CD: Beethoven: Complete Overtures, Zurich Tonhalle Orch/ Zinman

It came as a revelation when, five years ago, David Zinman and the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra - not then regarded as one of the world's prime recording orchestras - completed a cycle of the Beethoven symphonies that set new standards. In this two-disc set, Zinman applies the same treatment to Beethoven's 11 overtures. The first, Prometheus, sets the pattern in the phenomenal clarity of articulation with an exceptionally fast allegro and a transparency of texture that marks all these performances. As in the symphonies, the drama of Beethoven's writing is underlined by the sharpness of attack and high contrasts of the dynamics.