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CDs lately

The past few weeks I've been listening to Anouar Brahem, and to a couple of discs of the Orchestre des Champs Elysées. Brahem had been on my Amazon wish list for several years, but I didn't know much about him. These discs have a certain minimal aspect (but not quite the American/Estonian trance aesthetic). The sound of the oud, a very ethnic clarinet, and the dry, crisp Arabic drums is very appealing to me. The makeup of his ensemble has shifted to a slightly more European constitution over the past ten years. The Herreweghe recordings of these two monuments of Western music are very fine. (The $8 download of the Mass in B minor is a steal.) I heard this group live recently and their sound is amazing - softer and more intense than a modern instrument orchestra. Instead of pumping up the emotional volume, which so often distorts the architecture of these pieces, Herreweghe applies an elegant restraint.