Musical pleasures for the classical fan

Best holiday discs

"Merry: A Holiday Journey" (NSS Music, $16.98): Violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and her friends have come up with a brand-new genre-busting holiday treat here, performing classic holiday tunes with a spin from jazz, classical, bossa nova, close-harmony and all sorts of directions. This is the CD that will make your friends say, "What on Earth is that? It's great!"

"Simply Christmas: Home for the Holidays" (Sony Classics, $9.98): One of the loveliest of the reissued compilations, this one has 19 mostly traditional tracks by such artists as clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, the Canadian Brass, harpist Ayako Shinozaki, flutist James Galway and Michala Petri, recorder.

"The Wonder of Christmas," Mormon Tabernacle Choir (Mormon Tabernacle, $16.98): The famous choir has assembled a stellar soloist lineup, from Renée Fleming and Bryn Terfel to Audra McDonald, for this classic choral album that ends with a resounding "Hallelujah Chorus."

"Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on Christmas Carols" (Chandos, $17.98): Richard Hickox conducts the City of London Sinfonia and several others in an utterly charming array of Christmas works, including the first recording of the touching "On Christmas Night" (adapted from Dickens' "A Christmas Carol").

"Hear the Angel Voices," Carl Tanner (Edi Video, $16.98): The robust tenor has recorded this very fine 16-track collection of classic holiday music ("O Holy Night," "Ave Maria," "Joy to the World") right here in the Bastyr Chapel, with an orchestra led by Steven Mercurio, and the participation of both Northwest Sinfonia and Northwest Boychoir.

And finally, two "Messiah" recordings, both with serious historical underpinnings: one on the Naxos label, giving the 1751 version of the classic 1741 oratorio (Handel kept on revising for subsequent performances), in a period-instruments account with the Academy of Ancient Music led by Edward Higginbottom (with the Choir of New College, Oxford). This set boasts very fine soloists, including some terrific trebles and the countertenor of Iestyn Davies ($17.99).

The other "Messiah," (Harmonia Mundi, $39.98), has René Jacobs conducting the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra with the Choir of Clare College, in a very feisty period-instruments account of the famous score, also with excellent soloists (the incisive bass of Neal Davies is a particular standout). Really, you can't lose either way.

Mozartiana

Yes, it is the end of the big Mozart year (his 250th birthday), and there is no shortage of commemorative discs. Here are a few of particular interest:

"My Magic Flute," James Galway (Deutsche Grammophon, $16.98): Mozart famously didn't like the flute, but he nonetheless wrote some beautiful music for that instrument — which flutist James Galway supplements here with arrangements of piano works, arias, and a new medley arranged for Galway and his wife Jeanne, with orchestra (the Sinfonia Varsovia). Purists may squirm, but it's charming.

"Mozart: The Violin Sonatas," Anne-Sophie Mutter (Deutsche Grammophon, $50.98): This is the third release in a trio of Mozart recordings, with the eminent violinist teaming up with pianist Lambert Orkis for some sizzling, always graceful accounts of the violin sonatas in a four-disc set. A tour-de-force.

"Mozart: Piano Concertos," Alfred Brendel (Philips, $16.98): The great sage of the keyboard joins conductor Sir Charles MacKerras and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra for immaculate, magisterial readings of concerti in A Major (K.414) and G Major (K.453).

"Mozart: Piano Concertos," Piotr Anderszewski (Virgin Classics, $16.98): That busy Scottish Chamber Orchestra is back in action (this time with the very lyrical piano soloist conducting from the keyboard), in one of the same concerti chosen by Brendel (K.453), plus the K.466 in D Minor. Each pianist makes a strong case for his own interpretation.

"Mozart: Piano Sonatas and Fantasias," Lars Vogt (EMI Classics, $16.98): The 36-year-old German pianist Lars Vogt brings a great deal of both poetry and clarity to Mozart's keyboard works in this two-disc set; the Fantasias are particularly fine.

"Mozart Piano Sonatas," Mikhail Pletnev (Deutsche Grammophon, $16.98): Pletnev, who is revered as both conductor and pianist, gives a strongly individualized interpretation on this disc, with a touch that is positively liquid; here he plays his four favorite sonatas (K.300h, K.300k, K.457 and K.331, "Alla Turca").

