The latest CD releases reviewed

MOZART: QUARTET IN G K387; SCHUBERT: QUARTET MOVEMENT IN C MINOR; DEBUSSY: QUARTET IN G MINOR; WOLF: ITALIAN SERENADE Formosa Quartet EMI Classics Debut 366 5572 ***

The San Diego-based Formosa Quartet won the 2006 London International String Quartet Competition, and this new CD on EMI Classics' Debut label is part of the prize. They're clearly an accomplished group, and put their best foot forward in the opening Mozart, the Quartet in G, K387, where their playing of the quick movements positively brims over with good humour. The effervescence of Hugo Wolf's Italian Serenade rather eludes them - they work the music too hard - but, by contrast, the slow movement of the Debussy quartet is spun with loving care. The rest of the Debussy and a dramatically-conceived performance of Schubert's isolated Quartet Movement in C minor show a group always alert to the opportunities to leave an individual mark on the music they play. www.emiclassics.com

ADAMS: COMPLETE PIANO MUSIC
Ralph van Raat, Maarten van Veen (pianos) Naxos American Classics 8.559285 ***

Phrygian Gates (1977-78), the longest piece on this CD, and China Gates (1977), the earliest, shortest and quietest, find John Adams in closest alignment to his minimalist roots, treating the piano mostly as a vehicle for monochrome patterning. Hallelujah Junction for two pianos (1996) dips punchily into popular idioms in the transition to the style of the most recent piece, American Berserk (2001), which takes the choppy chordal writing of Conlon Nancarrow's player piano music as a launching pad for a much wider-ranging, giddy excursion; a "short, manic, bipolar scherzo" is the composer's colourful description. Phrygian Gates is the most celebrated piece here - Adams's effective Op 1 - but it's China Gates and American Berserk which have the greatest immediate appeal. The recorded acoustic doesn't always convey the detail of the piano writing with ideal clarity. www.naxos.com

ARNOLD CONDUCTS ARNOLD
Bournemouth SO, Royal PO, City of Birmingham SO/Malcolm Arnold EMI Classics 382 1462 (2 CDs) ***

Malcolm Arnold's death last year, just short of his 85th birthday, has prompted this memorial set of recordings he made in the 1950s and 1970s of his First, Second and Fifth symphonies, along with Concerto for two pianos (three hands), and a handful of shorter pieces, including the Tam O'Shanter, Beckus the Dandipratt and Peterloo Overtures. It's always interesting to hear composers conduct, and Arnold is no exception. The high-spirited clowning of the Second Symphony (1953) is heard in a 1955 Philips recording never before issued on CD; it was the outcome of a Royal Philharmonic Orchestra session that became available due to a Beecham cancellation. And there's a weight to the composer's handling of the First Symphony (1949) which I haven't heard from other conductors. www.emiclassics.com

BOCCHERINI: 5 CELLO SONATAS
Richard Lester (cello), David Watkin (cello), Chi-Chi-Nwanoku (double bass) Hyperion Helios CDH 55219 ****

Anyone who's followed the RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet's explorations of Boccherini's double cello quintets will surely be delighted by Hyperion's reissue of this Boccherini collection by regular Vanbrugh collaborator Richard Lester. Boccherini, the greatest cellist of his time, loved writing high-wire challenges in the upper reaches of his instrument's range. Lester understands that the heart-in-mouth theatricality of a circus performer is entirely apt to these works. As presented here, they're texturally spare: no keyboard continuo, just two string instruments - cello with a second supporting cello or double bass (an instrument which Boccherini's father played). They're so well conceived for the cello and so full of fanciful effects that the spareness actually works to highlight their originality. The 1994 recording sounds as fresh as if it had been made yesterday. www.hyperion-records.co.uk