They don't make 'em like this anymore. No musical tradition has suffered a greater decline than the French, and no conductor represented the French school more tellingly than Paul Paray. These are wonderful performances: fleet, unaffected, and simply exciting as hell. Paray lets his players play, shaping the performance in huge arcs of sound. The New World's largo seldom has sounded more earthy and folk-like, the outer movements more energetic and effortlessly propulsive. Similarly, this lean and mean Sibelius Second features some volcanic climaxes in the andante second movement and a finale that, like Szell's, never for a minute outstays its welcome. In these days of fussy, heavy, micromanaged conducting, conservatory students should be chained to their stereos and forced to memorize every Paray recording that they can get their hands on. This is a disc that sets your pulse racing--available "on demand" from Arkivmusic.com.

--David Hurwitz