DG's 20-bit transfer reveals more tape hiss than before, while the orchestral image is better focused, with more definition at the bottom end. Some have likened Herbert von Karajan's "chamber-music approach" to Wagner's Ring cycle in terms of his scaling down or deconstructing the heroic roles. This approach has less to do with dynamics per se than it does with von Karajan's masterful balancing of voices and instruments. He achieves revelations of horizontal clarity, allowing no contrapuntal strand to emerge with an unwanted accent or a miscalibrated dynamic. The texts are unusually pinpointed and distinct, although the singers don't convey the experience and dimension of Sir Georg Solti's cast on Decca. There are exceptions. Jon Vickers's probing, complex Siegmund, for instance, is paired with Gundula Janowitz's radiant Sieglinde. Martti Talvela is arguably the most sympathetic, touching Fasolt on record, and Gerhard Stolz's Mime is less caricatured and more direct here than for Solti, as is Christa Ludwig's Waltraute for von Karajan. The underrated Helge Brilioth's warmly ringing and musically solid Götterdämmerung Siegfried will be a welcome surprise. Smaller roles benefit from strong casting, notably the well-tuned Rheinmaidens and Valkyries. [+]

If you like your Vivaldi a little less frenetic than Rinaldo. Alessandrini patently does (in his recording of the Gloria. for the Opus 111 label) but still want the bite and clarity of period. instruments, then Richard Hickox's approach might be just the thing. This was actually the first recording-and an impressive one at. that-made by the now-established Collegium Musicum 90 under the. watchful eye of Hickox. Emma Kirkby is their secret weapon, her. plangent, instantly recognisable voice, her innate musicality, her pure. [+]

With this scintillating version of Beethoven's Diabelli Variations, Piotr Anderszewski has at a stroke made his mark as a front-rank recording artist. Daniel Barenboim, Alfred Brendel and Maurizio Pollini have until now led the field with this work, but this Polish-Hungarian pianist is in every respect their equal. And the challenge is huge. Beethoven wrote these 33 linked pieces in response to what he regarded as a puny challenge from a publisher-to compose just one variation on a trivial little theme-and they fairly crackle with his sense of outrage: their technical difficulties are as nothing compared to the aesthetic problem of welding them into a satisfactory whole. Anderszewski's opening is itself a surprise-he actually invests the theme with dignity-but what follows is consistently riveting. His interpretation is intensely individual and he brings out Beethoven's sheer quirkiness in full measure-the jagged structures and the seemingly perverse harmonic byways down which he doggedly goes. But as this pianist shows, that perverseness is only on the surface, because there's a serene order underlying it. The dynamics are perfectly controlled, the inner voices sing out, the touch is light and springy, the sound has radiant warmth and there's never the slightest hint of effort. Anderszewski brings out all the comedy, tragedy and pathos in this masterpiece and resolves them all with visionary clarity. -Michael Church.