Jarvi's Bruckner CDs may be his best yet

PAAVO JARVI, CONDUCTOR, FRANKFURT RADIO SYMPHONY; Bruckner, Symphony No. 7 (RCA Red Seal) ★★★★

PAAVO JARVI, CONDUCTOR, FRANKFURT RADIO SYMPHONY; Bruckner, Symphony No. 9 (RCA Red Seal) ★★★★

CHRISTINE BREWER, SOPRANO, ERIC OWENS, BASS-BARITONE, DONALD RUNNICLES, CONDUCTOR, ATLANTA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA; "Great Strauss Scenes" (Telarc) ★★★★

Paavo Jarvi, the longtime music director of the Cincinnati Symphony and, since 2006 the music director of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, has an extensive discography, mainly of late 19th and early 20th century music.

And these RCA recordings of Anton Bruckner's Seventh and Ninth Symphonies are quite possibly Jarvi's best to date. He brings depth and perception to his interpretations and captures the essence of each work — in short, he puts his fine interpretive sense on display here, something that has occasionally been lacking in his earlier recordings.

Jarvi's tempos tend to be on the expansive side, but he makes it work. These are thoughtful, inward looking performances played by the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, an orchestra that has become one of the best in Germany. The ensemble plays with rich expressions and a warm romantic sound, especially from the brass.

Having the brass play with resonance and a mellow tone is vitally important for a successful Bruckner performance. And Jarvi doesn't let them overpower the rest of the orchestra in these live recordings — something that not every conductor can achieve.

Particularly striking is Jarvi's account of the Adagio from the Seventh. This is one of Bruckner's most beautiful and profoundly moving pieces of music, and Jarvi captures the movement's emotional intensity, inward strength and sincerity with luminous eloquence.

These are recordings that put a new perspective on what unquestionably are Bruckner's two best known symphonies.

Soprano Christine Brewer has the power to do justice to the demands Richard Strauss places on his singers, especially sopranos. She is a dramatic singer with a fluid voice who also possesses lyricism and a wonderfully large palette of expressions.

Her new album for Telarc, featuring selections from three Strauss operas ("Elektra," "Die Frau ohne Schatten" and "Salome") shows that she is a worthy successor to some of the great Strauss interpreters of the past.