Best of 1991

POPULAR

1 THE COMPLETE CAPITOL RECORDINGS OF THE NAT KING COLE TRIO (Mosaic).

Enough music (18 CDs, 349 tunes) to carry you through until the Fourth of July. Enough jazz artistry and pop dexterity to confirm Cole (if reminders are still needed) as one of the seminal talents of American music. And so much joyous musicmaking that it's virtually Unforgettable.

2. VAN MORRISON: HYMNS TO THE SILENCE (Polydor).

This wild Irish heart has been making great rock 'n' roll for (can it be!) more than 25 years now, and this two-CD set is another great chapter in a musical autobiography that combines influences as diverse as James Joyce, Sidney Bechet, Jack Kerouac and Muddy Waters into a seamless, eccentric and wholly original sound. As Van the Man once put it himself, "Fantabulous."

3. THE COMPLETE ROULETTE LIVE RECORDINGS OF COUNT BASIE AND HIS ORCHESTRA (1959-1962) (Mosaic).

The Count's outfit was nicknamed the Atomic Band, and the seismic swing on this set -- recorded on dates in Manhattan, Miami and Stockholm -- ought to come with a Geiger counter. Vintage arrangements by the likes of Neal Hefti and Frank Foster, players such as Thad Jones and Benny Powell, and the Count guiding the band from the piano with nimble majesty.

4. SOUTHSIDE JOHNNY AND THE ASBURY JUKES: BETTER DAYS (Impact).

Great, go-for-the-gut roadhouse rock, Jersey-shore style. An envoi for the glory days: sentimental, hard-edged and clear-eyed. When Little Steven (who produced and wrote much of this album) and Bruce Springsteen get together with Southside on It's Been a Long Time, the result is one of rock's greatest tributes to the bounds and bonds of friendship.

5. ROBBIE ROBERTSON: STORYVILLE (Geffen).

Rock's surreptitious narrative poet and mystic folklorist takes a funky journey to the end of the night in a rich collection of reflective love songs and groove-heavy tall tales. Music full of hellhounds and enigmatic angels of mercy.

CLASSICAL

1. SCHOENBERG: GUERRELIEDER. Riccardo Chailly conducting the Berlin Radio Symphony (London/Decca, 2 CDs). The high-water mark of late -- really late -- romanticism, Gurrelieder will come as a revelation to those who equate Schoenberg with the chilly 12-tone system. The fiery song cycle, really a music drama about doomed love and transcendence, gets a voluptuous Wagnerian reading from Chailly & Co.

2. EVGENY KISSIN: CARNEGIE HALL DEBUT CONCERT (RCA, 2 CDs). For once, a Russian pianist who deserved all his pre-debut hype. In September 1990, before the toughest audience in the world, Kissin, then 18, wowed 'em with Schumann, Prokofiev, Liszt and Chopin.

3. SHOSTAKOVICH: COMPLETE STRING QUARTETS. The Manhattan String Quartet (ESS.A.Y). In the 16 years since his death, Shostakovich's reputation has soared, partly on the strength of these 15 brillant quartets: personal, searingly intimate utterances that represent the flip side of the composer's symphonic-apparatchik persona. The Manhattanites, playing with understanding, cohesion and sharpness, reveal the man behind the mask.

4. HOWARD HANSON: SYMPHONY NO. 4; "MERRY MOUNT" SUITE. Gerard Schwarz conducting the Seattle Symphony (Delos). Hanson's brooding symphony, a requiem for his father, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1944, and Schwarz's impassioned performance makes it clear why. The best installment so far in Schwarz's complete cycle of the seven Hanson symphonies.

5. BERNSTEIN: CANDIDE. June Anderson, soprano; Jerry Hadley, tenor; with Leonard Bernstein conducting the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus (Deutsche Grammophon). Lenny's 1956 problem child -- Is it opera or musical theater? And does it matter? -- has often been cut, altered and misconceived over the years. Here it gets the best of all possible performances in a stunning valedictory by the late composer.

BOXED-SET BACKLASH

The complaints come from both the classical and pop camps: CD boxed sets are just a marketing ploy, and there are too damn many of them. Well, stop grousing and start listening. Many boxed sets -- from this year's Bob Dylan: The Bootleg Series on Columbia to Philips Classics' ongoing 45-volume, 180-CD Complete Mozart Edition -- are enriching and redefining the musical heritage. Keep 'em coming.