CLASSICAL: RECORD REVIEWS

Bellini I Capuleti e i Montecchi

Munich Radio Chorus and Orchestra (Abbado)

Not Claudio Abbado but Roberto in charge of this reading of Bellini's exciting approach to the Romeo and Juliet story. And a fine job he and the orchestra make of dramatic pacing and ravishing individual details. Two ladies star - the magnificent voice of rising star Vesselina Casarova as Romeo, marvellously contrasted in timbre with Eva Mei's Juliet. HHHHH

Vaughn Williams A Cotswold Romance and Death of Tintagiles

LSO, Hickox (Chandos)

Two major works by Vaughan Williams receive premiere recordings here on this superb new release. A Cotswold Romance is a concert distillation of the opera Hugh the Drover while Tintagiles consists of incidental music to Maeterlinck's play. Atmospheric and elegiac, the LSO plays expertly. HHHH