CD-Charts Position 91
Average Rating:

Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 [Hybrid SACD]

CD-Charts > Music > ( B )
from: Deutsche Grammophon

Release Date August 10, 2004
I was disappointed in the sound quality of the (stereo-only) SACD layer. Upon checking the liner notes, my fears were confirmed. The SACD layer was taken from a 96/24 PCM recording, and so sounds no better than that. Pure analog to DSD recordings (e.g. the RCS Living Stereo series) seem to produce a warmer sound with greater dynamics.

CD-Charts Position 92
Average Rating:

Mozart:The Complete Piano Sonatas and Variations

CD-Charts > Music > ( B )
from: EMI Classics

Release Date November 07, 2000
I love classical music. I've learned to listen without being hyper-critical; just lsitening with my heart. Barenboim is a gifted muscian, and this performance is yet another example of Daniel's control of the keyboard. Endless hours of great musical listening.

CD-Charts Position 93
Average Rating:

Masters of the Trumpet

CD-Charts > Music > ( B )
from: Deutsche Grammophon

Release Date August 09, 2005
I purchased this recording as a reference recording for my trumpet studio. As I started to listen to it, I realized that it contains some of the absolute greatest classical trumpet recordings there are. Rafael Mendez is mind-blowing, Bud Herseth's rendition of the Haydn Concerto is stunningly flawless and Abblasen is a great way to open this 2-CD set. It contains a sample of almost all the great symphonic trumpeters of the last 50 years. A "must have" doesn't even begin to justify how great this set is ... and at Amazon's price, don't even hesitate. Just click BUY and enjoy. This is one purchase that any trumpet lover will never regret.

CD-Charts Position 94
Average Rating:

Joshua Bell ~ Bernstein - West Side Story Suite

CD-Charts > Music > ( B )
by: Leonard Bernstein, David Zinman, Joshua Bell, Philharmonia Orchestra

Release Date June 19, 2001
Just for getting this performance of the West Side Story Suite this CD is well worth it.

CD-Charts Position 95
Average Rating:

Barber: Violin Concerto; Cello Concerto; Piano Concerto

CD-Charts > Music > ( B )
from: RCA

Release Date March 22, 2005
On this disc are three concertos of the composer Samual Barber, one for violin, for cello, and for piano. They're amazing concertos of outstanding emotion. The violin concerto starts out with such a tender and nostalgic theme, you'll have to fight back tears. Its a joy to listen to.The second movement is similar, but the third movment takes a turn towards virtuosity and syncopated rythems that keep you on the edge of your seat and give a satisfying contrast after two sweet, emotional movements.
The Cello Concerto shows a darker side of the composer,but no less lyrical. This piece isnt so much sad, but more passionate with a kind of mystierouis quality about it. The Piano concerto is the least lyrical out of the three. Its more angular and modern sounding,esspecially ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 96
Average Rating:

Kiri

CD-Charts > Music > ( B )
by: Kiri Te Kanawa, Giacomo Puccini, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, George Frideric Handel, George Gershwin, Giuseppe Verdi, Paul McCartney, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Marie-Joseph Canteloube, Gustave Charpentier

Release Date November 20, 2001
A terrific album by a great singer. This album represents the considerable territory that Kiri Te Kanawa covers in here repertoire. She moves easily from Handel to Puccini to Jerome Kern. The insertion of classic show tunes as a part of this CD is a nice little plus. Some opera stars absolutely kill popular music by overwhelming it with operatic technique (listen to Richard Tucker singing "What now my love"; this is a pleasant little tune, but it can't stand up to Tucker's voice of steel, using all the power at his command). Te Kanawa sings these songs, for the most part, nicely and does not overpower them with operatic conventions.

She does a wonderful job on Handel's "Let the bright seraphim," displaying good coloratura technique, as a matter of fact. This cut ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 97
Average Rating:

Ellisor: Conversations In Silence; Blackberry Winter; Barber: Canzonetta; Scearce: Endymion's Sleep; Mock: The Stone;

CD-Charts > Music > ( B )
from: Warner Bros / Wea

Release Date September 23, 1997
I heard Blackberry Winter half asleep on Classical 24 and knew I wanted to hear it again. I just got the CD and have only listened to B.W. so far, but if the rest of the disc is a hog calling contest held by ducks, I would still give it 5 stars.

CD-Charts Position 98
Average Rating:

Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra, Don Juan / Karajan

CD-Charts > Music > ( B )
from: Deutsche Grammophon

Release Date April 09, 1996
This is another example of 'big' music, major works by Strauss by THE major post WW II German conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic. I probably would have never bothered to spend much time listening to Richard Strauss if it were not for the fact that the first few bars of 'Also Sprach Zarathustra' was the opening music for Stanley Kubrick's '2001'. And, I believe it was this version (or one sounding extremely similar to this one) which was used by Kubrick. As a fan of liturgical music, I have to say that Strauss' 'Zarathustra' may be thought of as 'anti-liturgical' music, since it takes its title and temper from the philosopher Friedrich Nietsche's most famous work, a distinctly anti-Christian, existential source document. The other works on this recording are also 'high' Strauss, especially ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 99
Average Rating:

Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto [Hybrid SACD]

CD-Charts > Music > ( B )
by: Joshua Bell, Michael Tilson Thomas, Berliner Philharmoniker

Release Date September 20, 2005
Multichannel SACDs

I have this wonderful SACD-player at home. It gives me great pleasure to listen to recordings in all my speakers, the 5 channel mix.

It's hard to find good recordings in Multichannel SACD. I search all over the internet and in shops. In shops they don't select Multichannel SACDs as a particular category. It's much better on the Internet.

The problem is to find the Multichannel SACD and not the Stereo SACDs. There are several Internet shops selling SACDs with no such information, what so ever. So also Amazon.com, Amazon.uk and Amazon.de

Sometimes there are customers giving information on whether the SACD is in Multichannel or not. May be it's just me, but I would very much like to have this information.

Please give ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 100
Average Rating:

Haydn: Complete Piano Trios

CD-Charts > Music > ( B )
from: Philips

Release Date September 16, 1997
"Delightful" is a single word to describe this recording of Haydn's Piano Trios. I was fortunate to find one of the apparently few remaining copies of the Beaux Arts Trio's performance of the complete Landon edition trios on Philips (Polygram 454 098-2). (This was before the apparent re-release.) This ten and a half hour treasure was originally very well-recorded in the 1970s on analog tape in Switzerland and the Netherlands, then first released on CD in 1991, then again in 1996.

The Beaux Arts plays wonderfully; not much more could be asked from these performances, other perhaps for a slightly more distant microphone perspective. It's amazing that F.J. Haydn had been considered largely irrelevant by his succeeding romantic generations. His compositions are, for lack of a better description, ... Read More: