d'Auvergne featuring Veronique Gens, takes its place as one of the best versions available.

The French soprano is well-known for stylish Baroque work as well as an individual voice in the genre of the French chanson. With Canteloube she catches the character of every folk song, while Jean-Claude Casadesus and his Orchestre National de Lille spin vibrant (and evocatively recorded) settings around her - you could almost swear mountain air was coming out of the speakers.

The range of Gens' art is staggering. While Brezairola is the ultimate lullaby, sweet and caressing, when she tackles Oi ayai, her voice has all the brio of a traditional singer as she plays a peasant girl with serious petticoat problems.

The only problem listeners will have is wanting more. What a shame Naxos did not include a few extra songs on a disc that runs for only just over an hour.

Elgar, Marches (Naxos 8.557273) Canteloube, Chants dAuvergne (Naxos 8.557491)