Album: New York Philharmonic, Weill: Die Sieben Todsünden; Berg: Lulu Suite (Teldec/Warner Classics & Jazz)

Weill & Brecht's The Seven Deadly Sins and Alban Berg's Lulu share a fascination with the decay and degradation of the human spirit in a decadent age.

In this pairing from 1993, the New York Philharmonic under Kurt Masur brings both to harrowing life: the massive death-chord as Jack the Ripper kills Lulu is one of the most terrifying things you'll ever hear, while the mannered delivery of Angelina Réaux as the split-personality sisters Anna I and II in The Seven Deadly Sins is well matched by the leering, descriptive enthusiasm of the orchestra as they track the sisters across the American cities allotted to each sin. But it does leave one aching for the visual aspect so robustly signalled in the music.

DOWNLOAD THIS Prologue; Sloth; Lust; Envy; Rondo; Adagio