CD-Charts Position 1
Average Rating:

Fiesta

from: Deutsche Grammophon

Release Date July 22, 2008
This may not be the greatest music, but the orchestra sounds terrific. Most important, under the wunderkind Dudamel, the players convey a joyful sense of engagement and appropriately controlled abandon. A real winner!

CD-Charts Position 2
Average Rating:

Gershwin: Rhapsody In Blue/An American In Paris

from: Sony

Release Date October 25, 1990
This CD was everthing I expeced. It contained the entire (16.26 minute) version of Rhapsody in Blue and brings back some wonderful memories from my high school days and music appreciation classes.

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

Summon the Heroes

from: Sony

Release Date August 29, 2000
The music you hear on the NBC Olympic broadcasts is pretty much all on this disc.

One problem is that on the O Fortuna track, the volume from 00:23 to 01:38 is really low for some reason. Almost inaudible for that section of the song.

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

West Side Story

from: Sony

Release Date May 18, 2004
It was indeed a pleasure to hear the entire original score. Although there may be better versions of the music, hearing the original score brings to life the vivid images of the motion picture.

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

Carreras · Domingo · Pavarotti: The Three Tenors in Concert / Mehta

from: Decca

Release Date September 05, 1990
I respectfully agree yet disagree with Ms Barbara Eisner who wrote the review of the 3 Tenors 1990 concert. She is right that Carreras was not on par with the other 2 but that is only because at this late stage in his (Carreras) career he was not in the very fine voice he once was due to overuse of his voice and his battle with leukemia, which he valiantly won!. If you could appreciate, as I do,Carreras' 1970's richly-gorgeous and velvety voice in recordings of operas such as Lucia, La Boheme, Donizetti and liter Verdi operas you would have seen his mid 70's peak voice would have been every been as excellent as Domingo and Pavarotti were in the 3 Tenors 1990 concert. In fact, I dare to say he would have blown both men out of the water..with ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

Bernstein Favorites: Children's Classics

from: Sony

Release Date May 03, 1991
My children and I really enjoy this CD. It has lots of useful information about instruments of the orchestra. The children love the Peter and the Wolf story the most, but the individual instruments section is very interesting for them (and adults) as well!

CD-Charts Position 7
Average Rating:

Bernstein Century - Copland: Appalachian Spring, Rodeo, etc / Bernstein, New York PO

from: Sony

Release Date October 28, 1997
Being a nostalgia buff, I am always drawn to movies such as these and the actors that really fit the part. Yes, it is on my favorites list.

CD-Charts Position 8
Average Rating:

Greatest Hits: Broadway

from: Sony

Release Date October 29, 1996
A nice sampler. I bought it primarily for "Together, Forever" from Gypsy, though its nice to have the Broadway version of "Send in the Clowns (I believe by Glynis Johns). But it is just a sampler, and fans of Broadway music are probably better served buying the full original cast recordings.

CD-Charts Position 9
Average Rating:

Copland: Appalachian Spring/Fanfare For The Common Man/El Salón México/Danzón Cubano

from: Sony

Release Date October 25, 1990
I really think that this cd has one of the best recorded and orchestrated renditions of Appalacian Spring. I really enjoyed this album and would highly recomend it to any avid Copland fan.

CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

Ode to Freedom: Bernstein Conducts Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in Berlin

from: Deutsche Grammophon

Release Date March 01, 1990
I know who let him conduct it! Those greedy DG music executives, that's who, hoping to make a quick killing with the release of this sludge of a performance. The fall of the Berlin Wall was an event of great significance and to commemorate the occasion, DG gets the most famous living conductor in the world to conduct one of the greatest and most famous works of music in history, Beethoven's 9th Symphony! They even changed the word joy to the word freedom in the finale! This had the makings of something truly special but unfortunately it falls short of even the most mediocre expectations.

Herbert von Karajan died not too long before the Berlin Wall fell and if he was still alive, it would undoubtedly be Karajan conducting on this recording, ... Read More: