DANCE MIX: Music by Bernstein, Adams, Kernis,...

DANCE MIX: Music by Bernstein, Adams, Kernis, Schiff, Larsen, Harbison, Torke, Moran, Argento, Daugherty, Rouse. Baltimore Symphony, conducted by David Zinman. Argo 444 454-2.

Though this disc promises “Classical music influenced by Led Zeppelin, Desi Arnaz and Richard Nixon,” and sports a naked woman on the cover, it proves only sporadically entertaining. Still, it’s a useful quick survey of 11 American composers, and has its high points: Aaron Jay Kernis’ “New Era Dance,” which draws on Latin salsa and rap, uses sirens and whistles, and goes from big-band cool to sinister cacophony; Michael Daugherty’s “Desi,” a high-calorie conga dance in a razzing, dissonant orchestral world; and Michael Torke’s “Charcoal,” a direct evocation of early, athletic Stravinsky, but a good one. The Baltimore Symphony and Zinman offer sleek and fleet performances, though the recording’s acoustic is a bit too glitzy and distant for the music: We want to feel the grit.