Newsday, December 2004

Italian Opera Arias. Rolando Villazón (Virgin). With his smoldering timbre, fierce intelligence, stylishness and fire, the young Mexican tenor has the makings of a legendary career. Villazón sings Verdi (Macbeth, I Lombardi) with a manly elegance not heard since Carlo Bergonzi's prime and brings a sweet sensuality to rarities from Mascagni's Nerone and Donizetti's Il Duca d'Alba.

Mozart Requiem. Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Concentus Musicus Wien (RCA). Over the centuries, Mozart somehow acquired a rap as a prissy, serene composer. Conductor Harnoncourt lays that ghost to rest once and for all with a tense, roiling, even wild performance of the composer's unfinished Requiem. Soloists include the imposing bass-baritone Gerald Finley (the Met's Don Giovanni later this season). The enhanced SACD features a CD-ROM track of Mozart's manuscript score.

Hersch, Josquin, Rihm and Feldman (Artemis/Vanguard Classics). Michael Hersch is best known as one of the world's leading young composers. This stark, introspective program, ranging from transcriptions of fifteenth-century giant Josquin Des Prés to Hersch's own "Milosz Fragments," highlights his equally remarkable gifts as a pianist. Also included is Hersch's Sonata No. 2 for cello, infused with mournful grace by Daniel Gaisford.

Paul Jacobs Plays Bach (JAV). This unedited recording of Bach masterworks combines audiophile sound quality and radiant playing, showcasing the staggering talents of Jacobs, 28, the new chairman of Juilliard's organ department. Among the highlights: the Trio Sonata in C, which sparkles with every color of the rainbow; and the "Great" Fugue in G minor, which unfolds with awesome drama and inexorability. (Available from www.pipeorgancds.com.)