Corigliano: Symphony No. 2, “Mannheim Rocket.” Ondine.Even...

Corigliano: Symphony No. 2, “Mannheim Rocket.” Ondine.

Even though it took the Helsinki Philharmonic to record Corigliano’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Second Symphony, it is an excellent example of the more emotionally direct American style (the symphony is about loss, and pretty clear about how the composer feels on the subject) but still is smart in its use of interesting instrumental devices.

Higdon: “City Scape.” Concerto for Orchestra.Telarc.

Very conventional orchestral music dressed in snazzy colors.

Heggie. “Dead Man Walking.” Warner.

The brain-dead opera that won the operatic heart of a nation.

Carter: “Symphonia.” Clarinet Concerto. Deutsche Grammophon.

Elliott Carter’s 45-minute symphony in all its considerably complex and considerable glory -- and which will get its first American performance in Boston next season, eight years after it was finished -- in a dazzling performance by the BBC Symphony conducted by Oliver Knussen.

-- M.S.