Should It Be Called the City of Muses?

Los Angeles is as hard to define musically as it is in every other way. It has a history: In the first half of the century it was home to Stravinsky and Schoenberg, Gershwin and Cage, Rachmaninoff and Rubinstein, Heifetz and Piatigorsky, to any number of outstanding film composers. Its musical present is dominated by the Los Angeles Philharmonic with Esa-Pekka Salonen, but that is hardly the whole story.

The Times’ music critics survey recent recordings by Angelenos, then and now along with recordings that reflect how others perceive us.

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Both esoteric and accessible, simultaneously popular and deep, the music of Morten Lauridsen grips its audience and compels attention. Five of the composer’s masterly works--he is a longtime USC faculty member and has been resident composer for the L.A. Master Chorale since 1994--prove to be varied in style yet consistent in their ability to reach and touch the listener. They are sung here with passionate intensity and careful detailing by the appropriately named Master Chorale. Salamunovich demands and gets a full range of dynamics, controls the arc of each expressive moment and builds and releases tension according to textual needs; the chorale sings as if possessed. The Sinfonia Orchestra supports with strength and finesse. Give it to your best friend.

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Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).