This is the third recording of Adams’ engaging 1993 Concerto, and the 19-year-old Hanslip provides a feline, lyrical alternative to Gidon Kremer’s recorded premiere on Nonesuch. She lacks Kremer’s cumulative power in the first and third movements, but nor does he have her sense of meandering fantasy or Slatkin’s delicate orchestral support in which especially the writing for winds, percussion and synthesizer register less as punctuation than atmospheric touches of color. The rest of the program is played as rapturously but, alas, it’s based in inferior movie music. Those who have the now-deleted disc of the Waxman paraphrases on Koch may rest assured no new depths are discovered here. Each previous recording of the Adams Concerto provides better couplings–but Hanslip is singular in her approach, and Naxos’ sound serves it well, without the edge that affects the louder, more densely orchestrated pieces.
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