Jason Eckardt, "Out of Chaos"; Ensemble 21; conducted by Jeffrey Milarsky and Paul Hostetter (Mode)

Jason Eckardt clearly rejects the argument that the mid-20th-century atonalists were working toward a musical dead end. Harmonically and rhythmically his music thrives on complex, constantly changing relationships, but like many composers under 40, he tempers the more prickly, jagged elements of the post-tonal style with humor and eclecticism. What holds your attention in his music is not its ingenuity but its relentless energy and drive.

He also has a knack for defying expectations. Drawn to Minimalist sculpture -- Richard Serra's "Tilted Arc" adorns the CD cover, an allusion to the opening work, "After Serra" (2000) -- he resists using the Minimalist musical vocabulary to evoke it. That resistance eventually evaporates, at least partly. The final four minutes of the score are an eerie stasis of slow textural shifts and quietly scampering solos over sustained tones. But that comparative serenity is hard won, coming after 10 minutes of vigorous counterpoint. The most ambitious work here, "Polarities" (1998), also begins with an eventful, virtuosic opening section that gives way to quiet spareness. But here the slow, introspective writing is the center of gravity.

The musicians of Ensemble 21 play this music sizzlingly. Particularly striking in "Polarities" is Jean Kopperud's fluid, feisty clarinet playing, which bounces between klezmerlike note bending and assertive multiphonics that evoke John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman. Taimur Sullivan, on soprano saxophone, makes "Tangled Loops" (1996) into a vivid character piece. Marilyn Nonken's sharply focused and often athletic pianism, Rolf Schulte's lyrical violin playing, atmospheric percussion by Thomas Kolor and a rich cello line from Christopher Finckel enliven the involved textures of "A Glimpse Retraced" (1999).

ALLAN KOZINN, NEW YORK TIMES

Verdi, "Un Ballo in Maschera"; Jon Vickers, Amy Shuard; Royal Opera House Chorus and Orchestra, conducted by Edward Downes (Royal Opera House)

Like an increasing number of orchestras and opera companies, the Royal Opera House in London has been issuing recordings of historic live broadcasts. The producers have made exciting selections, none more so than this 1962 performance of Verdi's "Ballo in Maschera."

The main point of interest is Jon Vickers' portrayal of Gustavo III in a production adhering to the opera's original setting in the court of the Swedish king. You hear flashes of the anguished intensity he would later bring to Verdi's Otello and Wagner's Tristan. But opera buffs who know only the force-of-nature Vickers may be surprised to discover what a fine Verdi stylist he was. Once he warms up in his first scene, he sings with ardent lyricism, fearless top notes and admirable attention to the rhythmic fine points and dynamics of phrasing.

The Amelia is the English dramatic soprano Amy Shuard, a noted Brünnhilde and Turandot. Although her voice sometimes has a steely edge and wavering pitch, she gives an impassioned and affecting performance.

ANTHONY TOMMASINI, NEW YORK TIMES