Schubert, Handel and Bruckner have become very good old friends. This evening it was the turn of Handel and Bruckner. The new recording of Handel's La Resurrezione di Nostro Signor Gesù Cristo conducted by Emmanuelle Haïm is excellent, with spirited and intelligent playing from Le Concert d'Astrée. I would query some of Haìm's tempi, but there is nothing too out of the way. The five vocal soloists are fine, and I especially warmed to Kate Royal and Luca Pisaroni -- good to have a bass singer who does not bluster. This is my fourth recording of La Resurrezione; what astonishing music it is, for a precocious 23 year old, casually demonstrating all his powers and pulling rabbit after rabbit out of his hat.

Then on to Bruckner, and his ninth symphony. I did not think I would particularly enjoy any other performance after the famous 1944 Furtwängler one, but there are many attractions with the new CD from Sony with Fabio Luisi conducting the wonderful Staatskapelle Dresden. For a start, the sound is superb, recorded in the Semperoper in Dresden. Then there is the orchestra, with beautifully integrated sonorities. Luisi's conducting is sound on structure -- all too important in Bruckner who suffers too often from episodic interpretations. After Furtwängler, Luisi's tempi do sound measured, and one misses the sheer passion that Furtwängler brought to the 1944 performance. But I shall return to Luisi with pleasure; his is a serious and enjoyable performance.