RegularsEditor'schoiceBestnew recordings of the month 4 Musical month Concert highlights to December 21 5 From where I sit Paul McCreesh, 'Mr Reconstruction' 25 Singertalk Today's singers have character too 27 Readers' letters How important are a CD's couplings? 28 Collection Strauss's fairy-tale opera Frau ohne Schatten 30 US Section (US edition only) Muzak or music?; Anonymous 4 interview; reviews and new releases A1-A12 Take 5 Reassessing Mahler-inspired recordings 37 Take 5/2 Five discs on a symphonic theme 38 Reputations Soprano Sena Jurinac 40 Replay Historic reissues, including the cheapest historic series ever and some unique Salzburg Festival discs 45 Hindsight Life at Gramophone 70,50 and 30 years ago 162

Features-",m·"il.l;I-lanBostridge Tenor in demand

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Interview Veronique Gens Who needs a doctor? 13 Interview Esa-Pekka Salonen Composing comes first 15 Interview Philippe Herreweghe Still studying 17 Awards 2001 Photos from this year's Awards night 49

NewsNimbusgoesout of business; Litton renews Dallas contract; Tosca film comes to UK 18 Webwatch Gramophone's website relaunches 22

ReviewsChristmasARuttertreat and McCreesh in Venice 50 Orchestral Convincing Prokofiev violin concertos from Josefowicz, Rostropovich live from BBC Legends, archive treasures from Boston Symphony Orchestra 56 Chamber Quartet fin' the End of Time with Messiaen himself at the piano, a fine start to a new Mendelssohn cycle 72 Instrumental Superb organ account of Bach's Art of Fugue, brilliant recital from Marc-Andre Hamelin 79 Vocal Notable debut recital from tenor Steven Davislim 85 Opera Placido Domingo's magnificent Tenor Arias set 96 DVD Vocal splendour of Karajan's Verdi Requiem 107 Book reviews Remarkable portrait ofSimon Rattle 113

AudioNewsMyryadadds a home cinema amp

Feedback Your hi-fi questions answered

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Tests & Reports Live 2001 123 Home cinema - the basics 125 Clearaudio Champion 131 Arcam DiVA CD72 133 Audio Analogue Maestro 135 Roksan Caspian 137 MJ Acoustics Pro 50 138 Creek CD53 140

DataSubscriptions 34 Classifieds 144 New releases 148 Recommended recordings 152 UK label directory 157 Reviews index 160 Advertisers' index 161

@rarnopholle December 2001 3