KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra has become one of the most reliable contributors to the Naxos label. As well as tackling composers from Hummel and Vaughan Williams to Mayuzumi and Barber, its players have taken Lilburn's music to the world, and with last year's Ries Piano Concertos have proved they can play an important role in rediscovering overlooked music of the past.
The NZSO's second volume of Liszt's Symphonic Poems, conducted by Michael Halasz, is a grand romantic outing. These are lush, colourful scores that wear their literary credentials proudly, and in cases such as the 29-minute Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne are a symphony in all but name.
Liszt deals in high-minded themes such as Hugo's dialogue between man and nature in Ce qu'on entend, or the bloody struggle for civilisation caught in the musical battlefield of Hunnenschlacht.
His harmonic language and orchestral adventurousness are remarkably liberated for their times.
Halasz has an ear for the often fragmented textures and the orchestra is in superb form.
Musicians who never fail us at the Auckland Town Hall in solo turns spring forth with confidence and poetry, captured in a thrilling recording.
However, what works very well for Liszt might not be to everyone's taste with a new CD of Elgar Miniatures.
To start with, the title is a misnomer when the disc sets off with the 14-minute Froissart Overture, delivered in full Elgarian splendour by James Judd.
Here is a conductor who is not afraid to let the strings luxuriate in portamento paradise, and the first 30 seconds are a model of tonal gradation, leading to a typical nobilmente outpouring.
But do insouciant salon trifles such as May Song and Carissima and the first of Three Characteristic Pieces need such sonic upholstery? Chanson de Matin, with wild swoops, borders on the melodramatic.
However, the balance is perfect for Preman Tilson in Elgar's Romance for bassoon and orchestra. This rendition transcends any limitations of the salon with its sighs, surges and beautifully woven textures.
* Liszt, Symphonic Poems (Naxos 8.557846)
* Elgar, Orchestral Miniatures (Naxos 8.557577)
