KEY POINTS:
The Naxos American Classics catalogue is the label's pride and joy, celebrating major names like Ives, Barber and Bernstein alongside such expressive esoterica as Zes "Kitten on the Keys" Confrey and Stephen Foster in olde-time brass-band arrangements.
John Adams is generously represented, most recently by Chloe Hanslip's glowing account of his Violin Concerto.
Dutch pianist Ralph van Raat now leads us into the glimmering world of the American minimalist's piano music.
Two Adams works have spans that make them the musical equivalents of the Golden Gate Bridge. The 1978 Phrygian Gates is a mesmerising 25 minutes - imagine a drive along the Big Sur coast with each turn in the road revealing shimmering new vistas.
Van Raat proves himself the smoothest of chauffeurs as well as a fearless navigator; the quality of the recording means we travellers are in the equivalent of a top-line Dodge.
The other lengthy piece, the 1996 Hallelujah Junction, enlists Marten van Veen on a second piano. For 16 minutes, the two men trade life-affirming Hallelujahs, with the mood swerving from souled-out gospel to funky hoedown.
On the shorter side, the contemplative China Gates of 1977 is a Zen miniature, a study in contemplative stillness as only a Californian could conceive it. It is the perfect companion for American Berserk (2001), an alt boogie-woogie affair which Adams describes as "short, manic, bipolar scherzo".
Imagine an endless keyboard, like that in Dr Seuss' 5000 Fingers of Doctor T, with the likes of Willie "the Lion" Smith, Conlon Nancarrow, Herbie Hancock, Bartok all vying for their slice of the black-and-whites.
With a recording that places you smack dab in the middle of it all, this is an Adams trip that you won't want to miss out on.
Some decades ago, Jose Serebrier was a regular conductor with the NZSO; now a pairing of his Second Symphony and three smaller works reveals he is also a skilled composer. One assumes the performances, by the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Serebrier, are definitive.
The Symphony is a big, beefy treat, a musical tostada with Latin and jazz flavours running riot, not to mention a slow movement that redefines percussive onslaught.
* John Adams, Complete Piano Music (Naxos 8.559285)
* Jose Serebrier, Symphony no 2 and other works (Naxos 8.559303)
