WHAT'S ON

Pianist Howard Shelley, Sinfonia Chamber Music, The Sage Gateshead, 8pm tomorrow and on Saturday, Northern Sinfonia, 7.30pm, Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No 1 and Beethoven's Symphony No 4. Box Office: 0191-433-4661

REVIEWS

Gerald Finzi, Dies Natalis (Naxos 8.570417)

The tender yet radiant Dies Natalis, a setting of texts by the 17th century poet Thomas Traherne, depicts the first sensations of a child as it enters the world, and life's tarnishing experience of the innocence of childhood. Performed by tenor James Gilchrist and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra conducted by David Hill.

Schoenberg: Robert Craft (Naxos 8.557526)

Schoenberg's little-known Second Chamber Symphony contrasts a lush dramatic first movement with a rapid and richly polyphonic second. Robert Craft conducts the Simon Joly Chorus and New York Wind Quintet.

Wilhelm Furtwangler (Naxos 8.111136)

Naxos Historical presents the first in a new series of discs featuring the early recordings of Furtwangler, which will cover the complete recordings of the great conductor from 1920 to 1959.