Two threads here, this one and the one about Grammophone.  Here's why I
really do like the BBC Music Magazine.

I would never have dreamed of buying a CD of John Adams' music.
Shostakovich and Prokofiev are as modern as I get.  But a few months ago
I decided that no matter what my prejudices were, I was going to listen
to each BBCMM cover disc at least once.  I don't care if it's Telemann
or Young Composers, I'm gonna listen to it.  I've even listened to Debussy
(eat your peas, Mitch, they're good for you).  So it was with a sense
of duty only that I put the Adams disc in my car's CD player today.

And you know, it didn't hurt a bit.  I'm far from buying other versions
of Fast Ride and The Chairman Dances; still (way) farther from buying
the 10-disc John Adams Earbox set.  But this BBCMM disc makes me think
that Adams is at least....not too bad.  Very Shostakovian in spots, very
melodic in others; very "out there" in places but not ridiculously so.
Best of all, he seems to have avoided the gimmick for gimmickry's sake
trap, at least on this disc.  So this was a very pleasant surprise for
me.

These BBCMM discs are really good.  BBCMM has rejected the highlights
concept, making a big point of featuring a complete work.  I thoroughly
agree with that approach.  Lately they have included highlights of the
Editor's Choice discs, which adds value but does not impinge on the main
selection.  Some of my favorite BBCMM discs of the past eight years that
I've been a subscriber (no particular order except for the first one):

1.  Mahler 10 by Mark Wigglesworth.  This is one of all-time favorite
discs.  What a performance, and the disc that got me hooked on Mahler.

2.  A two-disc Messiah, orchestrated by Mozart.  I have filed away my
Pinnock recording in deference to this sensational BBCMM disc.  I greatly
look forward to hearing this every Christmas.

3.  Holst's Planets.

4.  David Finkel (of the Emerson SQ) and his wife, pianist Wu Han,
doing cello sonatas by Chopin, Grieg, and Schumann.  A superb disc!

5.  Mahler 4 by Ion Marin.  This is a sensational M4, attentive to detail
and in great spirit.  The filler on this disc is three arias by Roberto
Alagna; I never skip over these after hearing the Mahler.

6.  A Toscanini Eroica from, I think, 1938.  For a while the BBCMM was
doing historical recordings, but I haven't seen one for a couple of
years.

7.  A Berg Violin Concerto, coupled with Schoenberg's Verklaerte Nacht.
Believe it or not, I never could warm up to Anne-Sophie Mutter's Berg
VC.  But the BBCMM version really does it for me.

There have been other highlights as well, and the warhorses they record
are certainly worth keeping.  I think the BBCMM is an excellent buy.

Mitch Friedfeld
(no commercial connection)