The latest CD releases reviewed

HANDEL: CONCERTI GROSSI OP 6 NOS 7-12
Boston Baroque/Martin Pearlman Telarc CD-80688 *****

This completion of Boston Baroque's recording of Handel's 12 Concerti Grossi, Op 6, is a recording with an extraordinarily high feel-good factor. There are, to be sure, more finely polished recordings of these works. But Martin Pearlman and his period- instrument Boston players bring a highly attractive spring and swing to the gait of the quicker movements, and an unforced grace to slower ones in a way that's likely to leave you with a smile of satisfaction on your face. And the Telarc recording captures the grainy tone of the period strings with appealing softness. www.telarc.com

MOZART: SYMPHONIES 38-41
Scottish Chamber Orchestra/ Charles Mackerras Linn Records CKD 308 (2 CDs) ****

Charles Mackerras's way with music of the 18th century is to emulate the sounds and practices of period instruments players with bands playing modern instruments. The results at their best can be highly invigorating, like a brisk winter walk on a breezy, sunny day. There are times in Mozart's four last symphonies where the music- making can sound a little forced, notably in the G minor Symphony. However, Mackerras is at his very best in the Symphony in E flat, the most rarely heard and elusive of these late works. Here, the driven energy of the opening movement (even including the Adagio with which it opens) is simply irresistible. www.linnrecords.com

BRAHMS: VIOLIN CONCERTO; JOACHIM: VIOLIN CONCERTO NO 2
Christian Tetzlaff (violin), Danish National Symphony Orchestra/ Thomas Dausgaard Virgin Classics 502 1092 ***

Violinist and composer Joseph Joachim (1831-1907) is nowdays most closely associated with the violin concerto his close friend Brahms wrote for him in 1878. But Joachim was also a composer in his own right, with three violin concertos to his name. The second and best-known of them, written "in the Hungarian style", pre-dates the Brahms by 17 years and is infused with the gypsy flavour deemed Hungarian in the 19th century. Although it's cast in a more populist idiom than the Brahms, it comes across as a slightly long-winded piece, even in as clearly-projected a performance as Christian Tetzlaff offers here in a logical coupling with the Brahms concerto itself. www.virginclassics.com

TRADITIONS AND TRANSFORMATIONS: SOUNDS OF SILK ROAD CHICAGO
Yo-Yo Ma (cello), Wu Man (pipa), Silk Road Ensemble, Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Alan Gilbert CSO Resound CSR 901 801 ****

These recordings come from the Chicago leg of Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Project. Prokofiev's Scythian Suite of 1915 is alluring as well as aggressive in Alan Gilbert's svelte performance, and Bloch's 1916 Hebraic rhapsody, Schelomo, has Ma himself offering soft-spoken, seductive advocacy as the cello soloist. The late Lou Harrison's 1997 Pipa Concerto (which, like Schelomo is conducted by Miguel Harth-Bedoya) treats the pear- shaped Chinese lute to travelogue- like transformations. Mongolian composer Byambasuren Sharav's Legend of Herlen (2000) has a fearless mix of western and eastern sounds, dominated by the striking singing of Khongorzul Ganbaatar. www.uk.hmboutique.com