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Classic Widows features four extraordinary women who are championing the music of their late composer-husbands: Susana Walton, globetrotting widow of William Walton; Bertha Stevens, whose husband, a contemporary of Walton's, died in relative obscurity; Xenia Frankel, who was left £50,000 in debt on the death of her husband Benjamin; and Humphrey Searle's widow. The programme features specially chosen selections from all the composers' works, performed by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Richard Hickox.

Michael Berkeley's piece (Too much of a good thing, August 11) read like an injuction to jettison lengthy reviews of long-dead composers in favour of a hearing for...

A repeat performance against fundamentalist Iran, widely seen in Israel as Public Enemy No. 1, would be difficult to stage. Iran is a more distant target than Iraq, its facilities are strategically dispersed and its leaders have learned the lessons of Osirak. A nuclear Iran, Israelis fear, would tip the balance of power in favor of hardliners in the Middle East implacably opposed to conciliation with Israel. It would also rob Israel, believed to have made the nuclear leap more than 40 years ago, of its ultimate military edge. Israeli officials estimate Iran will complete development of the Shahab 3 ballistic missile capable of reaching Israeli cities more than 1,200 kilometres away within one to two years. Their assessment of Iran's nuclear program is that it could be capable of assembling its first atomic bomb as soon as 2002.

In the Halloween season, Naxos has released Benjamin Frankel's score to the Hammer howler, \"Curse of the Werewolf.\" Famous for low- budget horror, the Hammer films were colorful and a little over the top. Benjamin Frankel is a composer who has been successful in the concert hall as well as the theater. The cpo label has been issuing his symphonies, and here comes a wonderfully creepy film score from Naxos that is perfect for the night of a full moon. The well-known \"Rodeo\" ballet music is here along with the picturesque suite from the film score to \"The Red Pony.\" There's also the touching \"Letter from Home\" and \"Prairie Journal,\" a piece which started its life as \"Music for Radio.\" It got the more colorful title after listeners recognized the obvious western sound. For a kid from Brooklyn, [Aaron Copland] sure had a flair for sounding like a cowboy, and [JoAnn Falletta] has an equal flair for these scores. Here's hoping Naxos continues to explore the Copland output with Falletta and her superb Buffalo Philharmonic.

The compact disc recording of the soundtrack for the 1950 film \"Night and the City,\" featuring the music of Franz Waxman and Benjamin Frankel, is reviewed (Screen Archives Entertainment).