Music: Pick of the Pack

BEETHOVEN: THE NINE SYMPHONIES (Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Sir Georg Solti, conductor; London; $50). With at least 15 complete sets of the Beethoven symphonies on the market, there could be only two reasons for yet another version: Sir Georg Solti and the Chicago Symphony. Solti has in this orchestra as versatile and flexible an instrument as any conductor could ask for. When the collaboration is fueled by the immense spirit of Beethoven, the result is a glorious musical combustion.

An unsentimental romanticist, Solti works easily within the huge design of the Eroica. He treats the long first movement almost as an extended phrase. If he lacks something of the rhythmic intensity of Toscanini, Solti nevertheless fuses the conflicting elements of the symphony into a coherent whole with no sacrifice of tonal beauty. The sad serenity of the adagio of the Ninth Symphony surges to the famed choral movement with stunning emotional impact. Partisans will want to stick with some of the classic interpretations: Toscanini's Seventh, for instance, or the Erich Kleiber/Amsterdam Concertgebouw Fifth. But for consistent clarity, warmth and dramatic sweep, the Solti/ Chicago team is tough to beat.

SIBELIUS: SYMPHONIES NOS. 5 AND 7 (Boston Symphony 'Orchestra; Colin Davis, conductor; Philips; $7.98). The love affair between Davis and Boston dates from his first visits there in the late 1960s. The orchestra's principal guest conductor since 1972, Davis is the one who most regularly gets the B.S.O. to play like the great romantic and post-romantic ensemble it used to be—and still is, in the right hands. This LP is Davis' first with the B.S.O. and the start of a projected set of the seven Sibelius symphonies. It is a stunning accomplishment. The careful balance between repose and tension, stateliness and Nordic surge, quiet and mountainous climaxes, makes these the best versions of both works. Philips records closer to the orchestra than Deutsche Grammophon, the B.S.O.'s regular label, and the music is better for it.

DVOŘÁK: CONCERTO FOR CELLO (Lynn Harrell, cellist; London Symphony Orchestra; James Levine, conductor; RCA; $6.98). Its jubilant fire, four-seasons color and unstrained lyric impulse make this the finest cello concerto ever written. The fast-emerging Harrell recalls the heroic eloquence of the late Emanuel Feuermann, and the peripatetic Levine, soon to become music director of the Metropolitan Opera, offers a brilliant reminder that Dvořák wrote the work for orchestra as well as cello.

TCHAIKOVSKY: SYMPHONIC WORKS: FATUM, THE STORM, THE VOYEVODE, THE TEMPEST (Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra;

Eliahu Inbal, conductor; Philips; $7.98). The music of Tchaikovsky can hardly be said to have suffered over the years from underexposure. Yet here are four tone poems that most Tchaikovsky buffs will not know. The Storm is windy stuff at best and deserves its obscurity. But Fatum (Fate) and The Voyevode have an orchestral touch and programmatic flair that approach the popular 1812 Overture and Capriccio Italien. And The Tempest, written four years after Romeo and Juliet, is one of the composer's grandest scores. Conductor Inbal, an Israeli now in his second year as head of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, puts it all into a surging dramatic frame.