Jonathan Nott is a young conductor who began his career as at Opera Frankfurt in 1988. In 2000 he succeeded Horst Stein as artistic director of the Bamberg Symphony, and has guest conducted many major orchestras of the world. Nott has started a series of recordings with the Bamberg Symphony for the Swiss Tudor label, co-productions with Munich Bavarian Radio. The entire list of Tudor recordings is on the internet: http://www.tudor.ch

Some of their recent recordings are SACDs in surround sound. The unidentified producers state, "The goal of the multi-channel mix is to place the listener on stage - next to the conductor - rather than in the centre of a large concert hall. Acoustic clarity and an accurate reproduction of even the tiniest chamber musical nuances enable us to experience Gustav Mahler's score on both an analytical and an emotional level. For optimum sound, the surround loudspeakers, as recommended for the reproduction of music, should be set up at an angle of 110 degrees to the side and rear of the listener's seat...." I don't agree with their concept of what surround sound should be. Indeed, the pickup is close-up on these recordings with little hall sound which, to me, is what surround sound is all about. Orchestral weight and sonority are lacking on all three SACDs. The Bamberg Symphony sounds rather small in the Mahler and Bruckner symphonies, and the engineer's analytical sonic approach exposes some untidy string playing, particularly in the two Schubert symphonies, which are rather heavy-handed. Harmonia Mundi's recent Kent Nagano SACD of the Bruckner is superior in every way (REVIEW), and Pentatone's of the Mahler with Helmut Haenchen recorded live in the Concertgebouw (REVIEW), even with its sonic limitations, is superior to the new Tudor—although both are eclipsed from a performance standpoint by Claudio Abbado's 1993 Berlin Philharmonic version now available on SACD (REVIEW).

La Tarantella is a delightful recording, music intended to cure the illness of those bitten by the tarantula spider. Some of this music was written in the 17th century, some is traditional, and most has a dance quality usually speeding up towards the conclusion. This music is superbly performed by singers Lucilla Galeazzi, Marco Beasley and Alfio Antico, with a small ensemble called L'Arpeggiata directed by Christina Pluhar which includes baroque harps and guitars, théorbe, lutes and percussion. Complete texts and translations are provided, and the surround sound is effective, with performers in front. The only negative feature is the minimal playing time: 51:22.

R.E.B. (May 2005)

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