★★★★☆ The Concertgebouw is gorgeous, but the timing is stingy and Jansons holds back too much

Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition

Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition with no fillers makes for a skimpy disc. Apparently the Concertgebouw thought it was worth releasing even in a crowded market, even though the recorded time is barely over a half-hour. And fans of the orchestra are sure to be impressed with the playing, which is transparent and vivid. I don't think I've ever heard better percussion in this piece.

Mariss Jansons' reign at the Concertgebouw has been afflicted with lapses of energy, and here he doesn't read into the dramatic undercurrent. His eye for detail remains, though. He's slow and serious for the most part, and occasionally a new idea jumps out. He's best at the shadowy elements of the music. The Great Gate of Kiev, on the other hand, is smooth and lacking in grandeur.

In the past year, I've come to admire Jansons more than almost all other living conductors. Here there's not the final push of conviction that colors his latest efforts. All the same, his talent for subtle yet unpretentious phrasing comes through. A comparison with Rattle's finicky, dispassionate reading on EMI is decidedly in Jansons' favor. But unless you're a diehard fan of the orchestra, it would be wise to stick with readings from Bernstein, Karajan, Temirkanov, Sinopoli, and Gergiev. None of them have such stingy timing, either.