CD-Charts Position 1
Average Rating:

The Most Relaxing Harp Album in the World... Ever!

from: Angel Records

Release Date October 04, 2005
Animal behaviorists have done some studies showing harp music is good at calming animals, especially cats. My cat was very skittish and unhappy as a result of very loud construction work next door and all other efforts to calm her down had not been totally successful. I got this and she (and I, if you must know) relaxed immediately.
It is a beautiful sounding album. (And the bahaviorists have a point. Cats do seem to hear vibes in harp music we can't. It was like instant prozac for her.)

CD-Charts Position 2
Average Rating:

September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill

from: Sony

Release Date August 19, 1997
Ok c'est arrivé en bon état. Délai d'attente un peu long mais c'est loin l'Amérique!

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

Portraits Of Freedom: Music of Aaron Copland and Roy Harris

by: Aaron Copland, Roy Harris, Gerard Schwarz, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, James Earl Jones, Seattle Chorale

Release Date May 03, 1994
I totally agree with the other reviews about how superb this offering is of Copland's music.I simply want to focus on A LINCOLN PORTRAIT. It has been a favorite piece since 1960. I have heard most of the recordings and the various speakers. NEVER HAVE I BEEN SO MOVED AS I HAVE BEEN WITH JAMES EARL JONES! WHAT POWER! WHAT CONVICTION! WHAT JOY!

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

Alan Hovhaness: Symphony No. 60; Guitar Concerto; Khrimian Hairig

from: Naxos American

Release Date December 12, 2006
This CD contains a first-rate guitar concerto, one that I hope joins the standard repetoire. The rest is excellent Hovhaness. All-in-all, a good addition to a Hovhaness collection.

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg - Mendelssohn, Saint-Saëns, Massenet

by: Felix Mendelssohn, Camille Saint-Saëns, Jules Massenet, Gerard Schwarz, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, New York Chamber Symphony

Release Date October 25, 1990
This recording is one of the best I ahve ever heard of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto. Sonnenberg's performance is breathtaking, fiery and musically great

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

Howard Hanson: Merry Mount

from: Naxos American

Release Date May 29, 2007
Howard Hanson's opera, Merry Mount, was written while the composer was putting the finishing touches on the work he is probably best known for, namely his Symphony No. 2 "Romantic". This work is vintage Hanson, at least the Howard Hanson of his early maturity. It has all of the lush orchestration, harmony, and melody of his works of this period.

Howard Hanson had studied with the Italian composer Ottorino Respighi. Hanson obviously learned a thing or two from the Italian maestro, himself who was, lest we forget, the student of another thrilling orchestrator, namely Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.

Critics have praised the choral writing in this opera. Indeed, some of the choral writing is utterly thrilling and is probably some of the most memorable music ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 7
Average Rating:

Hovhaness: Mysterious Mountain/And God Created Great Whales

from: Delos Records

Release Date April 12, 1994
This is a brilliant work combining the compositional artistry of Alan Hovhaness with the music from the orchestra of the sea, the great whales themselves. To be listened to over and over again as there are always some new nuances that won't have been heard on previous visits.

CD-Charts Position 8
Average Rating:

Hans Krása: Brundibár

from: Naxos

Release Date December 12, 2006
While the English translation and orchestration is fine, the impact of the original opera, performed entirely by children of Terezin, nearly all of whom perished, is lost by using adult voices as soloists.

CD-Charts Position 9
Average Rating:

Greatest Hits ~ Baroque

by: George Frideric Handel, Jean-Philippe Rameau, Antonio Vivaldi, Johann Sebastian Bach, Jean-Joseph Mouret, Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Johann Pachelbel, Henry Purcell, Tomaso Albinoni, Alessandro Marcello, Jeremiah Clarke, New York Sinfonietta, Philadelphia Orchestra, Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Hartmut Haenchen, Jean-Claude Malgoire, Raymond Leppard, Richard Kapp, Max Goberman, Eugene Ormandy, Vladimir Goischmann, Glenn Gould, Carolyn Watkinson, Teiko Maehashi, La Grande Ecurie et la Chambre du Roy, William Bennett

Release Date June 13, 1995
This compilation album features some well-known Baroque Era musical works and serves as a perfect introduction to classical music. The great Baroque composers are showcased here - Bach, considered the greatest of them all, Handel, Vivaldi, Corelli and others. The Baroque period (from 1600 to 1750) was a time of great development and change in music. Before the Baroque Era, music was single-melody and primitive, in much the same way it had been since the Old World of the Greeks and Romans. Plaintive chorus was the only new invention of the medieval days- the Gregorian monk chant and Hildegard Bingen's nuns' chant. But during the Baroque Era, instruments were created and with them a new sound. Flutes, oboes, clarinets, drums, violins, violas and most significantly the trumpet, was played ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

Baroque Masterpieces

from: Sony

Release Date January 29, 2002
The music was very good but wish they had more to listen too. Not enough bang.