More keyboard stars

What a season it's been for ivory fans! Here are some top recent arrivals:

• Playing Beethoven: Garrick Ohlsson, a Seattle favorite, issued his third volume of "Beethoven Piano Sonatas" (Bridge, $16.99), with Nos. 3, 9, 10 and 25 (the Op. 79) played with his usual command of style, detail and interpretive nuance. Or you could try the quirky but always imaginative Mitsuko Uchida, whose new "Beethoven Piano Sonatas" (Philips, $16.98) has Nos. 30-32 (Op. 109-111).

• And Bach: Seattle's own Craig Sheppard has just released a live recording of his Meany Theater performance of Bach's Inventions and Sinfonias, brilliantly imaginative and sharply detailed in every nuance of these familiar pieces, which shine as never before ("Bach Two and Three-Part Inventions," Romeo Records, $15, available at www.craigsheppard.net). Vladimir Ashkenazy makes an all-too-infrequent stop in the recording studios to set down a wonderfully unfussy, technically dazzling account of "The Well-Tempered Clavier" on the Decca label (three CDs, $33.98). Finally, Anne-Marie McDermott, who famously specializes in the Old Master, has a very fine new disc out ("Anne-Marie McDermott Plays Bach," NSS Music, 16.98), offering two English Suites and two Partitas, all played with her usual intelligence.

• And Brahms: After you hear this two-disc traversal of Brahms' two Piano Concertos ("Brahms: The Piano Concertos," Decca, $24.98), you will want to run to the phone and secure your tickets to Nelson Freire's April 12 recital in the President's Piano Series (that's 206-543-4880, by the way). Freire's magisterial style, tempered by a feisty exuberance, reminds us that this often overlooked pianist is a 24-carat master.

• And Chopin: Maurizio Pollini turns the Chopin Nocturnes into a series of expansive, mercurial minisagas ("Chopin: Nocturnes," Deutsche Grammophon, $33.98). In the same company's new "Steinway Legends" series of reissues, Martha Argerich has her imaginative way with several Chopin shorter pieces and a Scherzo, plus major works of composers from Bach to Rachmaninoff ($17.98). And Cliburn Competition winner Olga Kern has "Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1," a rendition of surreal beauty with the Warsaw Philharmonic (Harmonia Mundi, $21.98).

• For an encore: Try Norwegian pianist Leif-Ove Andsnes' new "Horizons" (EMI Classics, $16.98), a collection of 22 short favorite pieces from the pianist's past and present, a first-class assortment played with panache and devotion.

For the operaphile

"Homage: The Age of the Diva," Renée Fleming (Decca, $17.98): Mannered but beautiful singing in major and minor arias of Verdi, Puccini, Korngold, Gounod and many more.

"Heppner: Wagner" (Deutsche Grammophon, $16.98): Tenor Ben Heppner , a Seattle Opera favorite, is in splendid vocal shape for selections from Wagner's "Ring."

"Forbidden Love," Salvadore Licitra (Sony Classical, $18.98): Today's hot new tenor shows his stuff (vocal beauty, lots of presence) in 14 great arias.

"Wagner: Parsifal" (four-CD set, Deutsche Grammophon, $67.98): The raison d'être of this very fine recording is Placido Domingo, showing tremendous strength and warmth in the title role (with the imposing Waltraud Meier). Christian Thielemann conducts.

"Gershwin: Porgy and Bess" (Decca, $33.98): A restoration of Gershwin's 1935 version, with great, stylish singing from Alvy Powell and Marquita Lister.

Great players

"Hilary Hahn: Paganini and Spohr," (Deutsche Grammophon, $16.98): The latest from the bow of the brilliant young violinist Hilary Hahn is this pair of virtuoso concerti by Paganini (No. 1) and Louis Spohr (No. 8). Somehow even the most showoff moments are intensely musical. With excellent support from Eije Oue and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra.

"Perspectives: Jànos Starker" (Philips, $17.98): A two-CD retrospective of this great cellist's glory years in some of the finest works ever composed for his instrument.

"Le Sacre du printemps," Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic (Deutsche Grammophon, $18.98): The first live recording from Disney Hall shows the orchestra in terrific shape in the Stravinsky "Rite of Spring," plus Bartók's sizzling "Miraculous Mandarin" and Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain."

Melinda Bargreen: mbargreen@seattletimes.com