Walton: String Quartet in A minor; Piano Quartet in D minor. Peter Donohoe, Maggini Quartet (Naxos)

William Walton was the leading young British composer of the 1920s and 1930s. It was then he produced his best music; and after the war he was eclipsed by the rising Benjamin Britten. The two works here, both written in the aftermath of war, fall outside of Walton's best period. The Piano Quartet pre-dates his great early scandalous success, Facade. The echoes here are of other men's music, influences not yet fully digested. The mature Quartet in A minor from the late 1940s echoes rather too clearly compositional strategies familiar from earlier pieces. Everything works. The craft is extremely fine. But to ears familiar with Walton's greatest music, it all sounds rather second-hand, even with the benefit of the ever-alert, finely-etched playing of the Maggini Quartet.

- Michael Dervan

Rafael Kubelik conducts Suk (Panton). Vaclav Talich conducts Dvorak (Panton)

Josef Suk's Asrael Symphony, named after the Muslim angel who takes away the souls of the dead, began life in 1904 as a memorial to Dvorak, the composer's mentor and father-in-law. When Suk's wife, Otylka, died the following year, the symphony became a double memorial, prompting from the 31-year-old composer music of a new depth and range. Rafael Kubelik's 1981 Bavarian Radio SO recording (now at mid-price) carries a very special charge. The name of Vaclav Talich, a generation older than Kubelik, is synonymous with the Czech Philharmonic. This recording of three of Dvorak's undervalued late symphonic poems after dark ballads by Karel Erben stems from a 1954 concert. It is a fine testament to the work of the most celebrated Dvorak conductor of the mid 20th century.

- Michael Dervan

Hans Kindler conducts (Biddulph)

Rotterdam-born Hans Kindler is not well known on this side of the Atlantic. His early career as a cello soloist is well-nigh forgotten, overshadowed by his achievement in forming the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, which he conducted from 1931 to 1948. The recordings collected here concentrate on arrangements (from the baroque up to Scriabin, mostly by Kindler himself) and American music (by Dai-Keong Lee and Mary Howe as well as the better-known William Schuman). The disc really exudes the atmosphere of another era, when symphony orchestras happily recast the music of the baroque era in their own image, with soulful strings and deep, reinforcing brass. The 20th-century works, light in tone and ably performed, were an important component in Kindler's repertoire, but don't now leave much of an impression.

- Michael Dervan