JAZZ

NICE 'N' EASY

Matt Belsante

Green Hill Records

2 stars

This record is so Nice 'N' Easy it slips right into muzak territory. Which is a pity because Matt Belsante's previous albums on Green Hill Records have been appealing, big band swing affairs that charmed this listener.

This fourth album, however, suffers terribly from a cheesy overload of strings and generic arrangements that push Belsante's otherwise engaging tenor towards the higher, thinner end of his register. This is a baffling choice, driven perhaps by commercial considerations as this is so squarely aimed at a mass market that the album loses any personality.

That is a shame as Belsante has the potential to be another Harry Connick Jr, melding a warm delivery with aw shucks boy-next-door good looks. He fares well on the faster paced numbers such as a fleet-footed take on After You've Gone with pared-down ensemble of piano, bass and drums.

But on tracks such as Cheek To Cheek, The Look Of Love and Moon River where the strings run amok, his voice simply drowns under the miasma of sugar. Belsante himself does not sound happy either to be thus swamped and phones in the ballads, barely bothering to hold the notes.

Ong Sor Fern

20TH CENTURY CLASSICS

VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

SINFONIA ANTARTICA/CONCERTO FOR 2 PIANOS

Bergen Philharmonic Sir Andrew Davis

Chandos 5186

5 stars

Ever watched a movie and wondered whether its stirring music could be also heard in the concert hall?

It is now commonplace to hear John Williams' Star Wars or Harry Potter music in concert, but one of the pioneers was English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 to 1958), who adapted his film score for Scott Of The Antarctic (1948) and turned it into his Seventh Symphony (1951).

His Sinfonia Antartica is a masterpiece in five movements, its evocative orchestration capturing the terrifying majesty of the South Pole and Captain Robert Scott's ill-fated expedition. The inclusion of wordless soprano, women's chorus, wind machine, pipe organ and lots of brass guarantees an aural spectacular which Sir Andrew Davis and the Bergen Philharmonic (Norway) deliver with aplomb.

The piano duo of Louis Lortie and Helene Mercier do the honours in Vaughan Williams' Concerto For Two Pianos (1946), an adaptation by Joseph Cooper of his 1930 Piano Concerto which was considered too demanding by its original soloist. Cast in C major, the work brings together contrapuntal complexities and an unusual whimsical flair, capped by a starkly beautiful central slow movement.

Williams' orchestrated Four Last Songs (1954 to 1958) with baritone Roderick Williams is the added bonus to this excellent disc of varied offerings.

Chang Tou Liang