An American sampler

The other day, I needed to use up a few dollars on a Best Buy gift card, so I filled in a hole in my record collection by getting a budget classical recording of two Beethoven violin sonatas, the "Spring" and the "Kreutzer."

When it arrived in the mail, it turned out to be a label I was unfamiliar with, Universal Classics. And although it was cheap, it had name performers -- Yehudi Menuhin on violin and Wilhelm Kempff on piano. Universal Classics, it seems draws its cheap recordings by reissuing performances from the Deutsche Grammophon, Decca and Philips labels.

Naturally, I wondered if any modern classical music was made available by the label. As it turns out, there was a recording available -- one called "American Masters" with Barber's "Adagio for Strings," Roy Harris' "Symphony No. 3" and William Schuman's "Symphony No. 3," all conducted by Leonard Bernstein. Not a bad start, and if Universal Classics issued more 20th century music, it could make modern music much more available.