PRODUCT EVALUATION TEAM PET Picks Prime CDs After The Disquiet Kings Bell Little Tybee

Eternal Mahler

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USTAV MAHLER is always with us: numerous performances of his stirring and evocative works, interpretations and appreciations of his oeuvre and significance, as well as abundant articles and books offering biographical details. His conducting career struggles, the sting of anti-Semitism, heart trouble and his fickle wife Alma, counterbalanced by his empyrean sense of vocation and mission have made him one of the most enduring cultural figures of all time.

James Levine, lately of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO), is among the greatest of Mahler interpreters. There are, of course, others and in each case some special sensitivity or unique artistic quiddity is associated with the particular maestro. And, inevitably, some approaches do not please sophisticated listeners, like critics.

For example, a recent performance of Mahler's epic Ninth in which the composer is perceived as saying farewell to life, provoked the ire of the Financial Times Andrew Clark. Writing that that the "unspoken fears and uncertainties and reflective passions that constitute the Ninth drew from Mahler some of his deepest music," Clark goes on to lament that Lorin Maazel's rendition with the London Philharmonia did not even approach the sense of aspiration, longing and struggle inherent in the work. And, indeed, Clark asks, "How could it…with a conductor who stamps his technical control so manifestly on every bar?"

Lorin Maazel Photo by Chris Lee

The critic states that as happens so often with Maazel, "sheer fluency militated against the music's imaginative core." Perfect, the critic concludes, but earthbound.

Maazel was slated to conduct the traditional Tanglewood end-of-season performance of Beethoven's Ninth this past summer, but a ferocious New England storm caused the unprecedented cancellation of the concert. A shame, because it would have been the appropriate capstone to a rich and satisfying season that saw a procession of conducting giants subbing for the ailing Levine.

Among the European maestros who arrived at the sylvan Berkshires music festival were Christoph Von Dohnanyi, leading a memorable Saturday evening of Prokofiev, Schumann and Brahms; Jaap van Zweden, the Dutch-born director of the Dallas Symphony and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, thrilling the audience with his sprightly energy and tempos in Beethoven's Seventh, as well as admirably providing complimentary orchestral accompaniment for Arabella Steinbacher's inspired performance of the Brahms Violin Concerto.

There were also the delights of Emanuel Krivine conducting an all-Ravel program featuring the splendid Jean -Yves Thibaudet and the perennial Tanglewood favorite Rafael Fruhbeck De Burgos at the top of his game with a Spanish-themed program featuring the masterful classical guitarist Pepe Romero.

A special treat was the full-scale concert version of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess led by Bramwell Tovey. Even a veteran of many Porgy and Bess outings could not fail to be profoundly moved by this over-the-top production with the ever-glorious Tanglewood Chorus directed by John Oliver at its finest.

Maestro Levine was missed. Make no mistake about that.But oh what substitutes!

Simon Sebag Montefiore Photo by Jori Klein

Holy In Jerusalem

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PPEARING at the New York Public Library series of live readings and interviews recently, Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of the newly published Jerusalem: The Biography, spoke of the temporary craze some visitors to Jerusalem experience. The people who succumb to this malady usually come with magical ideas of Jerusalem's transcendental status and wish to commune with powers of redemption, healing and salvation.

Jerusalem: The Biography

Known as the Jerusalem Syndrome, this behavior arises from a fervent anticipation of an exalted transformation or delusional notion of religious and messianic ecstasy. This state of mind inevitably ends in deep disappointment and mental distress or just a return to prosaic reality.

Sebag-Montefiore, a novelist and historian, is the descendant of Moses Montefiore, the eminent Victorian British-Jewish philanthropist and traveler who was a great benefactor of Jerusalem. The author said that walking around the Holy City one can utter "Jesus" and "six people will turn around."

The psychiatric departments of the city's hospitals are all equipped to deal with what is generally a short-lived derangement. Today Jerusalem Syndrome is an accepted psychological classification with a considerable literature and chronicle.

By Tim Boxer

}AFTER THE DISQUIET Ravish Momin founded Tarana in 2003. With Momin on drums and Trina Basu on violin, the duo creates a boundary-busting sound that infuses world jazz with Asian, Mideastern and African styling. While all compositions are by Momin, who has studied North Indian percussion, there’s lots of improvisation with the two artists. Momin was born in India and lived in Bahrain; Basu studied violin in Chennai, India, and she now lives in Brooklyn. CD priced at $3 at http://tarananyc.bandcamp.com/album/after-the-disquiet-ep.

}KINGS BELL Here is another non-stop album from Midnite, the St. Croix-based reggae group, fronted by Vaughn Benjamin. Benjamin collaborates with producer/bassist Andrew "Bassie" Campbell to make a 16-track masterpiece of Jamaica rhythms and St. Croix sounds. Midnite has made more than 45 albums over 20 years. This one is available on iTunes and in stores.

}HUMOROUS TO BEES Under the direction of Brock Scott (who contributes vocals, piano and acoustic guitar), the five-person group called Little Tybee presents 12 pop ballads and orchestral melodies on this album. Atlanta has spawned another success story. Pater Garden Records, $9.99 digital.