Apotheosis is the revised finale of Rautavaara's Sixth Symphony ("Vincentiana"), and it's gorgeous, a long-limbed slow movement of truly memorable lyrical beauty. The complete symphony in its original version is available in an excellent performance on Ondine, as are the other two works here, and much as I have enjoyed many Naxos recordings from the New Zealand Symphony, this isn't one of the better ones. The problems aren't serious in Apotheosis, or even in Manhattan Trilogy, with its dreamy, largely gentle, impressionistic textures; but in the symphony the thinness of string tone and recessed brass and percussion sell Rautavaara's inspiration short, particularly in comparison to Segerstam and the Helsinki Philharmonic. This becomes distressingly obvious in the energetic scherzo and majestic finale, where Rautavaara's brilliant brass writing really has to shine--and doesn't here. How is it possible that fortissimo high trumpets, horns, and three (count 'em) tam-tams have so little impact? Never mind. Pass on this one.

--David Hurwitz